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!

Was expecting a bit more out of this based on how I remember people talking about it when it came out. It starts out strong, very effective at getting you emotionally invested. I was all-in, cared about Henry's well being, was intrigued by the mysterious hints of weirdness going on, was speculating wildly about Delilah's character and motivations (the voice acting is great, by the way, the quality of the performances really helped carry the dialogue that otherwise could've felt pretty dated, as there's a fair share of very 2010's "um...did that just happen?" style banter in this game).
But the story just kinda...sputters out. No big satisfying reveal to the mystery, really, no deeper insights into Delilah or her motives. More than any other game in recent memory, this made me feel like I missed something important that would make the story all come together. But after looking into it, I guess I didn't?
I really appreciate the mood, tone and themes this game was exploring, but ultimately it's just that, a vibey little tone piece about grief and how if you try to run away from it it will always catch back up with you in the end. But I can't help wishing that Firewatch was either a bit more ambitious with its plot or gameplay or that it had something more interesting to say about its themes.

A day or two ago it was the 11th anniversary of Infinite's release, and boy does this game stink, folks! It's very bad!
"What if there was a christofascist society where the underclasses rose up to overthrow their oppressors but - what a twist - what if in doing so, they revealed that they were just as bad as their oppressors?" Shut the fuck up, Ken Levine!! Parents, show this game to your kids that want to grow up to be game devs! This is what smug, narcissistic lib-brain does to a talented game director!
Even Neil Druckmann managed to improve at least the gameplay from TLOU to TLOU2, but Ken figured out a way to completely ruin the combat that Bioshock 2 nearly perfected! It's almost impressive!

(Only reason this isn't a half star is because the first hour or so is very pretty and that acapella Beach Boys cover was pretty neat. Do yourself a favor and instead of playing this game, go listen to some pretty Brian Wilson tunes, your life will be richer for it!)

This was my introduction to the franchise, which I've gathered may not have been the best choice, but here we are.
If this actually is the worst game in the series, I'm excited to keep going, since this was by no means terrible. But it was definitely a slog to get through at times.
Difficulty levels for fights are absolutely fucked. Random encounters are far too easy and forgettable, while the boss fights can be throw-your-controller-at-the-wall levels of frustrating. I'm not a huge fighting game guy so I can't fully articulate why, but the combat was simply...not very fun. Felt bad.
Leveling up, unlocking abilities and your inventory are also just not good. Poorly designed, poorly explained.
The characters and the world definitely have their charms, but their characterization is too shallow and their motivations and decision making at times just didn't make sense.
Ultimately, a charming game that keeps a brisk enough pace and changes setting enough to keep you from thinking too much about what a mediocre time it is.