Prey: Mooncrash melds Arkane's excellent immersive sim playground with the challenge of a roguelike that gives players a good excuse to dive back into what made Prey so fun.
Prey is an incredible game. In the stable of Bethesda first-person games, Prey is also the runt of the litter. Despite being made by Dishonored developer Arkane Studios, Prey didn’t seem to resonate with the masses. It wasn’t Fallout or the Elder Scrolls. It didn’t have the Nazi-killing gusto of Wolfenstein or the lineage of Doom. But just like Dishonored, Prey plucked from the best and wore its influences on its sleeve.
The depth of choice of previous Bethesda games was there. Similar to Bioshock and System Shock, Prey‘s space station Talos 1 blossomed with gameplay permutations that could make any encounter feel unique. Psychological horror, tense gameplay, and deep science fiction lore were all present, yet it still didn’t feel like enough to propel Prey deeper into the minds of gamers and critics as 2017 came to a close. Maybe that’s why the release of Prey: Mooncrash is so exciting. In essence, it’s more Prey and another chance to dive into Arkane’s world with a clever, appropriate twist.
Prey: Mooncrash is an expansion of the base game, taking place in the same general timeframe as Prey. It isn’t necessarily a direct continuation of the story but a knowledge of the setting and events of the main game helps players appreciate the DLC more. And let’s be honest, who is really playing Mooncrash without having at least jumped into Prey?
Even with this DLC, Arkane is not straying from the heady mind trips it put players through in the base game. Most of Mooncrash is conducted in a simulation run by a hacker employed by the Kasma Corporation. Players take control of the hacker who takes control of the only five people known to survive whatever transpired on the Pytheas Moonbase. It’s a simulation of a simulation, and for Prey fans it’s a juicy enough premise. Just like on Talos 1, throughout Pytheas there are emails and books to read that continue threads from Prey. The alien Typhon race is there, along with the GLOO gun, so players will feel right at home.
Mooncrash is more focused on gameplay than expanding on Prey‘s universe, however. Similar to Talos 1, Pytheas has different wings and sections that tell environmental stories with little to no words. But outside of the core “simulation” there isn’t going to be much else to latch on to.
Players start Mooncrash as the “Volunteer,” a bald guy with a truly gnarly facial scar. The Volunteer is the first available survivor who leans towards an upgrade path with Typhon abilities. After walking through the first door, players are attacked by the shape-shifting Mimics and only have the use of a trusty wrench to bludgeon them to death. From there, the objective is simple: escape Pytheas. But Mooncrash does things differently from Prey.
Arkane twists the formula of Prey and shapes it into a roguelike. The structure of each of Pytheas’ levels remains the same but weapons, items, and enemies are randomized each time. If all the characters die, the run resets and things shuffle around a bit. Some may lament that the environments aren’t random but because the difficulty of Mooncrash can grow intense, having familiar landmarks is actually a boon to enjoying a run. To prevent players from feeling directionless, a laundry list of objectives is provided under the pretense that they are being handed down by Kasma Corporation as tasks required to complete your contract. These objectives range from collecting fabrication blueprints to escaping Pytheas in a specific way with a specific character.
My first run of Mooncrash was surprisingly successful. I entered into the central “hub” of Pytheas where access to the other sections of the Moonbase branched out. After getting my bearings and nearly dying several times because I had virtually no resources or abilities, I made it to an escape pod after maybe an hour or two of stumbling around. For the most part, any one run of Mooncrash feels rewarding because finding a dead body, picking up a blueprint, killing a Typhon, or completing some other small objective rewards a kind of currency. At the start of a new run, this currency can be cashed in to equip a character with guns, consumables, or any number of helpful items. It felt pretty good to guide the hideous Volunteer to whatever safety he hopefully reached.
Then came run number two. By escaping I had unlocked the use of the engineer who started out with a wrench and the ability to instantly summon a friendly turret. This was great because immediately upon entering the Pytheas hub a Moon Shark spawned. Yes, a Moon Shark. This lovely brand of Typhon burrows underground and can rapidly close the distance on players before shooting out a damaging blast of energy. The Moon Shark is powerful and very resilient to bullets and knocked over my turrets before they could fire off a shot. Even the jetpack that was given to me barely helped put some distance between me and the Moon Shark. It didn’t help that rogue machines and other Typhons also wanted a piece. Suffice it to say, the second run ended rather swiftly.
Mooncrash quickly teaches players a few harsh lessons about its rules. Perhaps the most important rule to understand is that it is unwise to take every item that can be found. As players begin to unlock more characters they may begin to notice after successfully escaping with someone the items in their possession don’t come back. That gun found on the first dead body is gone. The medkit that seemed so conveniently housed away in a locker is off somewhere in an escape pod. This is a brutal realization, especially when players are required to get out all five characters to reach “the end.” Arkane’s solution to this potential problem is definitely the currency system but many players might not realize the price until much too late.
When I realized that items didn’t come back after a character escaped I tried to get clever. For the most part I had become accustomed to the layout of parts of Pytheas and killed nearly all the Typhons in my path to escaping on a shuttle. Knowing my full inventory would go with me, I decided to be a nice guy and deposit all of my items on a couple bodies at the opening door where things were safer. That way, I could spend less currency and give my second character an edge. Being clever didn’t work. Despite already killing a Moon Shark in the hub, a second had spawned on my trip back from item depositing. I managed to escape with my life but created a problem in the form of Corruption levels.
The most insidious mechanic in Mooncrash is a Corruption timer that is introduced after successfully escaping with one character. This timer represents how long players are inside the simulation. When the Corruption bar fills up, it goes to a new level. Hit max level and the simulation is reset. But with each new level more powerful enemies appear. Up to the second Corruption level, players need only worry about Mimics and the bipedal Typhons that talk as if they are still human. When those levels tick up you start getting the real terrifying monsters that are shielded or do elemental damage. Perhaps the most unfortunate thing about Corruption is that each time players hit a new level, a previously cleared area will be filled with Typhons.
That clever plan I spoke of? I became the victim of Corruption levels. Across Pythaes players can find glowing pink hourglasses that dial back some Corruption. After a point they can be fabricated once a blueprint is found and the materials are gathered. It’s another band-aid to help players see the light at the end of the tunnel rather than become frustrated at a game mechanic. Despite keeping the Corruption at bay in my successful run that Moon Shark still managed to appear and in the process of fighting it off, my Corruption level hit the third stage. After running my way back to the shuttle, Typhons had infested what was once clean. Yes, it was tense but it was also annoying. And to make matters more stressful, the current Corruption level carries over into the next run, further weighing on players as they gasp for escape.
Like most roguelikes, Mooncrash has its sweeping victories and agonizing defeats. Initially, defeat comes because players have not explored enough to fund a better run. The randomization of items can sometimes be harsh but I never found myself wanting for an item on a first run. Arkane could have done a little bit better at tutorializing the DLC, especially for those rusty at Prey. Getting a powerful shotgun with elemental damage the first few minutes in may fill a player with relief. But that relief will soon be ground into a fine paste when a Typhon blasts them from a distance and inflicts a bleeding status ailment that can’t be cured because the appropriate healing item is nowhere nearby. Luckily, any nodes unlocked on the upgrade tree remain, shaving off another barrier for an eventual victory lap where all five characters make it out.
Despite the difficulty, Mooncrash is a wonderful piece of DLC. It maintains all the elements that made Prey an exceptional first-person playground. The limited resources and constant ticking of the clock make it more akin to Resident Evil 7 or another survival horror game. The immersive nature of Prey‘s core remains intact and allows players a great amount of freedom that isn’t often seen in a roguelike. Each of the five characters’ specialties means that runs are less stale and the stakes actually rise as Pytheas becomes more hostile and void of assistance. Prey: Mooncrash works surprisingly well as a companion piece to Prey despite its limited scope in expanding the game’s story. But if it helps interest swell, maybe Bethesda will fund more trips into this extraterrestrial haunt.
