Prey was well on its way to being one of my GOATs. The first couple hours in particular, and the opening 2/3rds of it in general, were as strong as any game I've played that's come out in the last 15 years. The worldbuilding was fantastic, if a bit slight, and I absolutely loved the general tone and eerie, spooky vibe, for lack of a better thing to call it. A couple mechanics in particular really brought out a thick, rich sense of foreboding, there were some genuine heart-pounding run-and-hide moments that I just loved.
But the final third lost all momentum, with loads of backtracking and some very anticlimactic fetch-questing. Then the twist ending, which I definitely didn't love, but didn't really hate all that much either? It mostly just felt strange and out of place, and didn't add much to what made the game great in the first place. I definitely would've preferred a more ambiguous ending, personally.
Ultimately, Prey ended up as "just" a very good game for me, not quite the all-time great it could've been. And it's massively disappointing that now, with the closure of Arkane Austin, we're never gonna see a true Prey 2. That one's gonna go down now as one of my biggest video game "what if" scenarios.

While I'm still not crazy about it, the combat's a noticeable improvement over 3. The massive gulf in difficulty between boss fights and non-boss fights in 3 isn't as much of a problem here.
Of the main characters, Akiyama's easily the most charismatic. Would've loved an entire game focused just on him being dreamy and doing his weird loan-sharking.
Least favorite was the weepy sewer hitman. Gambling cop twink was inoffensive, but very forgettable.
Was pleasantly surprised by the game's attempts to show compassion for homeless people. A little clumsy, but seems like their hearts were in the right place.
Excellent soundtrack!