Like the lovechild of Dead Space and BioShock (but more similar to System Shock if we're being really specific), Prey is an immersive sim that takes place in space, aboard Talos I, where you play as Morgan Yu, a scientist and the vice president and Director of Research of TranStar Industries.
You're given a variety of tools and weapons to use at your disposal, including mind powers inherited from the alien race you fight against in-game. Your arsenal allows for open-ended gameplay and gives the player opportunities to be creative in the ways they approach the challenges within.
It's mechanically ingenious, and the gameplay loop is very satisfying. The graphics are beautiful, seeing as the game was made in CryEngine. The world is well crafted and the narrative is solid. Characters are well-written and have exceptional voice acting. Enemies are diverse and require a varied array of tactics to kill or incapacitate each one. The music, done by Mick Gordon (the genius behind the iconic Doom soundtracks), is very atmospheric and does a good job setting the mood. Overall, it's a very good game.
However, where it falls short is in its polish. Sometimes after exiting a menu, I would try sprinting and it would instead open up the Steam overlay. Enemy AI would sometimes stop being intelligent and just break during encounters. The game crashed a handful of times. The end of the game seemed especially buggy, as I had two questlines bug out on me, and during Alex's cutscene where he gives you the fabrication plan for the Prototype Nullwave Transmitter, his character model freaked out and started trying to walk in all directions at once. Saving Dahl was a pain, as he kept dying for no reason, and I left him for dead several times until at one point, randomly, the quest worked and I saved him. Afterward, I had to reload the game a few times to get a fabricator to work properly so I could craft said Nullwave Transmitter.
Aside from that, most other frustrating situations mainly were due to me failing to properly prepare myself or just being unlucky and ending up in the wrong place at the wrong time, or even just trying to rush things and ending up paying the price.
There is a difficulty setting, so if you feel like it's too hard, you can tone it down, or crank it up if you want maximum punishment.
Length wise, I feel it can overstay its welcome, but only by a bit. I did some extra quests, so my playtime was at an inflated 22 hours compared to the standard 17 on HowLongToBeat.
If you like BioShock/System Shock, Thief, Deus Ex, or other immersive sims, it's very likely you'll thoroughly enjoy this one.