Lolus

Another illustration from Lost in Cult's upcoming book "Perfect Organism" a celebration of Alien Isolation written by Andy Kelly! Illustrated by me!

hi i remembered i can post

and secondly. it wears its influence from bioshock on its sleeve. it's clear as day and affectionate with it. I spent the whole game talking about how lovely it was to just... get to play bioshock again.

but then in the final act of the game it becomes clear it's not just that. not just another stylish, midcentury-inspired game about injecting horrible bullshit into yourself to survive. it's not just the best bits of bioshock.

it's also the best bits of mass effect.

you know how the ME trilogy juggled huge concepts like ancient space species with unfathomable goals and mixed in oddities like prematurely expiring suns and harvesting human DNA and whatever. Prey is like taking out all the fluff in Mass Effect that didn't need to be there and then showing you the actual fear you should have felt at its concepts.

I didn't just get a loving retread of the best moments of Bioshock, I didn't just get a Bioshock that didn't waste its twist 2/3rds of the way through, I also got Mass Effect 3 done exactly right, horrifying and stunning in equal measure.

It doesn't get sidetracked by triple-A exploration, vehicle sections and concepts that felt cool in the boardroom, but crumpled under their own narrative weight versus a looming deadline. I reserve my highest praise for a game that knew what it was, what story it was telling, and restricts itself to excelling at that.