I was reminded of how I felt about Prey (2017) as Pat has just beaten it on stream.

I'm an Arkane fan, I enjoy the Dishonored series despite it's flaws. When Prey (2017) came out I was hyped, grabbed it day one, and kinda fell off it that week. I didn't get far, mostly cos I kept getting curbed stomped by Phantoms.

A few months later I try again and I was hooked that time. It was all I played for maybe a week and a half. The side quests were interesting, the choices I had to make felt real and it felt like the world respected them.

"We need to open this bay door but there's a dozen phantoms behind it." - Then I'm gonna grab and fabricate as many turrets as I can to protect this area. And it worked! I didn't lose a single NPC in that sequence.

I was so invested in the story, that I even changed my mind on my brother. From what I recall, he's the reason you're in these loops and it seems like he's a really shady character. Towards the end there was a moment where he sounded truly, genuinely, sad that I didn't trust him. Something about his line delivery made me go, "Alright. I'll trust you." And I did from that point on. I saved him and everyone else I could.

It felt like the game was coming to a close, and I hadn't bought a single Typhon ability. I had decided early on I was gonna go hard into Typhon stuff for my new game plus, I was keen.

Then the ending came. And it was revealed, that everything I had experienced and done was a simulation. I was so deflated. It felt like none of my choices truly mattered, "Oh this one's being a cunt, better execute it and try again." Even though I'm aware I was free to make the morally evil choices and I'd chosen what felt like the morally good choices, I just felt cheated. I went from considering Prey to be one of my favourite FPS games that I was gushing about to my friends, to something I haven't touched in about 4 years and I can't bring myself to play it again, cos what'd be the point.

So what's done that for you? From positive to negative, or vice versa