Last week, I kind of lamented how I waited too long to play Prey, despite my love for Arkane Studios and everything that they've done in the past decade plus. Well, I'm back with that sentiment this week, only this week it feels even more egregious. Prey: Mooncrash was included in the "ultimate edition" of Prey that I bought, but at the time it just did not register with me what the promise of a roguelike version of Prey would actually be. I do have some roguelike fatigue, and roguelike fatigue was at its peak when I first played Prey in 2020 or so. So I ignored Mooncrash until Deathloop released, and some content creators that I generally vibe with, namely SkillUp and Game Maker's Toolkit spent a lot of their Deathloop reviews talking about Mooncrash, comparing it favorably to the newer game.
When I finally booted up Mooncrash, after I had completed Deathloop (and recorded and released an episode on the show), I was immediately greeted by all of the potential that Deathloop had. Learn the levels, figure out how to pull off the perfect loop. But unlike Deathloop, Mooncrash made me figure out how to execute the perfect loop myself. I would need to do the planning, I would need to do the preparation, and I would need to execute in order to get all five of the characters out in one go. Deathloop only makes you execute- the planning and prep are done for you by the game. So the comparisons were totally right! Add in a lot more immersive sim systems (owing to the main game), and you have a delightful puzzle that I had a great time with from start to finish.
Joining me in episode 52 of Tales from the Backlog to discuss Prey: Mooncrash are Adam & Kiaran, the hosts of The Good, the Bad & the Backlog. The Good, the Bad & the Backlog is a gaming podcast not unlike Tales from the Backlog (backlog bois unite), where each episode, Adam and Kiaran cover a game that at least one of them had not previously finished. They do a great job of breaking the games down and always entertain with the banter between them.
You can listen to episode 52 of Tales from the Backlog (Prey: Mooncrash) of Tales from the Backlog in the player below, or you can follow the links to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Stitcher, Google Podcasts or search "Tales from the Backlog" in your favorite podcast app!