The DeanBeat: Prey is a game where the developers decided to torture gamers

Bethesda’s Prey turned out to be a surprisingly engaging game for me. It reminded me of BioShock and its progression system where I became more and more powerful in dealing with frightening enemies. But I also felt manipulated and frustrated. More than once, I slapped my head about why the developers at Arkane Studios, who clearly agonized over this game in the multiple years it took them to make it, made the choices they did. I felt they tortured me.

The game itself had a tortured history. The original came out in 2006 from Human Head Studios. The sequel got lost in development hell, and Bethesda acquired the rights to it. It finally cancelled the sequel in 2014. Meanwhile, Arkane Studios in Austin was making an interesting sci-fi game after creating a title called Arx Fatalis. It was an open-ended space station game. And then it was given the Prey name, though it had no resemblance to the original title. They eventually completed the game and shipped it a few weeks ago (it released on May 5 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows PC). It took me a while, but I finally got to see the final outcome.