The first time I broke a window, stacked some boxes, and mimicked into a coffee mug to break into locked room was one of the best moments I’ve ever had in gaming.
Same dude. I played this game twice when it first came out & I only got about 20% of all the trophies on my PS4 which surprised the hell out of me! So a few years later here I have decided to come back to it & BOY it’s like I’m playing it again for the first time.. This game is phenomenal man.. and Mooncrash is AMAZINGLY fun as well! Still can’t believe how great this game is.
i’m halfway through my nightmare run right now and the mimic ability is my most used ability. super helpful to slip into locked areas to find more resources or evade enemies.
had similar experiencein that room he described at 21:00+ for my first play was a human only abilities part of Split affinity run,so i leveraged my way through those unpowered doors. With my next run being a No needles run tho i got stuck like he did and had similar "Phew,found the way in FINALLY." feels (was thinking there must be a console restoring power or something but failed to find it)
***Skip to **10:28** if you just want to get straight to the meat of the review.*** Hi everyone, there's a very, very long history to Prey, and I feel that knowing that history deepens your enjoyment and appreciation of the game. I spend the first 10 minutes exploring Prey's origins, the cancelled development of Prey 2 and the history of the 'Immersive Sim', but if you'd just like to skip straight ahead to the review itself, jump to 10:28. I want to thank everyone for their support as I do more of this type of content. I'm enjoying it a great deal, and it's just nice having chats with people in the comments section about different stuff. Thanks everyone, and all the best :)
Skill Up been following you since you started your division content, love these more involved reviews, entertaining even if I don't plan on picking up the game. keep it up man
Skill Up Thank You Sir, For this nice Review. I could Not decide about this game. i loved the bioshock series and played all Deus Ex except the last one. And the Review showed me one thing: Such Games Are Not for me actually at this time. Now i know, i need virtual Fast Food. Not much intense Gameplay with much to explore and discover and much Story to dive in. i had enough of this with Fallout 4, Mass Effect, witcher 3. that is why i wait for next month Tekken 7 (PC). primitive straight Action, Beat'em Up. Not much more. 5-6 Rounds and off You go :-) Summer is coming and aside a Full time Job i have no time any more for these games. Virtual Fast Food. Lovin it! However: A great Review for a great game and it was a pleasure to watch and listen. such a calm and chilling way to Talk about a game :-D Keep Up the good work and I am looking forward to See your next Video. PS: what Do You think Sir about Lets plays or Guides with New Released Tripple A or Double A Games? Or Do You wait for Destiny 2 to Full Start off with Like ,,The Division "?
The context in which you place your reviews, both in terms of their forebears and games’ socio-economics, is what makes your reviews stand out from amongst the rest. I wouldn’t skip it for the world, and I’m grateful that you include it.
There was a scene during the game where I guy clearly used the gloo gun as a way to cross into a platform and use it as staircase to reach a new area. Maybe it just how people play and missed this part but when I saw it, it open up gameplay ideas and ways to go into out of reach places.
"Roleplaying isn't just having a stat screen and a few lazy dialogue options." Thank you, for putting out words to something that's been nagging me for the better part of a half decade about what people call "RPG" these days. Your review is spot on. I've never watched any of your videos before, but you have a new sub. It's interesting how your final closing notes carried a critical tone, and yet it's score was a 9. I feel the same way about it. An almost conflicted tension on how much I wanted to love it weighed against my inner critic failing to disregard it's occasional "lack" in creativity as far as enemy types near the end. The story was -amazing- (I'm a sucker for sci-fi, I guess) but I found that I wouldn't have as much time as I would have liked to listen closely when enemies spawned very closely to vocal recordings. But that said, perhaps that added to my attempt to "immerse" myself as much as I could in the story. The bar fight in the Yellow Tulip was probably one of my favorite moments. For all the game's dark, serious atmospheres, the sudden shift to rave music backed by flashing lights as phantoms zip around, madly reloading your shotgun to the bass is one example of why I have this listed as GOTY at moment. But that's probably hype speaking ahead of another 8 months or so.
You can't write this comment without talking about the deep atmosphere this game has, it is one of the rare games that frightened me without jumpscares, I really felt like I was stuck in an abandoned space station at some moments.
Some random tips after 7 years: + If you don't use neuromods to upgrade Leverage, a perk that let Morgan, your character, pick up heavy object, then use Recycler charge to clean up those obstacles. It will give you some resources, and open pathway to a med bay, vent or doors. + The Crossbow that shoot foam dart, you can use it to shoot computer screen behind lock doors in most security rooms to open the lock door. + Disruptor, the gun that charge and shoot electric is very good for a steath and/or pacific run. It stuns mimics and phantoms for 5sec (9sec if upgrade to max), make mind controlled human unconscious, also deal extra damage to corrupted machine. Ineffective with electric phantom and technopath. +Turret are very strong. Bring it with you everywhere, set 2 or 3 up from afar and bait enemies for it to shoot. But be smart and set it up in a corner or something since turrets canbe break easily. Also the more phantom power you have/upgrade, turret will also shoot you on site. + Open every mail, pick up every note, it will give you password to a safe,a door etc. you don't need to remember the password, the game will remember it for you
@Skill Up just played through this after watching your review; can't believe i missed this when it came out. the game was excellent, as was your review. in fact i find your game reviews in general are great. keep it up!
@@duhfoodz1369 He must've reacted too late, when 90% of the views had already been gathered in the first few days of uploading. Either way I am happy that there's someone else actually rewatching skill up videos haha
On the subject of "playing a role", when I first played this Prey, I roleplayed as Mike, the greatest security guard in the universe, whose brain scans Morgan had downloaded into his mind as an emergency, last-ditch effort to contain a Typhon outbreak. With Morgan having sacrificed his personality to this effort, the very confused "Mike" quickly figured out the basics of what was going on and proceeded to re-establish containment through the precision application of violence. Mike was a weapons guy, sworn to save every human life and destroy every Typhon he came across. He wouldn't use Typhon neuromods, but upgraded his weapons to the peak of damage output. He sounds like a frontal assault guy, but spent much of his time stealthing to line up devastating attacks with the silenced pistol. He saved every human he could, nonlethally disabling every Telepath victim and even the chef. He saved the day and disabled the Typhon, all without a single alien neuromod, because he had that much faith in the power of human skill, technology and will. On my second playthrough, I was Jenny, a mass of experimental Typhon-human hybrid material that had wormed its way into and taken over female Morgan's brain during the early outbreak. Almost animalistic in her nature, Jenny had only one task in her mind - "clean it all." Embracing all of the psychic/Typhon powers she could get her tentacles on, Jenny rampaged through the station, slaughtering Typhon and humans alike. Morgan's last memory - that nothing potentially Typhon can be allowed off the station - drove Jenny to kill EVERYTHING and blow up the station - and herself. And she was laughing while she did it. My third playthrough, a "true Morgan" playthrough, was an attempt at a more stealthy campaign with a twist. Guided by December, the goal was to rush the story as quickly as possible, as presumably someone really in Morgan's situation would try to do with aliens loose and lives on the line. Things got... pretty crazy.
My favourite part of the game was probably when you read the emails and heard the transcripts of people and then later finding their bodies and realizing how they died ie. hiding, fighting etc. And also of course the obscene amount of choice the game offered. In the first area, the neuromod area there was a second floor with a railing all the way around, so I tried using the gloo cannon and made a staircase up there and then unlocked the stun gun very very early on. It felt extremely satisfying to figure it out myself and surprising when I later on found out a lot of people didn't realize you could do that.
I just want to say, your reviews are some of the best on the internet. I feel you take such care and pride in each and every one. Well done, you knocked it out of the park yet again. I'm about half way through the game and I'm loving it. Cheers.
Arkane is responsible for two of my favorite games from the current generation: Dishonored 2 and Prey. Prey is spectacular. One of the most satisfying platinum trophies I earned, especially when I finished the game without using a single neuromod in nightmare mode. Also, the first time you go to space is incredible.
Can’t believe I missed this game in 2017. Today as I finish my 5th play through , I will achieve platinum for it. I was completely caught off guard by how good this game was. I put gloo to climb up that one spot you were stuck.
I love the fact that you're talking not only about the game but also about the genre, development background and all that jazz. And of course "let's begin when most people think it all began"... Is he going to start from half-life? *starts talking about half-life* YUP
Anyone else re-watching this? I'm 14 hours into this game and it's leaps and bounds ahead of most triple AAA games today, absolutely loving it! Wish there was a 60fps update for PS5, but it runs well at 30.
Dude I'm right there with you, after finally getting to this game sitting on my backlog for years, I can't consume enough content around it and it's development amd reviews on UA-cam. I wonder so hard how or why this game didn't sweep as a top 5 pick for everyone's GoTY for 2017
@@NickHunter and it doesn't make a lick of sense lol. And with Arkane's latest disappointing release, GameSpot rated redfall a 4. Just a 4! That's like saying "Well, Prey is only a few degrees better then Redfall." 🤦♂️
From your view on the ending I can tell four things you didn't invest in. You didn't use the stun gun, which melts operators like butter, you didn't use electrostatic burst to fry them, you didn't invest far enough into stealth, and you didn't unlock the skill that lets you bend them to your will.
Prey is so incredibly immersive. My curiosity managed to get me killed, before even the init credits & tutorial started (ending "never showed up for work"). That's when I knew, ok, this is not a game that will patronizingly "hold your hand", but one that doesn't hold back. And then it progresses to give you paranoia about "is this just stacked toilet paper, or is it _suspiciously_ stacked toilet paper?" .. and then it introduces the 3rd dimension to movement and problem solving, in addition to a versitile ability tree and weapon/tool selection .. and then the 4th dimension in places where you can use the looking glass to explore rooms as they were in the past to uncover their secrets in the present. And then there's the space walks and overall exploration and "natural" feeling progression, and the sparsely but effectively used electronic music. I was stunned. It's disappointing that Prey didn't sell better .. kinda confirms that it's more profitable to make "simple" games (for lack of a better word). I can only hope the gaming industry doesn't give up on that type of game altogether.
I really hope you read through all of your comments, so here goes...You in the last two videos I have watched including this one and Nier Automata review. What you have done, is shown us that gaming is much more than just a "game" you have such a genuine sense of appreciation and passion for the gaming community in general. Its infectious. When I play Prey and Nier I will have your voice in my head reminding me of what gaming really is. You have a gift at reviewing games. In your own little way, you are an artist. Take care buddy and I wish you all the best.
Koray Gokay i agree this my first time on your feed and im amazed very well spoken and u have a smooth clear voice its like bliss to my ears but on the review well explained and very narrative. u just got a new sub
"..cardinal sin - where it attempts to increase the difficulty of both the number and HP of its enemies rather than increasing their movesets or intelligence" can we please get this definition hammered into the brains of gaming execs. I think all gamers would agree with this, even if they have only played COD for the last 10 years
It's hard to make a smart AI even to this day. Most devs cheat to make the AI seem smarter than it is (F.E.A.R., Alien Isolation), so most devs do not want to make the enemies "less smart" to decrease difficulty. They want everyone to see their smart AI, and praise them for it. It would be more compelling to make harder difficulties up the intelligence or moveset, but chances are, it would make all the work that went into that intelligent AI worthless if most players don't beat the game on legendary hardcore mega difficulty, because they played on normal, they get a dumbed down enemy. So it's a tough conundrum. On a single playthrough, something most reviewers might do, they might never see that the AI get's smarter on harder difficulties, and worse even, blast the game for a stupid AI it doesn't actually have. So unfortunately, we will probably see a bunch of "make enemy tougher" difficulty scalings for a while to come.
Black box operators(those military versions) are a complete joke. Check what they are weak against and use it. Human run? Two upgraded stun gun shots, or one sneak attack, meaning that it reliably dies in literally 0.5 seconds. You even get your ammo back! Alien run? Blast them with electricity or explosives to melt them. Want to be cute about it? Hack them to have a personal defense squad to kill everything else. Too many? obstruct the dispensers with clutter or GLOO. See that they go along ground? Use the plentiful rafters and supports to go above them. The most abundant grenade makes them almost obsolete. I though that the game taught you pretty early that running dick first into things is a bad idea...
I prefer crouching by the dispenser, sneak attacking them with wrench as they are constructed, free spare parts, and they stop being constructed after a while. However I kind of exploited myself into being a bit over powered so nothing is a challenge.
@@karakas9905 Thing is, black box operators were meant to be unfair. They weren´t regular roaming enemies. They were an "event", that you could ignore, or try to rush it to find a solution. Plus there is some very nice lore/hints about the "black box project" quite early on if you explore thoroughly.
Man, at the 23:00 mark you know you could've just used the Gloo Gun, right? That was like one of the major features of that gun's design. Did you use it to platform at all? Not making fun, just kind of interested in what it must've been like to play the game without that. (Also, I missed that vent as well. Was stuck at that station for a good while.) Anyway, great review. Really enjoyed it. Have to say I didn't really see a ton of similarities with Bioshock in the art design. Bioshock' levels were each very distinct and fantastical, whereas I found this game to be much more practical. Like the devs really wanted you to believe this was a lived-in place. I think the thing that makes this game so special is the freedom you have to move about the space station. Unfortunately the loading times on console throw a bit of a wrench into it, but for a person that loves sci-fi, the ability to freely traverse this massive beautiful space station via airlocks that let you go out into space in zero-g was just intoxicating. Where I was most let down was the story. I don't want to spoil anything for others, but while it's serviceable, and I'm sure some will like it more than others, it left me wanting. And that includes the side stories of the crew. There were just too many characters and side-plots to keep track of everything and feel any real emotional attachment. Overall I enjoyed the hell out of the game tho. I would highly recommend it to anyone, but specifically to ppl that are into this style of game.
Mate, this review is amazing. Somewhere along the line in the last year or so, you've evolved from a very good reviewer/youtuber to something beyond: the way you deliver your thoughts over music and visuals is pure art, and your editing has gone next level: thanks for your hard work!!
1:35 Disagreements?! It was an outright hostile takeover by bethesda which lead to the original prey 2 cancelation on top of the fact the leaked emails and the game director of the 2017 outright stated they were forced to name it prey because Bethesda wanted to maintain their rights to the franchise
I found the last part of the game being the reward for all the hard work you put into learning its myriads of styles/systems in the first parts. I was practically a stealth and assault GOD at the end. Nothing could stop me, I laughed at nightmares, operators, phantoms....could outrun/jump/stealth/kill them anyway I wanted. Subsequent runs I spent on limiting myself artifically by taking no powers or concentrating on only mimic powers etc
Thank you for this review, 7 years later. I think most of it has aged perfectly (especially the part future reviews coming back to it), except the ending. Prey ended up being much more niche and maybe is studied for its game design but more by video game geeks than by the industry itself. Which it deserves to. And unfortunately, we know what happened with Arkane after this. Their opus ognum was their last good game. What a shame. The game, the studio and the industry as a whole deserved better.
I️ really appreciate this. I’ve noticed that very few people, especially reviewers, actually understand and appreciate what this game was doing and what it did truly exceptionally. It’s a damn shame this game didn’t get more attention and probably didn’t sell amazingly.
So I say this in no way down playing how good your division content was but Im loving ALL of the new content you've put out since branching out and covering other things. This is an incresible review and honestly made me want to give this game a try when i had already decided to give it a pass before. OH also i really like the length and extra information included, I wouldnt ask you to shorten it even one bit personally.
What a Legend you are. Your reviews are like 30 mins well crafted documentary of those games. You are on your way of becoming a UA-cam Legend. It may doesn't look like that but it's coming and I can see it. You work shows how passion can bring best out of someone. Very happy to see you focus on quality. Fantastic job mate.
Another spectacular review mate. When you make videos like these I always feel like I walk away with a good dose of gaming history to put everything into context.
Every time I experience your reviews SU I'm reminded as to why i subbed to you. The methodology as to how you conduct your reviews reaches a level of quality that is unreachable to others that in turn rings with a sense of honesty impelling people to listen and give consideration in having to play the games you review even for when its not on their preferred genre. Truly masterful work SU...I look forward in diving into this game and see if I can add another on my preferred genre list.
I remember searching for an HP kit with very low health in darkened rooms trying not to die.. When i saw one and reached out to it with great eagerness and relief, that little mf turned out to be a goddamn mimic and gave me the most dreadful jump scare of my entire life by rushing on to me. This game was amazing.
No love for the Poltergeist? I dreaded every encounter I had with them. The music, their scratchy screaming and the throwing and lifting of everything in the room sent me running rather than gunning every time.
I played this for the first time in 2024, 7 years after release. It is criminal how under the radar this game is. Such an excellent game let down by non-existent marketing and the odd decision to slap the Prey IP on it. 100% worth your time
I love your reviews. They're not the 5 minute soundbites that most produce that tell you nothing really. The history, comparisons and analysis are well presented and thought out. Looking forward to more!
For some reason, Prey clicked on me the instant I played it, and I didn't know it. I had no money to my name, and I felt ashamed to pirate it, so once I reached arboretum, I just uninstalled the game and forgot about it, or at least, that was at the time, what I thought I did. Truth is, Prey has been in the back of my mind for the past 5 years, I always felt like something was off, I never leave business unfinished, and I had the feeling that l did, but I didn't know why... Well, the other day, it was at a discount price, so I just got it, I remembered a couple of things, but not that much, so I just started playing. The second I saw the mimic, that moment when the coffee mug just jumps, my brain automatically remembered EVERYTHING I did the last time, and I felt a sense of relief, I was, at last, doing what I had to do, 5 years later. Maybe the game is not perfect for everyone, maybe people can argue about some "lazy" enemy design, but what this game did to me, the feelings I have every single time I boot it up, that, that is not replicable. Prey was, is and it probably will, my favorite game of all time, and I have no doubt in my mind about that. It took me 81 hours to complete the game my "first" time, 81 hours (There is a pinned tweet if you wanna check @NeOTheGenesis), and I feel like I can triple that number just playing the same history, and I'm not even counting mooncrash. Maybe this comment won't be read, maybe I'm wasting my time, but the truth is, I don't care, I had to express myself and what you just talked about in this video just made me break down (in a good way). Thank you for your time
31:04 Yup, Talos and me. I miss being on Talos 1. It's the leaking ghost ship aspect that I enjoy, it's the preserved peace and quiet of a place the used to be alive. The aspects of piecing things together like in a crime scene frozen in time, solving a problems to progress, bypassing, fixing, building, upgrading, discovering, exploring, relying on oneself - It hits so many notes, it's the dream job of an astronaut/hacker/maintenance guy/detective/inventor/explorer; The Renaissance Spaceman
Skill Up, I gotta say I've stumbled upon your Destiny review today (I've had my fair share of Destiny, probably clocked more than 300 hours on the PS3) and even though I haven't touched it in a year, and having some issues that just prevent me from enjoying video games for the past couple of years, I liked your opinion of it and that you encapsulated the Destiny experience in 40 minutes, looking a lot in retrospect on the journey of this game throughout the last 3 years, which I especially liked and how far has Bungie come with it, PvE being the most fun and frustration I have ever experienced in a video game, trying to assemble a team for the weekly King's Fall on both Normal and Hard, but also for Nightfalls, Prison of Elders (after the April Update) or even older raids. Thinking back right now, it's definitely the only MMOFPSRPG that exists on the consoles. Nothing else comes quite close to it. Thank you for that review, and thank you for (basically) recommending Prey and NieR:Automata to me. I will be sure to pick them up when I get a real gaming PC. and Destiny 2 as well, if that time comes.
So I was watching a newer prey video and a level designer commented on it. So the operators at the end in high numbers that was mentioned here? Apparently if you clog the operator machines with the gloo gun those will never even be able to spawn. Mind blown.
Love the new in depth reviews that go beyond the game, in development, inspiration, and societal impact! Appreciate the work you do! Also, just have to say, glue gun staircase. But I love how you accomplished it anyways with an excellent example of how prey provides multiple paths. If someone ran out of glue they could still succeed!
My thanks for inserting Alien here. I had the same feeling playing Prey 2017 like I had with Alien Isolation, first Subanutica and Outer Wilds. Somehow, for me at least, they all are immersive sims. They all have the excitement of finding new things, the fear of the unknown and the handcrafted superb world's. Bioshock too. Even Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines i consider it to be 50% rpg and 50% immersive sim. This niche type of games is why I still play games today. Ty for video, nice job 🥂
I have a rebuttal to your point about the military drones. They do spawn endlessly, and I found that annoying, but Arkane did plan for every enemy type to have its weakness. You just have to think creatively enough to seize on the opportunity. Operator terminals have a lifetime limit of 3 at any given time, so if you fight the armored drones to a state of broken, but not destroyed, the terminal still considers them to be active and another won't spawn in its place. This opens up an entirely new branch of ideas, if you've specced heavily into engineering, it may be worth destroying them to gather extra supplies. If you are decked out with Typhon powers it will be up to you to control yourself and hold back on the killing blow. What I love about this fact is how much it plays into the world space. No one tells you this fact about Operator terminals, you just have to notice it as a detail in the game.
This is probably one of my favorite reviews of Prey. I personally disagree the game is too perfect or safe or that it’s not memorable long term (if anything outside its setting Bioshock is an comparatively regressive game that I absolutely do not feel has a trademark on that visual aesthetic). I think it’s more accurate to say Prey is a mix of art styles if anything. I also think way too big of a deal is made of the late game operators which are comparatively a small part of the game.
Brilliantly written and well edited review yet again. Your division content was invaluable to me before i put the title down. Cant wait for your insights into Destiny 2. Keep up the excellent work!
11:51 Dead Space:”I’m trapped in space with monsters” Alien:Isolation:”I’m trapped in space with monsters” DOOM:”Monsters are trapped in space with ME”.
Another excellent review. Your reviews reminds me of my youth when i used to buy video game magazines every month (yes i'm that old) and reading these in-depth reviews that could easily be five or six pages long. It's just awesome. Thank you for all your hard work. :)
I wish other reviewers would put this much care into their reviews. A lot of people depend on reviews and I think many of them make wrong decisions based on pieces that clearly didn't have enough time and effort put into them. Your reviews are what reviews should be. A re-viewing of your experiences while playing the game, considering the things people might enjoy or what might put them off. When I saw your review of NieR: Automata I was amazed by the things I didn't read in reviews by gaming outlets. I never considered buying the game even though it got stellar reviews by pretty much everyone. It turned out to be one of the best gaming experiences of my life and I want to thank you for that. So, sincerely, thank you very much. Keep doing what you are doing. I'm not sure everybody realises how special these videos are.
here is 2 details I noticed in the first 5 minutes of game if you bring an item with yourself to the rooftop where the helicopter is and try to throw it down the building it hits a wall suggesting that you're actually in a room not a rooftop once you enter the helicopter and the music starts morgan start to move his foot with the rhythm of the music the interesting part is that around end of the ride where the music starts to fade away morgan stops
The Arkane of back then should have gotten the keys to the Bioshock and System Shock franchises. It would have been glorious. It has been said often already, but Prey would be the System Shock 3 we never got if you just tweak the origin story of the villain here a bit.
Only a few hours into this but already loving it. System Shock was one of my all time favourites so it's easy to see why I like Prey so much. Great review mate, keep up the good work!
Skill up, thank you for giving this game the credit it deserves as well as paying respect to the original developers of 2006 Prey. With that being said I just finished this game and it became one of my favorites. I truly don't understand how this didn't get better reviews and reception because the level design, atomsphere and gameplay are amazing. Plus the ending was truly out of no where and surprising.
Shill-up, I’m playing through this game now… 4 years later mainly because of your deathloop review that talks about the mooncrash DLC. Can’t believe I missed this title 4 years ago, pretty great so far. Keep up the great videos, I look forward to your “this week in video games” every week!
Just in case 😅 Prey deluxe bundle is now 10€ on Steam. Base game, Typhon Hunter(?) and Mooncrash. I believe the sale is on until 30th of Aug. Edit. Absolutely brilliant thumbnail btw 😂
I didn't think i would EVER get myself through a 30min video on youtube. But you are doing these soooooo well..i just love to hear you explain in your words every little detail and..yeah just..amazing :D
It's great to see you've branched out past The Division. Great tone, tempo, insights and context and production values. Only thing missing is your intro chime... that was so good! Not bad for an aussie (from a kiwi ;)
haha, I miss that intro chime too! But I feel it doesn't set the right mood for these sorts of vids. Will likely use it for the snappier news stuff, and maybe Destiny 2 :)
Always thought that game reviews in UA-cam are so short and with no details. Is even more frustrating when im looking to buy the game because I usually cant make up my mind based on these reviews. So Skill Up, been following since day one, will be following till the end mate. You make me want to buy, or not, everything you review. Simply amazing.
Great review! You found yourself a new subscriber. The only thing I would challenge is the idea that Prey offers "gameplay roleplaying" rather than "character role-playing" in which the better entries in the Mass Effect, Dragon Age Inquisition, or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided offer.
Parts of the talos 1 station were literally built when art deco was all the rage so it looking that way makes sense narratively. They'd have to have a different story/setting to not use that aesthetic, and why? Because another game did it first? There's nothing new under the sun
I enjoyed the video, but I wanted to correct some things. Military operators printers can be stopped by placing a large object in front of the printer. You can also simply damage drones and stop hitting them before you destroy them to prevent more from spawning, which you should assume when you tried to summon more medical drones and the printer complains that there are too many operators already alive.
It's not PREY, it's System Shock 3 and that's why I love it. :))))) PREY 2017 was underrated, because fans expected to get DOOM style bloody shooter like first Prey was, not immersive sim with deep gameplay experience. Come on guys it's just a name. Don't hate it for that and just enjoy it. P.S. Finally i found reviewer with my taste of the games and started to follow after NieR: Automata review:))
22:32 after playing the game and watching this you realize the computer doesn’t activate the door, and the only way to progress is through the vent, and you can just jump on the railing, then onto the dispenser, and don’t need anything else to get into the vent, this was a bad example of showing player choice but there are a lot of other ways the game gives you choices to get through obstacles
I loved the story overall, from the main plot to the side stories to the emergent story (evolving from player choices and exploration/reading emails and items). It was really interesting learning about all of the dead and the survivors. And learning more about the MC. The best part of the main story, for me, was the personality drift aspect. I don't go into it much because it's kind of a spoiler, but learning about the differences in the character you play and who he was was very interesting. And it also added a little weight to the end of the game. Well, the pre-mid-credit-end of the game.
I finished this game 2 weeks ago. Can I tell you though, listening to early Ralph do this review makes you appreciate how much more natural and flowing his current work is. With regards to Prey, I understand that we could choose to craft ammo for our favorite weapons but I wanted to have fun with this title and get to the ResEvil4 section of the game faster. So I installed an infinite ammo mod, gave the mimics sombreros and proceeded to blast. I don't think this detracted from the atmosphere of the game as the soundtrack and environments maintained their creepy vibes. I treated this game like a Metroid Prime title and enjoyed the multiple ways puzzles, gates and combat could be approached. I went strictly weapons and slo-mo for my playthrough and avoided powers because i had already invested in weapon skill tree routes and didn't want them to go to waste. I think powers only on a second playthrough would be fun (as well as a way to do an alternate ending).
God, I need to go back and replay this when I’m done with remnant 2, of course your reviews have me wanting to go back and play a lot of stuff right now
Watching this years after it came out. Funny Skill Up says in the end that hes not sure if it left a lasting impression. But it definitely did. The only reason I even played Prey is because Skill Up mentioned it so many times and compared so many other games to it. Interesting how a game (or an experience) ages over time.
I literally just played through my 2nd playthrough of this game a few hours ago (no needles/typhon only), and am now starting the 3rd (human only/kill everyone), and plan to play the story at least once again fully after getting the plat, just for kicks. (And I haven't even tried on Mooncrash yet, lol.) This game truly is one of those gifts that keep on giving.
I have around 20 hours in the game and I absolutely love it. Every single aspect of gameplay and story is handled perfectly and with so much care. The story of the game is intriguing, and sucks you in with twists and turns all the time. It tells you enough for you to feel immersed, but little enough so that you desperately want to know more. The art style is perfect. Although slightly cartooney, it doesn't affect the horror aspects of the game. It just adds to the beauty of the world. The levels are excellent. Many many ways to get around, or from point A to B. Extra rooms and areas are also abundant, and players are greatly rewarded for exploring. Easily adds hundreds of hours of gameplay. So many places to go, to see. The gameplay is great. The guns feel awesome, and really seem to hit hard. The shotgun is oh so satisfying, the GLOO gun opens up so many possibilities, and all the rest feel extremely unique. No two guns play, sound, feel, or perform the same. The abilities add to this, with so much variety. The enemy designs are amazing, despite seeming a little repetitive with their color schemes. Mimics...are...terrifying. The phantoms are all mini bosses, requiring thought and skill for each one. Even the phantoms have variety. The rest are all unique, terrifying, and hard to beat as well. The horror in this game is made from a combination of everything above. The clunkiness of the combat adds a sense of panic and tension. The art style gives this creepiness to the game. The level designs give places to hide, for you and your enemies. The story also adds to the tension and creepiness. The mimics are terrifying by the way. Lastly, the amount of detail in the game is crazy. Reading emails, listening to audio logs, and reading notes fits together a huge story. Characters are so developed, and they're not even in the game: only in audio logs and emails. The stories you can find in the world are absolutely amazing. So ya, this game is amazing. And this comment is more detailed than any goddamn IGN review....
Keep up the Great Content man. We need more reviewers like you to balance out all the big media shoveling out crap. This video helped sway me into purchasing the game i didn't even know i wanted. Same goes with your Nier Review, i really want to buy that game now, just waiting to see if they fix the issues with the PC port as i don't own a PS4.
This review is amazing, you go into such detail about everything even the backstory to the production of this game. Great stuff Skill Up keep it up, now I am going to have to get this game :)
I only just started playing it and I have to agree with so much of these points, though I genuinely love the art deco dystopian style mixed facade with all ISS style backdrops behind it. It's all nicely polished wood and beautiful balconies until you get to a maintenance shaft, them it's all thermal padding, ducts and control systems. I can't escape the fact that I keep forgetting I'm on a space station sometimes really fits the style intended by TranStar when they said they wanted the station to feel like Earth, and sets the tone for everything TranStar intends with everything they do being something of a facade to what really happens behind the scenes. Perhaps Bioshock has put its stamp on the immersive sim art deco category but I would not say Prey hasn't used it well by any stretch. But that's just my opinion.
I can't believe how many crazy exploits and secrets there are to this game. I scoured the lobby area pretty thoroughly, and I had so many weapons, neuro mods and access to so many rooms I felt like I cheated but the designers probably intended all of it. I can see a lot of players missing a lot of what I did today.
I cannot move one without correcting something in the video - the military operators at the end are one of the easiest things to handle (at least on board) when done correctly. With the disruptor gun you can one-shot kill these. Sure, I had both maxed out skills (250% sneak attack bonus and 150% extra weapon damage) and the weapon was fully upgraded, but this was true for other enemies that were at least a bit harder to handle.
Just wanted to comment, I haven't finished the game yet, but I am in the last 3rd of the game, and I have been encountering those swarms of hard annoying enemies, and I found that my favorite way to deal with them in any situation where I don't 100% have to fight them is to use my fully upgraded combat focus and fully upgraded agility stat with maybe an emp grenade or two if it comes down to it, to just bypass them. With the slow on just the enemies from fully upgraded combat focus and the crazy movement you get from the agility you can get through a big group of the robots with only taking a couple points of damage, and if you emp it becomes pretty risk free, and its a very efficient in terms of resource consumption in comparison to most other approaches. If the grind of fighting them is frustrating you I suggest giving this a shot.
My fav moment in the game was defending the Cargo bay. I had leverage 3, so I was moving giant storage containers near the fabricator and cargo bay door to build a defensive fortress, and strategically place turrets. I had to stun Sarah to get the code to unlock the door, so I liked having that option instead of having to do another mission. The battle was pretty epic, even though I never needed to defend the fabricator section and I restarted it several times to make sure no one died. Good fucking times!
This is a pretty good Review. You clearly like the Game and enjoy many of its mechanics, but you aren't going to let it walk out the door without some criticism. Well structured, well balanced Review. I'm subscribed now. I want more of these kind of Reviews.
I'm new to your channel (found you via your Nier Automata review somehow.) I just want to echo the sentiment I see below. These are excellent long-form reviews! I subscribed immediately after seeing that Automata review. Keep up the great work.
I disagree with the critique that the visual style is safe and generic. If Witcher 3 and Baldurs gate 3 get away with 50 hours of middle age fantasy, then the combined 30-ish hours it'd take to play all the bioshock, Dishonored and prey games are not nearly long enough to make me tired of that art style.
This evolution of the skill up channel with game reviews is a fantastic step forward. Really great work with these in depth stuff! I started following you in the early days of the division. And really started admiring your channel in the discussions around pvp and smgs where your straight facts, general levelheadedness and appreciation of different and opposite opinions was really cool and refreshing in the heated and sometimes ugly discussions. Best of luck! And know that in the trolly shit-hole that the internet can be, you have people who like what you do and how you do it!
I'm late to the party, but wow Prey bring back what's been missing for a long time. I've still got Deus Ex, System Shock 2 and Thief running on this machine, don't play them much anymore it was just hard to get them going. Great review, I was looking for tips to get through the final brutal onslaught, which is my only complaint. Second playthrough is much easier when you know how important neuromods are, and how to build your character for pesky Operator defense.
I bought this well after it came out and knew little of it - did briefly play the demo. I picked it up for 20 bucks not expecting much, and was so pleasantly surprised. I can't think of many other games quite like this on PS4. But apropos to your wrap up, I pretty much agree. This is one of those games where, after the first two thirds and you realize what's up and you've pretty much unlocked the secrets and when it unleashes the last hurdle, the spamming military robots and sends you down the home stretch, sadly I felt this is where the game overstayed it's welcome, just a little. But there are so many good aspects that made this a game well worth playing, even if sadly it's not as memorable as you want it to be.
I'm really sad watching this after redfall's huge failure. Please learn from Capcom after 2014 they released great game after great game.Screw you Microsoft. As a publisher why you just don't canceled it?
I'm curious about what type of build you used when you were playing in this review. I recently completed Prey today and it never occurred to me that the military operators were that big of an issue, my complaint was that the game got easier as I progressed through it due to neuromods heavily increasing the strength of my character to the point where every enemy was a minor nuisance at worst.
Must admit, at first when the Division content start to slow, i was like "skill up new review... meh". But you re reviews are actually dope! Really good work and always good advice.
Hard disagree on the beginning, they bought that IP because franchises inherently have more value than brand new IPs that start with none not because it was a good game, and they got it for $15. The first one was HORRENDOUS and a large reason why A LOT of people didnt even bother to look at this
hey skill up brilliant work man im so glad that u hit a home run with everyone on this i hope u go well with ur new content and u have given a great vid agen and im hopeing that u make more content like this cause its epic
The first time I broke a window, stacked some boxes, and mimicked into a coffee mug to break into locked room was one of the best moments I’ve ever had in gaming.
Same dude. I played this game twice when it first came out & I only got about 20% of all the trophies on my PS4 which surprised the hell out of me! So a few years later here I have decided to come back to it & BOY it’s like I’m playing it again for the first time.. This game is phenomenal man.. and Mooncrash is AMAZINGLY fun as well! Still can’t believe how great this game is.
One of my favorite things was figuring out just how useful the toy gun was..
i’m halfway through my nightmare run right now and the mimic ability is my most used ability. super helpful to slip into locked areas to find more resources or evade enemies.
Wait ?? I can mimick myself ?? I've in the "reactivate locking glass window" so really at the beginning. Thats AWESOME
had similar experiencein that room he described at 21:00+ for my first play was a human only abilities part of Split affinity run,so i leveraged my way through those unpowered doors. With my next run being a No needles run tho i got stuck like he did and had similar "Phew,found the way in FINALLY." feels (was thinking there must be a console restoring power or something but failed to find it)
***Skip to **10:28** if you just want to get straight to the meat of the review.***
Hi everyone, there's a very, very long history to Prey, and I feel that knowing that history deepens your enjoyment and appreciation of the game. I spend the first 10 minutes exploring Prey's origins, the cancelled development of Prey 2 and the history of the 'Immersive Sim', but if you'd just like to skip straight ahead to the review itself, jump to 10:28.
I want to thank everyone for their support as I do more of this type of content. I'm enjoying it a great deal, and it's just nice having chats with people in the comments section about different stuff.
Thanks everyone, and all the best :)
Skill Up been following you since you started your division content, love these more involved reviews, entertaining even if I don't plan on picking up the game.
keep it up man
Skill Up couldn't agree more
Skill Up Thank You Sir, For this nice Review. I could Not decide about this game. i loved the bioshock series and played all Deus Ex except the last one.
And the Review showed me one thing: Such Games Are Not for me actually at this time.
Now i know, i need virtual Fast Food. Not much intense Gameplay with much to explore and discover and much Story to dive in. i had enough of this with Fallout 4, Mass Effect, witcher 3. that is why i wait for next month Tekken 7 (PC). primitive straight Action, Beat'em Up. Not much more. 5-6 Rounds and off You go :-)
Summer is coming and aside a Full time Job i have no time any more for these games.
Virtual Fast Food. Lovin it!
However: A great Review for a great game and it was a pleasure to watch and listen. such a calm and chilling way to Talk about a game :-D
Keep Up the good work and I am looking forward to See your next Video.
PS: what Do You think Sir about Lets plays or Guides with New Released Tripple A or Double A Games? Or Do You wait for Destiny 2 to Full Start off with Like ,,The Division "?
The tangents before the review. These are why I subscribed.
The context in which you place your reviews, both in terms of their forebears and games’ socio-economics, is what makes your reviews stand out from amongst the rest. I wouldn’t skip it for the world, and I’m grateful that you include it.
Didn't think of building a staircase on the wall with the GLOO?
+korgeth how I didn't think of that now blows my mind...
LOL - that's part if what makes this game special, the forehead slapping after the fact realizations.
That's the first solution came to my mind lol
There was a scene during the game where I guy clearly used the gloo gun as a way to cross into a platform and use it as staircase to reach a new area. Maybe it just how people play and missed this part but when I saw it, it open up gameplay ideas and ways to go into out of reach places.
korgeth mimic a operator
"Roleplaying isn't just having a stat screen and a few lazy dialogue options."
Thank you, for putting out words to something that's been nagging me for the better part of a half decade about what people call "RPG" these days.
Your review is spot on. I've never watched any of your videos before, but you have a new sub. It's interesting how your final closing notes carried a critical tone, and yet it's score was a 9. I feel the same way about it. An almost conflicted tension on how much I wanted to love it weighed against my inner critic failing to disregard it's occasional "lack" in creativity as far as enemy types near the end.
The story was -amazing- (I'm a sucker for sci-fi, I guess) but I found that I wouldn't have as much time as I would have liked to listen closely when enemies spawned very closely to vocal recordings. But that said, perhaps that added to my attempt to "immerse" myself as much as I could in the story.
The bar fight in the Yellow Tulip was probably one of my favorite moments. For all the game's dark, serious atmospheres, the sudden shift to rave music backed by flashing lights as phantoms zip around, madly reloading your shotgun to the bass is one example of why I have this listed as GOTY at moment. But that's probably hype speaking ahead of another 8 months or so.
You can't write this comment without talking about the deep atmosphere this game has, it is one of the rare games that frightened me without jumpscares, I really felt like I was stuck in an abandoned space station at some moments.
Love that there are no cutscenes in the ENTIRE Game!
Some random tips after 7 years:
+ If you don't use neuromods to upgrade Leverage, a perk that let Morgan, your character, pick up heavy object, then use Recycler charge to clean up those obstacles. It will give you some resources, and open pathway to a med bay, vent or doors.
+ The Crossbow that shoot foam dart, you can use it to shoot computer screen behind lock doors in most security rooms to open the lock door.
+ Disruptor, the gun that charge and shoot electric is very good for a steath and/or pacific run. It stuns mimics and phantoms for 5sec (9sec if upgrade to max), make mind controlled human unconscious, also deal extra damage to corrupted machine. Ineffective with electric phantom and technopath.
+Turret are very strong. Bring it with you everywhere, set 2 or 3 up from afar and bait enemies for it to shoot. But be smart and set it up in a corner or something since turrets canbe break easily. Also the more phantom power you have/upgrade, turret will also shoot you on site.
+ Open every mail, pick up every note, it will give you password to a safe,a door etc. you don't need to remember the password, the game will remember it for you
22:43 - "I need to build a staircase" Perfect opportunity for the glue gun.
It's GLOOOOOO gun
@@RahulVerma-vz1zi It's Levi-OH-sah, not Levio-SAH.
Skill Up, I really think you've found your voice and niche. These review vids are expertly crafted and delivered. Keep it up, man.
Thanks man- I really love doing them. Makes me really happy that others enjoy them as well :)
@@SkillUp this aged pretty well
Seth Kappaccilli yup lol
@Skill Up just played through this after watching your review; can't believe i missed this when it came out. the game was excellent, as was your review. in fact i find your game reviews in general are great. keep it up!
It absolutely aged rather well :)
Huge shout out to Rouge Lath for going online at 4:52
Why did people just skip over this comment, usually people trip over their heels to respond to a youtuber
@@duhfoodz1369 He must've reacted too late, when 90% of the views had already been gathered in the first few days of uploading. Either way I am happy that there's someone else actually rewatching skill up videos haha
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
On the subject of "playing a role", when I first played this Prey, I roleplayed as Mike, the greatest security guard in the universe, whose brain scans Morgan had downloaded into his mind as an emergency, last-ditch effort to contain a Typhon outbreak. With Morgan having sacrificed his personality to this effort, the very confused "Mike" quickly figured out the basics of what was going on and proceeded to re-establish containment through the precision application of violence. Mike was a weapons guy, sworn to save every human life and destroy every Typhon he came across. He wouldn't use Typhon neuromods, but upgraded his weapons to the peak of damage output. He sounds like a frontal assault guy, but spent much of his time stealthing to line up devastating attacks with the silenced pistol. He saved every human he could, nonlethally disabling every Telepath victim and even the chef. He saved the day and disabled the Typhon, all without a single alien neuromod, because he had that much faith in the power of human skill, technology and will.
On my second playthrough, I was Jenny, a mass of experimental Typhon-human hybrid material that had wormed its way into and taken over female Morgan's brain during the early outbreak. Almost animalistic in her nature, Jenny had only one task in her mind - "clean it all." Embracing all of the psychic/Typhon powers she could get her tentacles on, Jenny rampaged through the station, slaughtering Typhon and humans alike. Morgan's last memory - that nothing potentially Typhon can be allowed off the station - drove Jenny to kill EVERYTHING and blow up the station - and herself. And she was laughing while she did it.
My third playthrough, a "true Morgan" playthrough, was an attempt at a more stealthy campaign with a twist. Guided by December, the goal was to rush the story as quickly as possible, as presumably someone really in Morgan's situation would try to do with aliens loose and lives on the line. Things got... pretty crazy.
I really love and appreciate that you created these characters. Prey is worthy of your imagination. Cheers! :)
Definitely a fallout fan from this spreadsheet haha. Cheers m8. Loved your story and can’t help but be jealous of your experience
clean it all, it must be cleaned
My favourite part of the game was probably when you read the emails and heard the transcripts of people and then later finding their bodies and realizing how they died ie. hiding, fighting etc. And also of course the obscene amount of choice the game offered. In the first area, the neuromod area there was a second floor with a railing all the way around, so I tried using the gloo cannon and made a staircase up there and then unlocked the stun gun very very early on. It felt extremely satisfying to figure it out myself and surprising when I later on found out a lot of people didn't realize you could do that.
I just want to say, your reviews are some of the best on the internet. I feel you take such care and pride in each and every one. Well done, you knocked it out of the park yet again. I'm about half way through the game and I'm loving it. Cheers.
+FrellyStarcraft thanks so much mate. I really enjoy doing them so it doesn't really feel like work :)
no one likes an assmuncher...
I agree, great reviews. I'm really looking forward to getting my copies of NIER and Prey now.
Discovered ur work from your Nier Automata review. Since bought the Nier and am loving the heck out of it, TY. This is also another excellent review.
I was gonna post exactly the same thing. Top quality.
Arkane is responsible for two of my favorite games from the current generation: Dishonored 2 and Prey.
Prey is spectacular. One of the most satisfying platinum trophies I earned, especially when I finished the game without using a single neuromod in nightmare mode. Also, the first time you go to space is incredible.
I'm playing it for the first time now just finished downloading!!
Can’t believe I missed this game in 2017. Today as I finish my 5th play through , I will achieve platinum for it. I was completely caught off guard by how good this game was. I put gloo to climb up that one spot you were stuck.
Is it really that good?
@@jaimegonzalez4371 yup
@@jaimegonzalez4371 definitely
I am gonna start my 1st playthrough now.
I love the fact that you're talking not only about the game but also about the genre, development background and all that jazz.
And of course "let's begin when most people think it all began"... Is he going to start from half-life? *starts talking about half-life* YUP
:P
Jesus Christ loves you, God bless heal save and forgive you.
Anyone else re-watching this? I'm 14 hours into this game and it's leaps and bounds ahead of most triple AAA games today, absolutely loving it! Wish there was a 60fps update for PS5, but it runs well at 30.
Dude I'm right there with you, after finally getting to this game sitting on my backlog for years, I can't consume enough content around it and it's development amd reviews on UA-cam. I wonder so hard how or why this game didn't sweep as a top 5 pick for everyone's GoTY for 2017
@@AlbertShizznipple671 Gamespot gave this game a 6. A 6, dude
@@NickHunter and it doesn't make a lick of sense lol. And with Arkane's latest disappointing release, GameSpot rated redfall a 4. Just a 4! That's like saying "Well, Prey is only a few degrees better then Redfall." 🤦♂️
From your view on the ending I can tell four things you didn't invest in. You didn't use the stun gun, which melts operators like butter, you didn't use electrostatic burst to fry them, you didn't invest far enough into stealth, and you didn't unlock the skill that lets you bend them to your will.
Definitely this!
Prey is so incredibly immersive. My curiosity managed to get me killed, before even the init credits & tutorial started (ending "never showed up for work"). That's when I knew, ok, this is not a game that will patronizingly "hold your hand", but one that doesn't hold back.
And then it progresses to give you paranoia about "is this just stacked toilet paper, or is it _suspiciously_ stacked toilet paper?" .. and then it introduces the 3rd dimension to movement and problem solving, in addition to a versitile ability tree and weapon/tool selection .. and then the 4th dimension in places where you can use the looking glass to explore rooms as they were in the past to uncover their secrets in the present. And then there's the space walks and overall exploration and "natural" feeling progression, and the sparsely but effectively used electronic music. I was stunned.
It's disappointing that Prey didn't sell better .. kinda confirms that it's more profitable to make "simple" games (for lack of a better word). I can only hope the gaming industry doesn't give up on that type of game altogether.
I really hope you read through all of your comments, so here goes...You in the last two videos I have watched including this one and Nier Automata review. What you have done, is shown us that gaming is much more than just a "game" you have such a genuine sense of appreciation and passion for the gaming community in general. Its infectious. When I play Prey and Nier I will have your voice in my head reminding me of what gaming really is. You have a gift at reviewing games. In your own little way, you are an artist.
Take care buddy and I wish you all the best.
+Koray Gokay very kind mate. Thanks so much :)
Koray Gokay i agree this my first time on your feed and im amazed very well spoken and u have a smooth clear voice its like bliss to my ears but on the review well explained and very narrative. u just got a new sub
"..cardinal sin - where it attempts to increase the difficulty of both the number and HP of its enemies rather than increasing their movesets or intelligence" can we please get this definition hammered into the brains of gaming execs. I think all gamers would agree with this, even if they have only played COD for the last 10 years
It's hard to make a smart AI even to this day. Most devs cheat to make the AI seem smarter than it is (F.E.A.R., Alien Isolation), so most devs do not want to make the enemies "less smart" to decrease difficulty. They want everyone to see their smart AI, and praise them for it. It would be more compelling to make harder difficulties up the intelligence or moveset, but chances are, it would make all the work that went into that intelligent AI worthless if most players don't beat the game on legendary hardcore mega difficulty, because they played on normal, they get a dumbed down enemy.
So it's a tough conundrum. On a single playthrough, something most reviewers might do, they might never see that the AI get's smarter on harder difficulties, and worse even, blast the game for a stupid AI it doesn't actually have.
So unfortunately, we will probably see a bunch of "make enemy tougher" difficulty scalings for a while to come.
Black box operators(those military versions) are a complete joke. Check what they are weak against and use it. Human run? Two upgraded stun gun shots, or one sneak attack, meaning that it reliably dies in literally 0.5 seconds. You even get your ammo back! Alien run? Blast them with electricity or explosives to melt them. Want to be cute about it? Hack them to have a personal defense squad to kill everything else. Too many? obstruct the dispensers with clutter or GLOO. See that they go along ground? Use the plentiful rafters and supports to go above them. The most abundant grenade makes them almost obsolete.
I though that the game taught you pretty early that running dick first into things is a bad idea...
Exactly.
Wait, you're telling me I could've GLOOed these dispensers?! Goddamnit, why am I so dumb
I prefer crouching by the dispenser, sneak attacking them with wrench as they are constructed, free spare parts, and they stop being constructed after a while.
However I kind of exploited myself into being a bit over powered so nothing is a challenge.
@@karakas9905 Thing is, black box operators were meant to be unfair. They weren´t regular roaming enemies. They were an "event", that you could ignore, or try to rush it to find a solution. Plus there is some very nice lore/hints about the "black box project" quite early on if you explore thoroughly.
I just maxed mobility and ran past them
Man, at the 23:00 mark you know you could've just used the Gloo Gun, right? That was like one of the major features of that gun's design. Did you use it to platform at all? Not making fun, just kind of interested in what it must've been like to play the game without that. (Also, I missed that vent as well. Was stuck at that station for a good while.)
Anyway, great review. Really enjoyed it. Have to say I didn't really see a ton of similarities with Bioshock in the art design. Bioshock' levels were each very distinct and fantastical, whereas I found this game to be much more practical. Like the devs really wanted you to believe this was a lived-in place.
I think the thing that makes this game so special is the freedom you have to move about the space station. Unfortunately the loading times on console throw a bit of a wrench into it, but for a person that loves sci-fi, the ability to freely traverse this massive beautiful space station via airlocks that let you go out into space in zero-g was just intoxicating.
Where I was most let down was the story. I don't want to spoil anything for others, but while it's serviceable, and I'm sure some will like it more than others, it left me wanting. And that includes the side stories of the crew. There were just too many characters and side-plots to keep track of everything and feel any real emotional attachment.
Overall I enjoyed the hell out of the game tho. I would highly recommend it to anyone, but specifically to ppl that are into this style of game.
Mate, this review is amazing. Somewhere along the line in the last year or so, you've evolved from a very good reviewer/youtuber to something beyond: the way you deliver your thoughts over music and visuals is pure art, and your editing has gone next level: thanks for your hard work!!
Cheers mate. Glad you enjoyed it :)
1:35
Disagreements?! It was an outright hostile takeover by bethesda which lead to the original prey 2 cancelation on top of the fact the leaked emails and the game director of the 2017 outright stated they were forced to name it prey because Bethesda wanted to maintain their rights to the franchise
I found the last part of the game being the reward for all the hard work you put into learning its myriads of styles/systems in the first parts. I was practically a stealth and assault GOD at the end. Nothing could stop me, I laughed at nightmares, operators, phantoms....could outrun/jump/stealth/kill them anyway I wanted. Subsequent runs I spent on limiting myself artifically by taking no powers or concentrating on only mimic powers etc
Thank you for this review, 7 years later.
I think most of it has aged perfectly (especially the part future reviews coming back to it), except the ending.
Prey ended up being much more niche and maybe is studied for its game design but more by video game geeks than by the industry itself. Which it deserves to.
And unfortunately, we know what happened with Arkane after this. Their opus ognum was their last good game. What a shame. The game, the studio and the industry as a whole deserved better.
I️ really appreciate this. I’ve noticed that very few people, especially reviewers, actually understand and appreciate what this game was doing and what it did truly exceptionally. It’s a damn shame this game didn’t get more attention and probably didn’t sell amazingly.
So I say this in no way down playing how good your division content was but Im loving ALL of the new content you've put out since branching out and covering other things. This is an incresible review and honestly made me want to give this game a try when i had already decided to give it a pass before.
OH also i really like the length and extra information included, I wouldnt ask you to shorten it even one bit personally.
Man, this was exactly the sort of comment I feared I would never get when I moved on from the Division. Means a lot to me mate. Thanks :)
What a Legend you are. Your reviews are like 30 mins well crafted documentary of those games. You are on your way of becoming a UA-cam Legend. It may doesn't look like that but it's coming and I can see it.
You work shows how passion can bring best out of someone. Very happy to see you focus on quality. Fantastic job mate.
+Purple Haze cheers mate
Another spectacular review mate. When you make videos like these I always feel like I walk away with a good dose of gaming history to put everything into context.
+21Kiloton cheers mate. Whenever I watch your videos, I feel like I've learned at least two or three more cuss words. It's always educational.
In that case I will try and make sure the swearing stays fresh, and inspired!
Every time I experience your reviews SU I'm reminded as to why i subbed to you. The methodology as to how you conduct your reviews reaches a level of quality that is unreachable to others that in turn rings with a sense of honesty impelling people to listen and give consideration in having to play the games you review even for when its not on their preferred genre.
Truly masterful work SU...I look forward in diving into this game and see if I can add another on my preferred genre list.
I remember searching for an HP kit with very low health in darkened rooms trying not to die.. When i saw one and reached out to it with great eagerness and relief, that little mf turned out to be a goddamn mimic and gave me the most dreadful jump scare of my entire life by rushing on to me. This game was amazing.
No love for the Poltergeist? I dreaded every encounter I had with them. The music, their scratchy screaming and the throwing and lifting of everything in the room sent me running rather than gunning every time.
I played this for the first time in 2024, 7 years after release. It is criminal how under the radar this game is. Such an excellent game let down by non-existent marketing and the odd decision to slap the Prey IP on it. 100% worth your time
I was genuinely sad when i finished the video, i just wanted to hear you talk about the game for another few hours. Can't wait for the next review!
I love your reviews. They're not the 5 minute soundbites that most produce that tell you nothing really. The history, comparisons and analysis are well presented and thought out. Looking forward to more!
You are setting a high bar for UA-cam games reviews! thanks for this incredible in-depth review.
For some reason, Prey clicked on me the instant I played it, and I didn't know it.
I had no money to my name, and I felt ashamed to pirate it, so once I reached arboretum, I just uninstalled the game and forgot about it, or at least, that was at the time, what I thought I did.
Truth is, Prey has been in the back of my mind for the past 5 years, I always felt like something was off, I never leave business unfinished, and I had the feeling that l did, but I didn't know why...
Well, the other day, it was at a discount price, so I just got it, I remembered a couple of things, but not that much, so I just started playing.
The second I saw the mimic, that moment when the coffee mug just jumps, my brain automatically remembered EVERYTHING I did the last time, and I felt a sense of relief, I was, at last, doing what I had to do, 5 years later.
Maybe the game is not perfect for everyone, maybe people can argue about some "lazy" enemy design, but what this game did to me, the feelings I have every single time I boot it up, that, that is not replicable.
Prey was, is and it probably will, my favorite game of all time, and I have no doubt in my mind about that.
It took me 81 hours to complete the game my "first" time, 81 hours (There is a pinned tweet if you wanna check @NeOTheGenesis), and I feel like I can triple that number just playing the same history, and I'm not even counting mooncrash.
Maybe this comment won't be read, maybe I'm wasting my time, but the truth is, I don't care, I had to express myself and what you just talked about in this video just made me break down (in a good way).
Thank you for your time
The fact that you can shoot locks and even the computer screens with the foam dart gun is just amazing
31:04 Yup, Talos and me. I miss being on Talos 1. It's the leaking ghost ship aspect that I enjoy, it's the preserved peace and quiet of a place the used to be alive. The aspects of piecing things together like in a crime scene frozen in time, solving a problems to progress, bypassing, fixing, building, upgrading, discovering, exploring, relying on oneself - It hits so many notes, it's the dream job of an astronaut/hacker/maintenance guy/detective/inventor/explorer; The Renaissance Spaceman
Skill Up, I gotta say I've stumbled upon your Destiny review today (I've had my fair share of Destiny, probably clocked more than 300 hours on the PS3) and even though I haven't touched it in a year, and having some issues that just prevent me from enjoying video games for the past couple of years, I liked your opinion of it and that you encapsulated the Destiny experience in 40 minutes, looking a lot in retrospect on the journey of this game throughout the last 3 years, which I especially liked and how far has Bungie come with it, PvE being the most fun and frustration I have ever experienced in a video game, trying to assemble a team for the weekly King's Fall on both Normal and Hard, but also for Nightfalls, Prison of Elders (after the April Update) or even older raids. Thinking back right now, it's definitely the only MMOFPSRPG that exists on the consoles. Nothing else comes quite close to it. Thank you for that review, and thank you for (basically) recommending Prey and NieR:Automata to me. I will be sure to pick them up when I get a real gaming PC. and Destiny 2 as well, if that time comes.
So I was watching a newer prey video and a level designer commented on it.
So the operators at the end in high numbers that was mentioned here?
Apparently if you clog the operator machines with the gloo gun those will never even be able to spawn.
Mind blown.
Love the new in depth reviews that go beyond the game, in development, inspiration, and societal impact! Appreciate the work you do!
Also, just have to say, glue gun staircase. But I love how you accomplished it anyways with an excellent example of how prey provides multiple paths. If someone ran out of glue they could still succeed!
I know I was thinking the same thing about the glue gun.
My thanks for inserting Alien here. I had the same feeling playing Prey 2017 like I had with Alien Isolation, first Subanutica and Outer Wilds. Somehow, for me at least, they all are immersive sims. They all have the excitement of finding new things, the fear of the unknown and the handcrafted superb world's. Bioshock too.
Even Vampire Masquerade Bloodlines i consider it to be 50% rpg and 50% immersive sim. This niche type of games is why I still play games today. Ty for video, nice job 🥂
I have a rebuttal to your point about the military drones. They do spawn endlessly, and I found that annoying, but Arkane did plan for every enemy type to have its weakness. You just have to think creatively enough to seize on the opportunity.
Operator terminals have a lifetime limit of 3 at any given time, so if you fight the armored drones to a state of broken, but not destroyed, the terminal still considers them to be active and another won't spawn in its place.
This opens up an entirely new branch of ideas, if you've specced heavily into engineering, it may be worth destroying them to gather extra supplies. If you are decked out with Typhon powers it will be up to you to control yourself and hold back on the killing blow.
What I love about this fact is how much it plays into the world space. No one tells you this fact about Operator terminals, you just have to notice it as a detail in the game.
This is probably one of my favorite reviews of Prey. I personally disagree the game is too perfect or safe or that it’s not memorable long term (if anything outside its setting Bioshock is an comparatively regressive game that I absolutely do not feel has a trademark on that visual aesthetic). I think it’s more accurate to say Prey is a mix of art styles if anything. I also think way too big of a deal is made of the late game operators which are comparatively a small part of the game.
Weird ending to this review. The game is an all-timer and has stuck with me over the years.
Brilliantly written and well edited review yet again. Your division content was invaluable to me before i put the title down. Cant wait for your insights into Destiny 2. Keep up the excellent work!
11:51
Dead Space:”I’m trapped in space with monsters”
Alien:Isolation:”I’m trapped in space with monsters”
DOOM:”Monsters are trapped in space with ME”.
Prey: I'm trapped in space with a shit bioshock clone.
Watching him waste shotgun bullets into the mimics just hurts my feelings.
Another excellent review. Your reviews reminds me of my youth when i used to buy video game magazines every month (yes i'm that old) and reading these in-depth reviews that could easily be five or six pages long. It's just awesome. Thank you for all your hard work. :)
you deserve way more subs man. This reviews is just as good, if not better than all of the gigantic channels.
I wish other reviewers would put this much care into their reviews. A lot of people depend on reviews and I think many of them make wrong decisions based on pieces that clearly didn't have enough time and effort put into them.
Your reviews are what reviews should be. A re-viewing of your experiences while playing the game, considering the things people might enjoy or what might put them off. When I saw your review of NieR: Automata I was amazed by the things I didn't read in reviews by gaming outlets. I never considered buying the game even though it got stellar reviews by pretty much everyone. It turned out to be one of the best gaming experiences of my life and I want to thank you for that.
So, sincerely, thank you very much. Keep doing what you are doing. I'm not sure everybody realises how special these videos are.
+Jacco Stoete thanks so much mate. Really appreciate that
here is 2 details I noticed in the first 5 minutes of game
if you bring an item with yourself to the rooftop where the helicopter is and try to throw it down the building it hits a wall suggesting that you're actually in a room not a rooftop
once you enter the helicopter and the music starts morgan start to move his foot with the rhythm of the music the interesting part is that around end of the ride where the music starts to fade away morgan stops
-Arkane knows what they're doing-
Arkane 6 years later: here's Redfall!
Unfortunate.
The Arkane of back then should have gotten the keys to the Bioshock and System Shock franchises. It would have been glorious.
It has been said often already, but Prey would be the System Shock 3 we never got if you just tweak the origin story of the villain here a bit.
Only a few hours into this but already loving it. System Shock was one of my all time favourites so it's easy to see why I like Prey so much.
Great review mate, keep up the good work!
When I die Skill Up will do my Eulogy...His voice is calming
Skill up, thank you for giving this game the credit it deserves as well as paying respect to the original developers of 2006 Prey. With that being said I just finished this game and it became one of my favorites. I truly don't understand how this didn't get better reviews and reception because the level design, atomsphere and gameplay are amazing. Plus the ending was truly out of no where and surprising.
Shill-up, I’m playing through this game now… 4 years later mainly because of your deathloop review that talks about the mooncrash DLC.
Can’t believe I missed this title 4 years ago, pretty great so far.
Keep up the great videos, I look forward to your “this week in video games” every week!
Just in case 😅
Prey deluxe bundle is now 10€ on Steam. Base game, Typhon Hunter(?) and Mooncrash. I believe the sale is on until 30th of Aug.
Edit. Absolutely brilliant thumbnail btw 😂
I didn't think i would EVER get myself through a 30min video on youtube. But you are doing these soooooo well..i just love to hear you explain in your words every little detail and..yeah just..amazing :D
It's great to see you've branched out past The Division. Great tone, tempo, insights and context and production values. Only thing missing is your intro chime... that was so good! Not bad for an aussie (from a kiwi ;)
haha, I miss that intro chime too! But I feel it doesn't set the right mood for these sorts of vids. Will likely use it for the snappier news stuff, and maybe Destiny 2 :)
Always thought that game reviews in UA-cam are so short and with no details. Is even more frustrating when im looking to buy the game because I usually cant make up my mind based on these reviews. So Skill Up, been following since day one, will be following till the end mate. You make me want to buy, or not, everything you review. Simply amazing.
I've literally just finished your intro to this review and I find it outstanding already. Loving your game reviews, brother. Keep it up!
+Rasheed Gonzales thanks mate :)
27:45 "People who played every play style"
Joseph Anderson plug right there
Great review! You found yourself a new subscriber.
The only thing I would challenge is the idea that Prey offers "gameplay roleplaying" rather than "character role-playing" in which the better entries in the Mass Effect, Dragon Age Inquisition, or Deus Ex: Mankind Divided offer.
Parts of the talos 1 station were literally built when art deco was all the rage so it looking that way makes sense narratively. They'd have to have a different story/setting to not use that aesthetic, and why? Because another game did it first? There's nothing new under the sun
Can I just say your reviews in the last couple month have all been absolutely outstanding. keep it up.
Alien isolation: I am the best haunted house in space game
Prey: *hold my beer*
I enjoyed the video, but I wanted to correct some things.
Military operators printers can be stopped by placing a large object in front of the printer.
You can also simply damage drones and stop hitting them before you destroy them to prevent more from spawning, which you should assume when you tried to summon more medical drones and the printer complains that there are too many operators already alive.
Fantastic review, I actually agree with most of what you said throughout. Especially those extremely annoying military operators.
It's not PREY, it's System Shock 3 and that's why I love it. :))))) PREY 2017 was underrated, because fans expected to get DOOM style bloody shooter like first Prey was, not immersive sim with deep gameplay experience. Come on guys it's just a name. Don't hate it for that and just enjoy it.
P.S. Finally i found reviewer with my taste of the games and started to follow after NieR: Automata review:))
22:32 after playing the game and watching this you realize the computer doesn’t activate the door, and the only way to progress is through the vent, and you can just jump on the railing, then onto the dispenser, and don’t need anything else to get into the vent, this was a bad example of showing player choice but there are a lot of other ways the game gives you choices to get through obstacles
I loved the story overall, from the main plot to the side stories to the emergent story (evolving from player choices and exploration/reading emails and items). It was really interesting learning about all of the dead and the survivors. And learning more about the MC. The best part of the main story, for me, was the personality drift aspect. I don't go into it much because it's kind of a spoiler, but learning about the differences in the character you play and who he was was very interesting. And it also added a little weight to the end of the game.
Well, the pre-mid-credit-end of the game.
I finished this game 2 weeks ago. Can I tell you though, listening to early Ralph do this review makes you appreciate how much more natural and flowing his current work is.
With regards to Prey, I understand that we could choose to craft ammo for our favorite weapons but I wanted to have fun with this title and get to the ResEvil4 section of the game faster. So I installed an infinite ammo mod, gave the mimics sombreros and proceeded to blast.
I don't think this detracted from the atmosphere of the game as the soundtrack and environments maintained their creepy vibes. I treated this game like a Metroid Prime title and enjoyed the multiple ways puzzles, gates and combat could be approached. I went strictly weapons and slo-mo for my playthrough and avoided powers because i had already invested in weapon skill tree routes and didn't want them to go to waste. I think powers only on a second playthrough would be fun (as well as a way to do an alternate ending).
One tip I'll leave is that the foam darts can interact with monitors. Do with that what you will.
God, I need to go back and replay this when I’m done with remnant 2, of course your reviews have me wanting to go back and play a lot of stuff right now
Watching this years after it came out. Funny Skill Up says in the end that hes not sure if it left a lasting impression. But it definitely did. The only reason I even played Prey is because Skill Up mentioned it so many times and compared so many other games to it. Interesting how a game (or an experience) ages over time.
I literally just played through my 2nd playthrough of this game a few hours ago (no needles/typhon only), and am now starting the 3rd (human only/kill everyone), and plan to play the story at least once again fully after getting the plat, just for kicks. (And I haven't even tried on Mooncrash yet, lol.) This game truly is one of those gifts that keep on giving.
I have around 20 hours in the game and I absolutely love it. Every single aspect of gameplay and story is handled perfectly and with so much care.
The story of the game is intriguing, and sucks you in with twists and turns all the time. It tells you enough for you to feel immersed, but little enough so that you desperately want to know more.
The art style is perfect. Although slightly cartooney, it doesn't affect the horror aspects of the game. It just adds to the beauty of the world.
The levels are excellent. Many many ways to get around, or from point A to B. Extra rooms and areas are also abundant, and players are greatly rewarded for exploring. Easily adds hundreds of hours of gameplay. So many places to go, to see.
The gameplay is great. The guns feel awesome, and really seem to hit hard. The shotgun is oh so satisfying, the GLOO gun opens up so many possibilities, and all the rest feel extremely unique. No two guns play, sound, feel, or perform the same. The abilities add to this, with so much variety.
The enemy designs are amazing, despite seeming a little repetitive with their color schemes. Mimics...are...terrifying. The phantoms are all mini bosses, requiring thought and skill for each one. Even the phantoms have variety. The rest are all unique, terrifying, and hard to beat as well.
The horror in this game is made from a combination of everything above. The clunkiness of the combat adds a sense of panic and tension. The art style gives this creepiness to the game. The level designs give places to hide, for you and your enemies. The story also adds to the tension and creepiness. The mimics are terrifying by the way.
Lastly, the amount of detail in the game is crazy. Reading emails, listening to audio logs, and reading notes fits together a huge story. Characters are so developed, and they're not even in the game: only in audio logs and emails. The stories you can find in the world are absolutely amazing.
So ya, this game is amazing. And this comment is more detailed than any goddamn IGN review....
Keep up the Great Content man. We need more reviewers like you to balance out all the big media shoveling out crap. This video helped sway me into purchasing the game i didn't even know i wanted. Same goes with your Nier Review, i really want to buy that game now, just waiting to see if they fix the issues with the PC port as i don't own a PS4.
This review is amazing, you go into such detail about everything even the backstory to the production of this game. Great stuff Skill Up keep it up, now I am going to have to get this game :)
I only just started playing it and I have to agree with so much of these points, though I genuinely love the art deco dystopian style mixed facade with all ISS style backdrops behind it. It's all nicely polished wood and beautiful balconies until you get to a maintenance shaft, them it's all thermal padding, ducts and control systems. I can't escape the fact that I keep forgetting I'm on a space station sometimes really fits the style intended by TranStar when they said they wanted the station to feel like Earth, and sets the tone for everything TranStar intends with everything they do being something of a facade to what really happens behind the scenes. Perhaps Bioshock has put its stamp on the immersive sim art deco category but I would not say Prey hasn't used it well by any stretch. But that's just my opinion.
This may be the best review channel I have found so far.(well for people with an actual attention span.) love it👌
Best review of this game on UA-cam by a wide margin! This is one of my favorite games ever and is definitely underrated! Great job man!
I can't believe how many crazy exploits and secrets there are to this game. I scoured the lobby area pretty thoroughly, and I had so many weapons, neuro mods and access to so many rooms I felt like I cheated but the designers probably intended all of it. I can see a lot of players missing a lot of what I did today.
I cannot move one without correcting something in the video - the military operators at the end are one of the easiest things to handle (at least on board) when done correctly. With the disruptor gun you can one-shot kill these.
Sure, I had both maxed out skills (250% sneak attack bonus and 150% extra weapon damage) and the weapon was fully upgraded, but this was true for other enemies that were at least a bit harder to handle.
Dude, I just found your channel a few days ago, and I can't stop watching your reviews. I can't believe I've been missing out this whole time...
Just wanted to comment, I haven't finished the game yet, but I am in the last 3rd of the game, and I have been encountering those swarms of hard annoying enemies, and I found that my favorite way to deal with them in any situation where I don't 100% have to fight them is to use my fully upgraded combat focus and fully upgraded agility stat with maybe an emp grenade or two if it comes down to it, to just bypass them. With the slow on just the enemies from fully upgraded combat focus and the crazy movement you get from the agility you can get through a big group of the robots with only taking a couple points of damage, and if you emp it becomes pretty risk free, and its a very efficient in terms of resource consumption in comparison to most other approaches. If the grind of fighting them is frustrating you I suggest giving this a shot.
At some point through playing I noticed that disguised mimics have a slight distortion around them.
My fav moment in the game was defending the Cargo bay. I had leverage 3, so I was moving giant storage containers near the fabricator and cargo bay door to build a defensive fortress, and strategically place turrets. I had to stun Sarah to get the code to unlock the door, so I liked having that option instead of having to do another mission. The battle was pretty epic, even though I never needed to defend the fabricator section and I restarted it several times to make sure no one died. Good fucking times!
This is a pretty good Review. You clearly like the Game and enjoy many of its mechanics, but you aren't going to let it walk out the door without some criticism.
Well structured, well balanced Review. I'm subscribed now. I want more of these kind of Reviews.
Plenty more where that came from :P
I'm new to your channel (found you via your Nier Automata review somehow.) I just want to echo the sentiment I see below. These are excellent long-form reviews! I subscribed immediately after seeing that Automata review. Keep up the great work.
I disagree with the critique that the visual style is safe and generic. If Witcher 3 and Baldurs gate 3 get away with 50 hours of middle age fantasy, then the combined 30-ish hours it'd take to play all the bioshock, Dishonored and prey games are not nearly long enough to make me tired of that art style.
This evolution of the skill up channel with game reviews is a fantastic step forward. Really great work with these in depth stuff! I started following you in the early days of the division. And really started admiring your channel in the discussions around pvp and smgs where your straight facts, general levelheadedness and appreciation of different and opposite opinions was really cool and refreshing in the heated and sometimes ugly discussions. Best of luck! And know that in the trolly shit-hole that the internet can be, you have people who like what you do and how you do it!
Thanks so much mate :P
I'm late to the party, but wow Prey bring back what's been missing for a long time. I've still got Deus Ex, System Shock 2 and Thief running on this machine, don't play them much anymore it was just hard to get them going. Great review, I was looking for tips to get through the final brutal onslaught, which is my only complaint. Second playthrough is much easier when you know how important neuromods are, and how to build your character for pesky Operator defense.
I bought this well after it came out and knew little of it - did briefly play the demo. I picked it up for 20 bucks not expecting much, and was so pleasantly surprised. I can't think of many other games quite like this on PS4. But apropos to your wrap up, I pretty much agree. This is one of those games where, after the first two thirds and you realize what's up and you've pretty much unlocked the secrets and when it unleashes the last hurdle, the spamming military robots and
sends you down the home stretch, sadly I felt this is where the game overstayed it's welcome, just a little. But there are so many good aspects that made this a game well worth playing, even if sadly it's not as memorable as you want it to be.
I'm really sad watching this after redfall's huge failure. Please learn from Capcom after 2014 they released great game after great game.Screw you Microsoft. As a publisher why you just don't canceled it?
I'm curious about what type of build you used when you were playing in this review. I recently completed Prey today and it never occurred to me that the military operators were that big of an issue, my complaint was that the game got easier as I progressed through it due to neuromods heavily increasing the strength of my character to the point where every enemy was a minor nuisance at worst.
Must admit, at first when the Division content start to slow, i was like "skill up new review... meh". But you re reviews are actually dope!
Really good work and always good advice.
Hard disagree on the beginning, they bought that IP because franchises inherently have more value than brand new IPs that start with none not because it was a good game, and they got it for $15. The first one was HORRENDOUS and a large reason why A LOT of people didnt even bother to look at this
hey skill up brilliant work man im so glad that u hit a home run with everyone on this i hope u go well with ur new content and u have given a great vid agen and im hopeing that u make more content like this cause its epic