The moment that inspired this question:
A long time ago I was playing an MMO called Voyage of the Century Online. A major part of the game was sailing around on a galleon ship and having naval battles in the 1600s.
The game basically allowed you to sail around all of the oceans of the 1600s world and explore. The game was populated with a lot of NPC ships that you could raid and pick up its cargo for loot.
One time, I was sailing around the western coast of Africa and I came across some slavers. This was shocking to me at the time, and I was like “oh, I’m gonna fuck these racist slavers up!”
I proceed to engage the slave ship in battle and win. As I approach the wreckage, I’m bummed out because there wasn’t any loot. Like every ship up until this point had at least some spare cannon balls or treasure, but this one had nothing.
… then it hit me. A slave ship’s cargo would be… people. I sunk this ship and the reason there wasn’t any loot was because I killed the cargo. I felt so bad.
I just sat there for a little while and felt guilty, but I always appreciated that the developers included that detail so I could be humbled in my own self-righteousness. Not all issues can be solved with force.
The first spacewalk in Prey 2017. It’s incredible. You get out of the gate, look around, see nothing but space around you, hear No Gravity playing (this track is extremely important), and realize how tiny and insignificant you really are. You barely understand how to control your character, everything is clunky, you seem to be in danger from everything around you. It’s a perfectly directed moment.
It’s a shame so many people slept on this game. Dramatically underappreciated. One of the best immersive sims I’ve ever played.
I played Prey two games ago but I still feel like i just left it. The more time passes, the more I’m convinced that it’s my favorite Arkane game. I love the Dishonored game world and lore but I think Prey is a more ‘whole’ game.
I honestly didn’t expect the ending either, while I could see what was coming with Dishonored/2. Felt cathartic.