Praey for the Gods Review Summary

Last updated: 2026-03-08
  • Homage to Shadow of the Colossus
  • Challenging and unique bosses
  • Enjoyable gameplay experience
  • Survival mechanics are intrusive
  • Clunky and frustrating controls
  • Game lacks depth and originality
Praey for the Gods header

Emotions

Archetypes

What players like:

Common complaints:

Gameplay feedback:

Performance notes:

Recommendations:

Other player notes:

Review evidence

Why players say this

What players like

Homage to Shadow of the Colossus: The game is widely recognized as a spiritual successor to Shadow of the Colossus, capturing its essence and providing a similar experience. It is recommended for fans of the original and praised for its respectful and innovative inspiration.

Challenging and unique bosses: The game features challenging and uniquely designed boss fights that are a major highlight. Boss battles are engaging, fun, and varied, requiring strategy.

Enjoyable gameplay experience: Players find the game enjoyable and fun, with engaging gameplay mechanics. Despite some issues, the overall experience is entertaining and impressive.

Atmospheric environment: The game features a deeply atmospheric and evocative environment with hauntingly beautiful scenery. The atmosphere is enhanced by sound design and artistic highlights.

Rewarding exploration: The game offers a vast open world with rewarding exploration. Players appreciate the freedom to explore and interact with the environment, enhanced by crafting and survival mechanics.

Common complaints

Survival mechanics are intrusive: Many players find the survival mechanics unnecessary and distracting, often feeling like they are tacked on and do not enhance the core gameplay experience.

Clunky and frustrating controls: The controls and combat mechanics are frequently described as clunky, janky, and frustrating, detracting from the overall gameplay experience.

Game lacks depth and originality: The game is often seen as too simple, lacking originality, and feeling unfinished, which affects the overall enjoyment and perceived value.

Underwhelming boss design: Boss fights are often criticized for being uninspired, repetitive, and lacking in originality, leading to a sense of boredom and monotony.

Buggy and glitchy mechanics: Players report various bugs and glitches, particularly with climbing mechanics and hit detection, which can be frustrating and detract from the gameplay experience.

Gameplay and performance

Open-world exploration focus: The game features an open-world design that encourages exploration, with various traversal mechanics such as climbing, grappling, and gliding. The world is filled with secrets and puzzles to discover.

Puzzle-solving in boss fights: Boss fights often involve puzzle-like problem-solving, requiring players to strategize and find weak points to defeat the bosses.

Crafting and gear upgrades: Players can craft gear and weapons, as well as upgrade their equipment, adding a layer of progression and customization to the gameplay.

Boss fights and mini-bosses: The game includes various boss fights and mini-bosses, providing challenging encounters throughout the gameplay.

Climbing and combat mechanics: Climbing mechanics are a key part of the gameplay, especially during boss fights where players need to climb and strike weak points.

Occasional bugs and glitches: Players report various minor bugs and occasional graphical issues. These include glitchy climbing mechanics, physics glitches, and general game glitches.

Positive graphics feedback: Many players appreciate the good graphics and beautiful design aspects of the game. The graphics are generally well-optimized.

Specific bugs and crashes: Some players experience specific bugs such as clipping through bosses, audio bugs in boss fights, and crashes. There are also reports of black screens during location switching.

Optimization and performance: The game is reported to run smoothly and is mostly optimized. Some players mention fast PC requirements and occasional lags with grabbing.

Graphical and animation issues: There are complaints about dated modeling, janky animations, and texture seams. Some players also note jankiness in the environment's graphics and climbing mechanics.

Recommendations

Recommended for Shadow of the Colossus fans: This game is highly recommended for fans of Shadow of the Colossus, as well as newcomers who enjoy similar mechanics or games like Breath of the Wild. It offers a familiar experience with elements that appeal to those who enjoyed Shadow of the Colossus.

Best experienced on sale: Several reviews suggest that the game is best purchased on sale, with some recommending a discount of 70% or more. This indicates that while the game is enjoyable, it may not be worth the full price for everyone.

Highly recommended game: Many reviewers highly recommend this game, suggesting it is worth trying for its unique gameplay and engaging mechanics. It is praised for its overall quality and enjoyment factor.

Recommended for specific player types: The game is recommended for those interested in specific gameplay elements such as solitary exploration, boss battles, and climbing. It is also suggested for hardcore players looking for a challenge.

Recommendation with reservations: Some reviewers recommend the game but with reservations, suggesting that it may need better balancing or future improvements to be fully enjoyable. Others give a tentative recommendation, indicating it might not appeal to everyone.

Buying context

Community fair range: $7.50 - $10.00.

Game completion: 7.0h.

Story completion: 7.0h.

The game becomes fun after players master the grappling hook and other movement mechanics, which enhance exploration and combat.

Reported time to anchor: 30m.

Friction: Early game difficulty; Tedious crafting mechanics; Repetitive combat with normal enemies; Confusing narrative and pacing.

Unlock drivers: Mastering the grappling hook; Using the glider effectively; Exploring the environment with movement options.

Player profiles

Completionist Grinder: Methodical and thorough, using external resources to ensure completion. Motivation: To fully complete the game and upgrade all gear. Stance: sale.

Nostalgic Fan: Explorative and boss-focused, enjoying the game for its similarities to beloved titles. Motivation: Nostalgia and enjoyment of similar gameplay mechanics to favorite games. Stance: sale.

Critical Bargain Hunter: Analytical and critical, focusing on both the positives and negatives of the game. Motivation: Finding value in games despite their flaws, especially at a lower price point. Stance: deep sale.

Platform notes

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback for the Steam Deck experience reveals significant issues with controls and performance. Users have reported non-intuitive and unresponsive controls, as well as frequent performance drops and stuttering. These issues severely impact the user experience, particularly during critical gameplay moments. While some users have had a positive experience, the prevalent technical barriers cannot be overlooked.

Other review notes

Legal issues with name change: The game underwent a name change due to legal pressure from Bethesda, which caused some issues and discussions among players.