➤ Prey DLC Review: Mooncrash 🎮

Prey di Arkane Studios it is probably one of the most underrated stocks in recent years. Not so much from the critics and the public who have been able to appreciate the latest sci-fi horror work of the fathers of the Dishonored saga, but rather from the market where the title has not managed to break through as it would have liked. Despite everything, however, the developers did not indulge in commercial logic "if it doesn't sell as it should, we won't work on it" and with the first standalone DLC, Prey: Mooncrash, they gave us another pearl that we are sure will be loved by everyone who enjoyed the main chapter.

Prey: Mooncrash, available on the PlayStation Store for 19,99 euros, tells the events following the events narrated in Prey. We are on a TranStar moon base, whose communications were suddenly cut off without any explanation. Our protagonist, Peter, is sent to find out what happened and to do so he will use a virtual immersion system capable of recreating the last hours of life of five of the occupants of the base, each with its own peculiarities and weaknesses and able to influence your gameplay. Of course, the TranStar base is infested with Mimic and Typhoon and all the other amenities seen in the main game - with some tasty new additions. Collecting clues, therefore, is certainly not easy, especially when after the first hours of the game the number of enemies will grow dramatically, making it practically impossible to continue with your meager initial resources.

Live. Die. Repeat. Or better: Live. Die. Adapt. Escape!

However, the real peculiarity of the game system created by Arkane Studios (the American cousins based in Austin, Texas ed) is that in this new adventure the "game over" is an essential part of the gaming experience. After the first game over, the immersive simulation system (do not forget that we are in a TranStar simulation) shows us a summary screen of our performance allowing us to restart the simulation itself, keeping experience and resources collected during our adventure, but consuming a part of the credits collected. Simulation after simulation, character after character, our Peter will go further and further to discover the secrets of the uninhabited base, in a game world which, while remaining unchanged in level design, constantly changes from the point of view of the enemies to be faced and of the situations proposed, always leaving you with very few points of reference. If you want to find a cinematic reference, think of a Memento, with elements to the Edge of Tomorrow, in a futuristic setting similar to that of Moon, wonderful debut work by Duncan Jones (David Bowie's son) which we advise you to recover as soon as possible if you have not yet done so.

From a strictly playful point of view, the Mooncrash DLC retains the charm from sci-fi horror by Prey: i jump scares are on the agenda and certainly more than a few times you will find yourself cursing the screen for yet another trick of camouflaged mimic. Furthermore, surviving with ammunition always at a minimum is not an easy task and this contributes to increasing the anxiety-producing state that the game tries to transmit to you. Mooncrash will force you to retrace your steps several times, to visit inaccessible areas or to recover material and in this sense the settings are not among the largest. However, the very limited dimensions of the map are functional to the game economy that requires you to memorize your paths in order to completely master the simulation loop. At the end longevity will be around 10/12 hours.

From a technical point of view there is not much to say, as Prey: Mooncrash is identical to the original title from which it derives, so we refer you to our review to find out more. However, here we will limit ourselves to reassuring you, that the graphic sector of Prey, dated 2017 and based on the CryEngine, is aging quite well and although it has never made a miracle cry, it remains decidedly pleasant in its simplicity.

Final comment

Prey: Mooncrash It is a game that many publishers, we are sure, would have resold as a standalone game with a few tweaks here and there and a tweak in the name. Although it fits into the game world of Prey, in fact, it maintains its own autonomy and dignity above all from the playful point of view, with its loop structure that even after countless repetitions never manages to bore you. If you think that repeating a map over and over again is boring, we recommend that you really try to play Prey: Mooncrash, you will discover a DLC that is really worth your money for. And if you have remained attached to your neuro mod, the purchase is practically obligatory.