Recent reviews by Sorting Algorithms

I could never get far in either System Shock despite being a huge fan of the genre, but I've played through Prey multiple times and keep returning to it. My only real complaint is that the final act of the game drags with repetitive combat encounters, everything up until then is about the peak of freeform immersive sim games.

The faux-retro aesthetic is a negative, the game gives clues based on hair texture and eye color and mask components but the fidelity is poor enough to make reading them difficult at times. Is that blob of black pixels on top of someone's head a horn or a feather?

But it does deliver on a novel premise and the price is right, I don't regret playing it.

This feels more like a prototype or proof of concept than finished game. There is such a small pool of random events that they start repeating during your very first playthrough. Some of the art is bespoke but most of it is historical art from the public domain so there's no real cohesive visual identity. The interface buries fundamental statistics that should always be available at a glance. This is a really neat concept for a game but it doesn't rise to the occasion.

The keyword system is a great way of shaking up the typical Stardew/crafting game. I have small technical and balance quibbles but as a whole there is a lot of game to dig into. Especially at the humble asking price, it's a steal if it clicks with you at all.

Feels like a mobile game, very little actual meaningful player expression or variation.

An overall upgrade on the first game in just about every way. Splitting off the more focused and complicated maps into their own separate heists was a great idea, and the drone and planning mode negate a lot of tedium. Letting you eventually be more proactice with sleeping gas and tranquilizer darts still has enough drawbacks (cost, time limit) to not negate the core gameplay. The only complaint I have is that much like the first game the in-game economy isn't great; if you play around you can easily max out your skills and equipment before you even start the second neighborhood, leaving you nothing but cosmetic decorations for your house to spend your hard-earned money on.

If you have fond memories of Stubbs the Zombie, let them stay fond memories.

Dev is pro-trans, pro-illegal immigration and hates white people.

Has a section where a hanged man quotes negative reviews of the game and everything he says is 100% correct.

The first two neighborhoods are great! Scoping out suburban homes for the perfect time to sneak in, tracking down unique and valuable loot, doing Keystone Kops chases and hiding in closets to avoid getting tazed; this is a janky game with plenty of rough spots, but there's also a lot to enjoy if you vibe with it. The final act of the game and the DLC lose the plot a bit, you move on to industrial areas and palatial estates that feel more like typical stealth game levels than the things that made the rest of the game special. But if you power (or cheat) your way through them, the New Game+ mode lets you play through the good neighborhoods all over again!