The immersive-sim genre is one of my favorite video game genres despite not having covered it all that much. The genre takes pre-existing ideas seen in other games and combines them to make methodical experiences. Ones that engage you with their worlds and ask you to “immerse” yourself in the role that you are placed in. It’s a difficult genre most modern gamers would struggle to get into as it requires you to play slowly and not always rely on a straightforward answer. This answer mostly being to pull out a gun and start rapidly mowing baddies down. The most fun playstyle seen in other games is discouraged, but it’s replaced by rewarding players for thinking creatively. Immersive-sims are great at handling “The Illusion of Choice.” Railroading the player down a set story and path, but giving them options to achieve their goal. Whether it’s the tools on hand, their character’s powers, or environmental advantages.
Immersive-sims are fantastic and we’ve been seeing a resurrection of the genre recently. They may not be selling financially well as they are still being marketed towards a niche audience, but it’s nice to see them coming back. We’ve got the Dishonored series which tries to modernize the gameplay of the original few Thief games. Deus Ex was brought back and reimagined to address the political conflicts of today. There’s even a couple of indie darlings like Cruelty Squad and Weird West which take on the immersive-sim genre in an interesting manner. However, none of these titles have outmatched my gold standard for the genre. Prey, which wasdeveloped by Arkane Studios and serves as a spiritual successor to System Shock.
I have a whole essay talking about why I love this game so much, but here’s a quick breakdown if you don't know much about Prey. The original Prey was a first person shooter about aliens capturing you and trying to escape their shuttle. A sequel was put in the works shortly after, but development was then canceled. The Prey property was then bought out by Bethesda and handed over to Arkane Studios as they proved themselves with Dishonored in 2012. They were tasked with bringing Prey back, but at the same time they didn’t just want to reinterpret the main plot and beats. Instead they just carried over the idea of aliens from another world and decided to make a brand new property. Carrying over the name of the given property. At E3 2016, they revealed the new Prey which was more sci-fi focused and leaned more towards horror than action. I mean the original Prey was horrifying, but here it was on a different level.
The reception to the reveal of Prey was mixed. On one hand you have the fans of the original who wanted the sequel that was canceled and were angry that this new Prey was unrelated. On the other hand you had the audience who were wondering what the f*ck this product was and if it was doomed for failure as other games have done exactly what the minimal footage of Prey was shown. Then there’s the fact Bethesda did a terrible job marketing the game and handling deals with review outlets. The recent Prey released in 2017 and it received average reviewers. Some found it decent enough and others dismissed it. However, as time went on Prey found its audience and a cult following started to form. Prey (2017) was actually pretty genius. Rather than be a mindless shooter it was instead a methodical immersive-sim. With RPG mechanics that allowed the player to obtain new skills and feel how powerful they were by the end. An interconnected world with multiple routes and hidden passageways to discover. Dynamic foes, innovative ideas such as a multi-purposed gun, and a story that not only focused on the mystery of what led to an alien outbreak aboard one of the most advanced space stations the human race constructed but also a hidden narrative about morality. What a person will do to achieve what they want, how they will react during a stressful scenario, and whether they show sympathy to others facing the same struggles. These areas are what Prey (2017) strived at and what quickly made it one of the best modern examples on how to make an immersive-sim.
Prey (2017) is one of my favorite video games and remains in my top ten, so there’s no surprise on why I'm giving it all this praise. It’s one of the most underrated Triple A titles of the generation and it’s a shame it didn’t get the attention it deserved as I believe it’s one of the best. It may have a couple bugs, but the overall product is well made and Arkane Studios put a ton of love into executing each idea well. Prey is my favorite Triple A release of 2017, the best thing Bethesda published, and my go to example of what makes an immersive-sim. It’s truly a gem more people need to play. What’s more criminal is that one year after Prey came out it received an expansion. It took the elements of Prey (2017) and applied it to a different format. The team members at Arkane Studios were huge fans of roguelikes and wanted to make their own. If you don’t know, a roguelike is a game where if you die you start back at square one. Each run you acquire different items and upgrades, and lose them upon death. However, you learn something new upon each death and on future attempts you can use this knowledge to plan ahead and get further. Anyways, Prey (2017) was adapted into a roguelike structure and that’s how we got Prey: Mooncrash. This colossal add-on!
It was revealed at E3 2018 and released the same day upon announced. Mooncrash sadly didn’t blow up as Arkane Studios and Bethesda hoped it would. Financially it sold as poorly as Prey (2017), maybe even worse, and reception wise it got decent reviews. Mooncrash bombed… but as the story goes a cult then followed shortly afterwards. Prey (2017), like a majority of immersive-sims at this point, is a niche product which works mainly for the audience it was intended for. Mooncrash was the same and those it aimed towards hit them hard. People who played and enjoyed Mooncrash loved how it tackled the roguelike genre. Not only did it expand the universe of Prey (2017), but had amazing design and avoided some of the problems a majority of roguelikes would make. Prey: Mooncrash just like the base game was innovative and it’s sad it didn’t get the attention it deserved. Allow me to give it the attention. I recently replayed Prey: Mooncrash to see if it held up and surprisingly it was much better than when I originally played it back in 2018. It’s phenomenal and while I disagree with the opinion that it’s better than the base game I do think it’s one of the best expansions ever. Today we’ll be talking about why I love Prey: Mooncrash and why it deserves your attention.
Story
The human race has entered the 2030s and with it comes inspiration to do what was once the impossible. Ever since the 1960s and the failed assassination of John F. Kennedy, interest in space exploration and what lies outside our solar system grew. The Soviet Union built a satellite known as Klekta and the individuals aboard discovered a suspicious organism. An alien species capable of feeding off organisms and multiplying quickly. However, these aliens broke out of containment and everyone aboard Klekta was killed or eaten alive. Meanwhile, JFK begins to dump more funding in space corporations and soon comes one of the most successful businesses the world has ever seen. It was even able to bring unity across countries and soon world peace.
Founded in 2025, the Transtar Corporation centers itself on science and discovery. They acquire the rights to the abandoned Klekta and bring the right tools to deal with the dangerous aliens aboard. They begin remodeling and expanding the station until it becomes big enough to fit an entire small town’s worth of people. Klekta is renamed Talos 1, a station that will house the greatest minds alike. Destined to research the aliens, deemed the Typhoon, and understand the otherworldly powers they hold. Combining Typhoon DNA and several other chemicals the crew aboard create Neuromods, a serum that can be injected into your veins to either enhance your physical capabilities or be granted the powers the Typhoon wields. Manipulate objects with your mind, turn into an inanimate object, or shoot fire out of your fingertips. The power of Ad- I’ll shut up now. The point is that Transtar was successful and it was headed by two smart brothers, Morgan Yu and Alex Yu. However, their journey is a story for another day. Instead we’re here to talk about what lies outside Talos 1 and the Transtar Corporation. What other research facilities may hold and rival businesses who will do what they can to steal the knowledge they have.
Enter the Kasma Corporation, foreign rival to Transtar and hold enough money to send spies into their facilities. They’ve been watching from afar and one of the secret agents they have stationed secretly is actually a prisoner they’ve hired to co-operate with them. Peter, a man who was arrested for his skills in hacking, is promised freedom if he can fulfill his contract with them. They stationed him in a lifepod circling around the moon, more specifically right above the Transtar Moonbase. Built to conduct side operations they couldn’t perform on Talos 1. The staff aboard the moonbase was small, and much like Talos 1 they were working with Typhoon and Neuromods. However, a catastrophic event happened which led to the Typhoon breaking out of containment and more than eighty percent of the staff being wiped. Kasma observed the events from afar and found a way to record them onto a file. They loaded it up onto an Operator so that people who wanted to witness what went down could do so through a simulation. However, the simulation has been corrupted and is highly unstable to traverse through. They need someone good with technology to go through it and luckily they have the man for the job. Peter’s goal is to throw the simulations over and over and until he uncover everything that occurred. Fulfill each goal Kasma assigns him and hopefully he’ll be able to see his family again. Freedom at last.
Gameplay
How do you convert the slower, methodical gameplay of an immersive-sim like Prey (2017) into a fast pace action packed roguelike? The answer is you don’t, mostly. Monncrash carries over every decisive option which makes Prey (2017) a smart feeling game to play and makes it so that these gameplay choices are now even harder to make. Rather than start off powerless and slowly accumulate them over time through whatever playstyle/build you desire, Mooncrash gives you five preset characters. Each with their own set powers, traits, and starting equipment for each run. Your first character from the start is Andrius Alekna the Voluteener, heavily experimented on using Neuromod technology and that’s why he has a bunch of crazy Typhoon powers he can use out in the field. The next is Joan Winslow the Engineer, who can fix broken machinery easily and summon a turret out of thin air. Vijay Bhatia the Security Officer, who may not use powers like the other four characters but makes up for it with his brute strength and mastery of firearms. Riley Yu the Director, who spawns with a Psychoscope and can scan Typhoon to unlock new powers for herself and other characters. Claire Whitten the Spy, who is good at hacking and can move quickly. You have five characters to play as and your goal is to escape using one of five escape routes Mooncrash has available on each run.
When you escape as one character or die before escaping you are taken back to the character select screen. Allowed to continue off where you were last. There is a twist to continuing though. If you successfully escape as one character using one of the routes then this route is unavailable for the other characters. Not only that, but items you looted throughout the moonbase will be gone. Meaning you have to plan out the order each character escapes in and how they will do so. This is made even worse by how on future runs the station will change. Sometimes there will be a gas leak, fire outbreak, the tram which makes traveling between each section will be cut off, or a section will be powerless meaning you have to find rare Power Modules to bring them back online. The stress is added further with the Corruption Meter. The longer you spend time running around in the simulation the more this meter builds, and when it reaches max level the difficulty of the simulation rises. The environment may change and enemies will be able to dish out more damage. Even weaker foes like the Mimic can knock you out quickly. If the Corruption Meter reaches Level 6 then the simulation ends entirely.
On the side you have Kasma Orders and these need to be fulfilled if you want to progress with the story. These orders will range from, unlocking each character, discovering each escape route, fulfilling their story missions (memories), and one the tougher ones being to escape with all five characters in a single run. The more of these orders you fulfill the more mechanics and events that will be added on future runs. Mooncrash addresses one problem a lot of roguelikes face in that while the player grows stronger and learns overtime the game itself doesn’t change or increase in difficulty so that it matches up to the player’s current skill level. Mooncrash adds in changes, but so much where the game becomes incredibly difficult immediately.
Whenever you load in as a character you are given the option to spend SimPoints before hopping in, which is currency earned upon each run. Whether it’s successfully escaping, killing enemies, or taking on those Kasma Orders. SimPoints can be spent on items such as weaponry, healing items, ammunition, equipment, and Neuromods. Neuromods specifically being the item used to unlock upgrades and new powers for characters which carry over to future runs. However, to load out with certain items you have to unlock their blueprints first by discovering them in the simulation. You don’t always have to purchase equipment as it can be found while exploring.
Weapons range from a wrench, silenced pistol, shotgun, the trusty old Gloo Cannon, Q-Beam, EMP Charge, Recycler Charge, and even a few new ones. One of the newly added weapons is the Psychotic Cutter, a switchblade which can be charged to a glowing projectile in exchange of using your Psi Energy. This being the energy needed to use powers. Another addition is the Gloo Charge, a throwable item that scatters gloo everywhere but has low accuracy to hit an enemy. What’s new is that guns have a durability meaning they can be fired only a certain amount of times. If the durability is used all up then the gun is no longer usable. You have to ditch it and use another weapon. This makes the player consider what they want to carry with them and not always horde weapons. Save them up for other characters wandering down the same path. The game also has a weapon rarity system, but that doesn’t need explaining.
Mooncrash has all these decisive systems and tricks which gets the player thinking during stressful scenarios. Working against a timer which is the Corruption Meter. Considering whether to loot every item they see, save weapons up for other characters, and how to expend resources. Knowing each escape route, how to get them, memorizing the level layouts, and knowing which characters to spawn in with next. This is what makes Prey: Mooncrash an exciting game to play. Hopefully you can fulfill your contract and be granted a ride home to your family.
Thoughts
Prey: Mooncrash is still brilliant and remains to be one best expansions I’ve ever seen a video game have. I can understand why it flopped though, because it came out the same day E3 2018 was happening and was released as an add-on to Prey (2017) rather than be sold as its own individual game. You have to own Prey (2017) to be able to play Mooncrash, in fact the game expects you have played the base game before hopping into the expansion. Despite the tragedy, Prey: Mooncrash is an excellently designed roguelike and has quickly become one of the best in the genre. Hades is still my number one, but I’m going to say Mooncrash is now my second. That may sound like a favoritism problem as I like Prey (2017). I’m a huge fanboy for Arkane and their work, but trust me when I say Mooncrash perfect every goal it sets out to achieve.
As I stated earlier, Prey: Mooncrash maintains the methodical thinking of its base game and applies it to a faster paced formula. Being able to make quick second decisions or plan out your route in a world that changes upon future runs. Which character should go next? What route for each one? What weapons and gear should I load out with? These questions are what kept me thinking during stressful scenarios. I also love how the areas don’t change upon each run besides their environmental hazards and enemies. Sure it would have been impossible if Arkane Studios made it so that level structures were randomly generated on future runs. Yet, this allows players to familiarize themselves quickly with the setting and plan out routes. They have an idea of what they are getting into, but no idea of what enemies or hazards may show up.
I also enjoy how Mooncrash tells its story. It’s not as good as the base game that’s a given. It doesn’t address the philosophical and moral themes which Prey (2017) tackled and just tells a straightforward narrative, but what it does do is expand the universe of Prey. Give us insight and different viewpoints. Riley Yu is the cousin of Morgan and Alex, and you kind of learn how different members of the Yu family were given high positions within the company. You get to learn what it was like to be a prison volunteer within the company and how they experimented on them heavily. How competing corporations try to steal the knowledge Transtar held. There’s even a hint near the end on how the Typhoon could have possibly made it to earth. It’s really intriguing stuff and it helps characterize the world of Prey even further.
Other compliments I have and are ones that can be applied to the base game as well. The art direction is still brilliant as you get this beautiful view of space and whenever you walk through a facility you get to see the complex machinery and shining hallways. The level design is great as every area is interconnected and you should familiarize the structure of each one quickly as you backtrack through them a lot. Combat was never a focus of Prey, but every gun feels satisfying to weild. The shotgun specifically being one of the best shotguns I’ve used in a shooter as it just packs a punch. I like how the game handles resource management and scarcity, but never so low on supplies that you have nothing to defend yourself with. The enemy variety and how their AI is pretty dynamic. I swear the Mimic is still the most clever enemy I’ve seen in a video game. The smaller points like the hacking minigame being simple and not wasting a whole lot of time compared to other immersive-sims, and the simplistic UI which doesn’t clutter the whole screen full of bars and icons. The only complaints I have with Mooncrash is that it is easy to rack up a ton of SimPoints and spend it on a crap ton of ammunition. Breaking the balancing of the game and becoming overpowered for a run. The load times which are unforgivingly long, but this isn’t really much of a downside as we have seen it in several other video games. Final complaint is that Mooncrash doesn't give off the "one more run" feeling a lot of other roguelikes have. After I rolled credits I wasn't willing to go back and continue playing it as there isn't much to do once you fulfill every objective. It's not like Hades where you still have characters to max your bonds out with, or Dead Cells where there are still areas you haven't explored or weapons you've unlocked. Mooncrash lacks the "one more run" feeling," but it is one of the few roguelikes I actually finished. I felt motivated to fulfill each goal and there's signaling on beginning, middle, and end. Whereas other roguelikes lose my interest as they become too repetitious and there's not enough contributing to push me forward.
Prey: Mooncrash is almost a perfect roguelike and I strongly recommend picking it up, so then why do I like the base game more? Well it’s because of one specific factor. The gameplay. Not saying the gameplay is bad. If you haven’t been reading or paying attention you know that the core gameplay and design of Mooncrash is splendid. I will always prefer the slower, methodical gameplay of the base game more as it perfected the immersive-sim formula. Knowing when to let the player decide and form their own path forward. To ask them questions or give them a new tool/power to experiment with. Prey (2017) was smart but it was targeted towards a niche audience. Majority of gamers these days like faster paced games, so Arkane Studios tried to make a game that fit that niche. They did, but they also alienated some of the factors which made Prey (2017) great. Fans didn’t like Prey (2017) because of the combat, the stress, or the several adrenaline rushes. They played it because it went outside generic norms in favor of going back to a formula they loved and possibly grew up with. I think this is why Deathloop failed sadly, because they leaned even harder on the gun heavy action side of things but forgot what made an immersive-sim compelling to begin with. Why think about your options when you can just gun down every enemy in your wake. Prey (2017) will always have a soft spot in my heart, but it doesn’t mean Mooncrash should be skipped on. This is the gold example of how to make DLC. Much like Bloodborne and The Older Hunters, Shovel Knight with Specter of Torment, or The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt with Blood and Wine. This is some good stuff and it doesn't overstay it's welcome as it only takes eight to nine hours to beat. Prey: Mooncrash is the best DLC to ever come out and in the end I am going to give this game a 9.5/10 for excellence at best.
Comments