History YMMV / Prey2017

* ReplacementScrappy: A common complaint towards this game is that it was released instead of the eagerly anticipated sequel to the [[VideoGame/Prey2006 2006 game]] this game took its title from, and many fans of that game were infuriated that this game had [[InNameOnly no relation whatsoever to its namesake]]. This has died down a bit towards the game's release, but some still express the sentiment.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: ''Prey (2017)'' sold below expectations but has been highly praised by players. A frequently cited issue for the game was the confusing marketing, particularly in the insistence on publisher Bethesda's part of naming the game after an unrelated game from 2006. While both ''Preys'' are first person shooters in space, that's where the similarities end; ''2006'' is a linear action/horror FirstPersonShooter about a Native American losing and regaining his connection with his native culture and a mechanical emphasis on portals and gravity manipulation, while ''2017'' is a much a slower paced sci fi PsychologicalHorror/thriller ImmersiveSim with nonlinear progression that focuses its narrative on what it means to be human and its mechanics on outsmarting enemies and obstacles. A common comment is that naming the game "''Neuroshock''", would have avoided the confusing comparison and better stated the game's actual presentation via association with ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' and ''VideoGame/BioShock'', well-known examples of the subgenre.[[note]]The game's director, who left the studio no long after its completion, [[https://kotaku.com/prey-2017-2006-bethesda-imsim-name-arkane-colantonio-1849481519 directly stated that the title was forced on Arkane by Bethesda]]. By any large it's agreed by most folks that the use of the same title as the previous "Prey" was a baffling decision that can really only be explained as an act of pure corporate spite from Bethesda's higher-ups towards Human Head Studios, who was working on the ''actual'' Prey 2 but was actively screwed over by Bethesda due to an attempted hostile acquisition, resulting in the game being canceled when they refused to allow the publisher to buy them out.[[/note]]

** The final mission of Mooncrash is built up to be the most difficult one yet. However, by this time, you have unlocked almost all the neuromods for the characters that you want to use, you know the layout, and the tasks that made the exits difficult (finding the piloting connectome for the shuttle, finding the volunteer for the brain upload) are already done and don't have to be redone. With proper preparation and usage of Hourglasses, it becomes long but relatively easy. However, doing it in this way results in significantly lower payouts of points at the end. While this is a negligible issue for those simply wanting to complete the game, playing the game at higher Corruption levels is beneficial for those going for the Galaxy Brain achievement (All Neuromod abilities unlocked on all characters) or those simply looking for high scores.

* ScrewedByTheNetwork: ''Prey (2017)'' sold below expectations but has been highly praised by players. A frequently cited issue for the game was the confusing marketing, particularly in the insistence on publisher Bethesda's part of naming the game after an unrelated game from 2006. While both ''Preys'' are first person shooters in space, that's where the similarities end; ''2006'' is a linear action/horror FirstPersonShooter about a Native American losing and regaining his connection with his native culture and a mechanical emphasis on portals and gravity manipulation, while ''2017'' is a much a slower paced sci fi PsychologicalHorror/thriller ImmersiveSim with nonlinear progression that focuses its narrative on what it means to be human and its mechanics on outsmarting enemies and obstacles. A common comment is that naming the game "''Neuroshock''", would have avoided the confusing comparison and better stated the game's actual presentation via association with ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' and ''VideoGame/BioShock'', well-known examples of the subgenre.
* SeparatedByACommonLanguage: "Morgan" is essentially unheard of as a female name in Britain, which can lead to its use as a unisex one here coming off as a bit contrived.

** "Three-Body Problem" in ''Mooncrash'' requires immobilizing three enemies with a single GLOO charge. This is obnoxious for a number of reasons. First, you have to get three enemies to gather in one place, which is difficult to pull off on lower Corruption levels. Second, you have to manage to hit all three of them, which is harder than it sounds because the GLOO charge isn't terribly accurate and only has a range of a couple meters. Finally, unlike the companion achievement "Psychostatic Efficiency", you can't use Cystoids as a cheap workaround because they are killed in the process.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Was Alex right to experiment with the Typhon? It's obviously incredibly dangerous, unethical and risks drawing their attention (and the experiments did result in the outbreak on Talos 1), but given the possibility that they may eventually find their way to earth regardless was it worth the risk to learn more about their ecology and ensure that mankind is prepared?

** The [[spoiler: Apex Typhon. While it's technically the biggest, most powerful Typhon in the game...you don't actually get to fight it, only the tentacles it sprouts on Talos 1. Even then, said tentacles can't be killed and can only be repelled, only serving as a stage hazard for the very final portion of the game.]] It borders on CutsceneBoss.

** "I and It" requires the player to personally kill every living human in the game that you can get to. "Personally" is the important word there: you have to deliver the killing blow yourself. Mind-controlled humans forced into killing themselves in the process of harming you does not count, which usually necessitates [[ViolationOfCommonSense knocking out the mind-controlled person and then finishing them off afterwards]]. Mind-controlled humans that wander into environmental hazards (which easily happens in the Gym's gas pipes) will also null the achievement and force you to restart, and if you miss even one knocked-out human they will despawn and lock you out of the achievement. The game likewise doesn't count indirect means of killing people such as [[spoiler: releasing a Mimic into the volunteer's chamber in Psychotronics]], with the exception of [[spoiler: blowing up the escape pod with two people trapped inside, since you can't reach them otherwise]]. By the same token, [[spoiler:the imposter cook killing himself with the recycler grenade]] also locks you out of the achievement]]. It is one of the rarest achievements for that reason, being ten times rarer than [[VideogameCaringPotential its opposite "I and Thou" achievement]].

*** Voltaic Phantoms are by far the worst. They release constant electricity which disables everything in range (including your guns), damages power conduits to create environmental hazards, and electrify metal surfaces and puddles of water, all of which makes getting close to them a death sentence. If you're too far away, they fire a damaging lightning ball that homes in on you. Finally, they're much tougher than the other two. Their only saving grace is that they do not FlashStep or even run, just methodically march toward you.

*** Voltaic Phantoms are by far the worst. They release constant electricity which disables everything in range (including your guns) and makes getting close to them a death sentence. If you're too far away, they fire a damaging lightning ball that homes in on you. Finally, they're much tougher than the other two. Their only saving grace is that they do not FlashStep or even run, just methodically march toward you.

** Harvesters in Mooncrash. They are very slow robots, but they are extremely durable and their main way of attacking is by inhaling everything in front of them - If you're sucked in, you die instantly. The weird thing is that the non-corrupted ones are arguably more of a threat than the corrupted ones. While Corrupted ones chase you, the normal ones simply potter around and do their material-harvesting work without much of a pattern. [[ParanoiaFuel This can easily result in you hearing their warning siren, abruptly being yanked sideways and killed instantly.]]
** ''Mooncrash'' takes place on the moon... and thus there are Moon Sharks in the Crater. Step directly on the moon's surface, and they'll come to investigate - if they confirm your presence, they'll rapidly fling large rocks at you that cause massive damage and are almost guaranteed to inflict hemorrhages. They CAN be killed, but they won't go down easily. [[spoiler:And don't think you're necessarily safe in the Moonworks...]]

** The Disruptor Stun Gun is [[JokeItem kind of a joke]], being that it takes forever to charge, has crappy range, and doesn't have much punch. Put some effort into upgrading it, though, and it will put down [[spoiler:Blackbox Operators]] in a couple hits and stun even the largest Typhon for around 10 seconds, allowing you to beat them to death with impunity. Combine ''that'' with the Sneak Attack Neuromods, and the Disrupter becomes an [[LethalJokeItem important addition to your arsenal]].
** The Disruptor is even more broken in the Mooncrash DLC. While it's still effective against corrupted Operators, its main usage is temporarily disabling Typhon Gates, which block a door if Typhon are detected about, and will detect you as Typhon if you have enough Typhon neuromods installed. Being able to go right past the shield without having to fight all the Typhon around you -- saving time, health and real weapon ammo -- is a huge bonus for a mode where every second matters, and is more or less required for characters that can't disable the gates on their own when fully modded (Vijay is the only character who will never trip the sensor, and Joan has Typhon-based electrical damage to bypass them innately).

** The Psychostatic Cutter from Mooncrash. While it does not have the raw damage of an equivalent-rarity Wrench, its charged attack sends out a psychic missile attack if you have 20 Psi available. This projectile can pierce some solid objects, and can nullify the attacks of certain enemies and cause them to flee, and as it hits with both the physical weapon and the bolt, it can oneshot enemies quite often. What makes it even better is that an Elite version is guaranteed to spawn within Pytheas Labs, and this one can be easily Reverse Engineered by Joan, making it possible to mass produce in a Fabricator or add to your loadout in the ready room. It is also highly likely to be found/spawned/created with the Electric Damage modifier, so it can be used to shut down Typhon gates with a single strike, which makes it an invaluable speedrunning tool. As icing on the cake, it is one of the few items that does not have Durability, meaning it is reliable and even more likely to hit the Electric mod.

** "I and It" requires the player to [[KillEmAll personally kill every living human in the game that you can get to]]. "Personally" is the important word there: you have to deliver the killing blow yourself. Mind-controlled humans forced into killing themselves in the process of harming you does not count, which usually necessitates [[ViolationOfCommonSense knocking out the mind-controlled person and then finishing them off afterwards]]. Mind-controlled humans that wander into environmental hazards (which easily happens in the Gym's gas pipes) will also null the achievement and force you to restart, and if you miss even one knocked-out human they will despawn and lock you out of the achievement. The game likewise doesn't count indirect means of killing people such as [[spoiler: releasing a Mimic into the volunteer's chamber in Psychotronics]], with the exception of [[spoiler: blowing up the escape pod with two people trapped inside, since you can't reach them otherwise]]. By the same token, [[spoiler:the imposter cook killing himself with the recycler grenade]] also locks you out of the achievement]]. It is one of the rarest achievements for that reason, being ten times rarer than [[VideogameCaringPotential its opposite "I and Thou" achievement]].

** "I and It" requires the player to [[KillEmAll personally kill every living human in the game that you can get to]]. "Personally" is the important word there: you have to deliver the killing blow yourself. Mind-controlled humans forced into killing themselves in the process of harming you does not count, which usually necessitates [[ViolationOfCommonSense knocking out the mind-controlled person and then finishing them off afterwards]]. Mind-controlled humans that wander into environmental hazards (which easily happens in the Gym's gas pipes) will also null the achievement and force you to restart, and if you miss even one knocked-out human they will despawn and lock you out of the achievement. The game likewise doesn't count indirect means of killing people such as [[spoiler: releasing a Mimic into the volunteer's chamber in Psychotronics]], with the exception of [[spoiler: blowing up the escape pod with two people trapped inside, since you can't reach them otherwise]]. By the same token, [[spoiler:the imposter cook killing himself with the recycler grenade]] also locks you out of the achievement]]. It is one of the rarest achievements for that reason, being ten times rarer than [[VideogameCaringPotential its opposite "I and Thou" achievement]].

** The Disruptor Stun Gun is [[JokeItem kind of a joke]], being that it takes forever to charge and doesn't have much punch. Put some effort into upgrading it, though, and it suddenly can practically one-hit even the [[spoiler:Blackbox Operators]] at the end of the game. Combine ''that'' with the Sneak Attack Neuromods, and the Disrupter becomes an [[LethalJokeItem important addition to your arsenal]].
** The Disruptor is even more broken in the Mooncrash DLC. While it's still effective against corrupted Operators, its main usage is temporarily disabling Typhon Gates, which normally block a door if Typhon are detected about (you included if you have Typon neuromods). Not having to hunt down and fight all the Typhon around you, saving time, health and real weapon ammo is a huge bonus for a mode where every second matters.

* ItsShortSoItSucks: Also in Mooncrash, Riley's Story mission is trivial. You can complete it in two minutes without a single bit of combat by retrieving control boxes from downstairs and putting them in upstairs. It is essentially impossible to lose. It's neat from a story perspective, but by far the weakest of the character storylines due to how short it was. Due to this, it is often suggested that people avoid completing it, in order to avoid crossing the PointOfNoReturn.

** "I and It" requires the player to [[KillEmAll ''personally kill'' every living human in the game that you can get to]]. That means you have to deliver the killing blow yourself, mind-controlled humans forced into killing themselves in the process of harming you does not count, which usually necessitates [[ViolationOfCommonSense knocking out the mind-controlled person and then finishing them off afterwards]], and indirect means of killing people such as [[spoiler: releasing a Mimic into the volunteer's chamber in Psychotronics]] do not count either except for [[spoiler: blowing up the escape pod with 2 people trapped inside]]. Mind-controlled humans that wander into environmental hazards (which easily happens in the Gym's gas pipes) will also null the achievement and force you to restart, and if you miss even one knocked-out human they will despawn and lock you out of the achievement. [[spoiler: The imposter cook killing himself with the recycler grenade also locks you out of the achievement]]. It is one of the rarest achievements for that reason, being ten times rarer than [[VideogameCaringPotential its opposite "I and Thou" achievement]].

* MemeticMutation: Thanks to their ability, calling any object a Mimic (such as the Transtar coffee mug) or/and adding a "Not a Mimic" post-it note has become a common joke. Another one is calling the game ''VideoGame/PropHunt'' and jokingly asking a for a multiplayer mode like it.
** And now with the release of Mooncrash, that has come true.

* ParanoiaFuel: The Typhon can mimic perfectly ordinary objects. You can find a way to detect them, but it's not foolproof...

** Mooncrash takes place on the moon... and thus there are Moon Sharks in the Crater. Step directly on the moon's surface, and they'll come to investigate - if they confirm your presence, they'll rapidly fling large rocks at you that cause massive damage and are almost guaranteed to inflict hemorrhages. They CAN be killed, but they won't go down easily. [[spoiler:And don't think you're necessarily safe in the Moonworks...]]
* DifficultySpike: Status ailments (really nasty ones, too, like one that damages you if you sprint), degrading weapons, a death clock that ups enemy difficulty, randomized environmental hazards and the dreaded Moon Shark all make this more difficult than the base game. However, the mitigating factors are that this game is ''intended'' to let you die a lot and keep certain character progression for later, and points can be used to just buy fresh weapons if you found the schematics.
* DisappointingLastLevel: The finale of the main game is seen as this by some. [[PointOfNoReturn It locks off many parts of the base which renders further exploration impossible]], and the final boss, [[spoiler: such as it is, cannot be conventionally fought, only avoided, and can only be destroyed by choosing which method by which you finish the game, which boils down to pressing a button on a terminal.]]

** The Disruptor is even more broken in the Mooncrash DLC. While it's still effective against corrupted Operators, it's main usage is temporarily disabling Typhon Gates, which normally block a door if Typhon are detected about. Not having to hunt down and fight all the Typhon around you, saving time, health and real weapon ammo is a huge bonus for a mode where every second matters.

** The Psychostatic Cutter from Mooncrash. While it does not have the raw damage of an equivalent-rarity Wrench, its charged attack sends out a psychic missile attack if you have 20 Psi available. This projectile can pierce some solid objects, and can nullify the attacks of certain enemies and cause them to flee, and as it hits with both the physical weapon and the bolt, it can oneshot enemies quite often. What makes it even better is that an Elite version is guaranteed to spawn within Pytheas Labs, and this one can be easily Reverse Engineered by Joan, making it possible to mass produce in a Fabricator or add to your loadout in the ready room. It is also highly likely to be found/spawned/created with the Electric Damage modifier, as it can be used to shut down Typhon gates with a single strike, which makes it an invaluable speedrunning tool. As icing on the cake, it is one of the few items that does not have Durability, meaning it is reliable and even more likely to hit the Electric mod.

*** Delay_Loop.Time (The Time-Hourglasses that reduce Corruption). You can find multiple through basic exploration and loot them off of high-tier Typhon (All enemies stronger than Phantoms), and can also find or reverse-engineer a template, allowing you to craft it in-simulation as well as buy a supply on loadout for relatively inexpensive 2,500 game-points. This almost nullifies the corruption timeclock, as you can keep the corruption at level 2 almost indefinitely. This does, however, vastly reduce the points you get for completing tasks.
*** The Mule Operator breaks any remaining difficulty, as you can use it to store accumulated items, breaking the inventory management restriction, but it also shifts items between characters, so the "take it or leave it for the next character" decision becomes a "take everything and just give the mule everything before your exit".

* ItsShortSoItSucks: Also in Mooncrash, Riley's Story mission is trivial. You can complete it in two minutes without a single bit of combat by retrieving control boxes from downstairs and putting them in upstairs. It is essentially impossible to lose. It's neat from a story perspective, but by far the weakest of the character storylines due to how short it was. Due to this, it is often suggested that people avoid completing it, in order to avoid crossing the PointOfNoReturn.

** [[ElementalPowers The variants of the Phantom]], which amp up every bad about the original and add effects that are even worse.

*** Thermal Phantoms constantly create a thermal geyser under your feet as long as they know you're around, and this attack does not need a line of sight to target you. This forces you to be constantly on the move. Melee is also out of the question, as they do constant heat damage if you close in.
*** Voltaic Phantoms release constant electricity which disables everything in range and makes getting close to them a death sentence. Their only saving grace is that they do not FlashStep or even run, just methodically march toward you.
*** Poltergeists are a (thankfully rare) variant that are invisible (even to your psychoscope) and hit you with an attack that knocks you up into the ceiling before dropping you...this is an area effect with no clear discernible origin point, making fighting one a pain if you don't have access to area effect attacks. However, their attacks are reasonably easy to dodge if you can hear them activating next to you, and the Poltergeists themselves are rather frail, and can be killed by a few swings from the wrench.

** Technopaths and Telepaths are very infrequently fought, and for good reason. Their basic attacks are intensely damaging and their abilities mean that taking one out almost always requires time spent removing whatever resources they've taken control of. They also have good defenses, and anything less than a powerful explosion does only negligible damage to them.

* EightPointEight: IGN gave the PC release a 4.0, since the reviewer ran into a severe save-corrupting bug. This was, unsurprisingly, extremely controversial, since the glitch didn't affect most players. Since the review, the issue was fixed, so the score was increased to 8. However, Metacritic still has the 4.0 score, the only negative critic review of it on the site.