Prey vs. The Surge: Which Should You Buy?

Prey vs. The Surge

The month of May is a pretty good one for sci-fi fans. Whether you enjoy action RPG gameplay or first-person shooters, there’s a game available for your enjoyment. In particular, the two games we’ll be looking at today are Prey and The Surge. Prey is a reboot of the popular sci-fi shooter series, so you won’t need any knowledge of the original games to enjoy it. Prey was developed by Arkane Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks, and it follows the story of Morgan Yu as he or she tries to find out exactly what happened on the mysterious Talos I space station. There are also aliens.

The Surge is the latest game from Deck13 Interactive, and it’s an action RPG. Instead of dealing with alien threats in the far-flung future, The Surge has more of a dystopian world that could possibly come to fruition in the very near future. As a CREO employee on the first day of the job, Warren finds that disaster has struck his workplace, and hostile robots are attacking him. His fellow colleagues have also turned into husks of their former selves, and are now hostile.

We’re going to be taking a look the settings and stories of both games, and their gameplay aspects to help you decide which game you should purchase this month.

Story and World

Prey vs. The Surge

As I mentioned previously, Prey takes place in the distant future. Players take control of protagonist Morgan Yu as she wakes up one day to find out that she’s been forced to relive the exact same day and events for who knows how long. Due to her loss in memory, she’s forced to wander around the Talos I space station to find out exactly what has gone wrong in the facility. The station itself is also overrun by alien beings known as the Typhon.

Overall, Prey’s setting is a very intriguing and eclectic one. The look and feel of the space station feels awfully reminiscent of BioShock’s Rapture, except instead of being underwater, we’re in outer space. The game’s world makes use of warm, rich colors to accentuate the eeriness of the abandoned space station. Save for the prologue, the game is never overly bright, but that only serves to make it even more atmospheric. It’s worth mentioning that the look and feel of the space tech in Prey is stellar as well. Everything just looks wonderfully futuristic, but so unique at the same time.

On the other hand, The Surge goes for a different approach with its sci-fi story. Our protagonist Warren is wheelchair-bound, but that quickly changes when he joins up with mega corporation CREO. The company hooks him up with an exo-suit to help him walk again, and he’s just about to start his first day on the job when everything goes awry. When Warren wakes up at his workplace, he finds that the CREO machines have become hostile, and his fellow colleagues are now zombie-like husks that will stop at nothing to kill him.

In contrast to Prey, The Surge is a very bright game. Instead of being overly sci-fi and futuristic, the game goes for a more industrial look. There are ruined machines and metalwork everywhere, and the game’s world certainly feels a lot colder and harder than the one in Prey does.

The biggest difference with these two games is that Prey is certainly a lot more focused on its story and narrative, while The Surge is more content with hitting players with unforgiving action combat than actually letting the plot unfold. If you’re looking for a more story-driven title, Prey might be more up your alley than The Surge is.

Gameplay

Prey vs. The Surge

First things first, Prey is played entirely in first-person, and it features guns, melee weapons, and special alien abilities that you can unlock later on in the game. This means that if you choose to do so, you can fight enemies head on, and essentially play the game like an FPS. There are different types of pistols, shotguns, and rifles that you can fire. Alternatively, you can also use your alien superpowers to be extra sneaky, and even transform into a tiny, alien-like lifeform to get around in certain areas. Think Dishonored, but with more guns at your disposal.

Unfortunately, from our experience with the game, we’ve found that the gunplay and melee combat in Prey can feel a little weightless. Without the ability to actually aim down sights, aiming your weapons can feel imprecise, making it difficult to land shots. Melee combat is pretty much the same, and it’s difficult to tell when an enemy is out of your range. The weird hit boxes often make it feel like you should be whacking an enemy on the head, but you end up hitting air instead.

Outside of combat, the exploration bits are actually quite satisfying. Because of the numerous abilities you can unlock, players can pursue different methods of accessing areas in Talos I. For instance, you could search a nearby area for a keycard to unlock a door, or you could just use your GLOO Cannon to shoot glue on the walls, climb up, and find an access point from up top.

The Surge is a third-person action RPG that draws a lot of combat inspirations from FromSoftware’s Soulsborne games. You’ll use the shoulder buttons to dodge and attack, and you have to manage your stamina meter as well. Defeating enemies rewards you with Tech Scrap, which are basically experience points that let you level up. However, if you die, you drop your Tech Scrap, and you’ll need to retrieve it by going to the place where you originally died. Die again, and all of that experience is gone for good.

The exploration bits are also very similar to Soulsborne titles. Massive levels are littered with dangerous enemies, item pickups, and satisfying shortcuts that loop you back to the nearest medbay (basically a bonfire, in Souls terms). While there’s no character customization available, The Surge gives you quite a bit of freedom in how you want to build your character. There are different pieces of armor you can attach to your exo-suit, weapon types, and implants that can turn you into either a tank, or an agile fighter.

So Which Should You Buy?

At the end of the day, the choice of which to buy is really left up to player preference. Both games are essentially sci-fi titles, yes, but the similarities end there. If you want a space drama set in the far reaches of the universe, Prey is the one to go for. If you want a game set in a not-so-distant dystopian future, filled with hostile machines in a Terminator sort of way, The Surge has you covered.

It’s also important to know what kind of gameplay you want as well. Prey lets you play the game as a first-person shooter, or a first-person stealth/tactical title. The Surge is an unforgiving action RPG that forces you to learn enemy patterns and move sets in order to improve your chances of survival.

Both games are available on the PS4, Xbox One, and PC, so there shouldn’t be much of an issue if you only own one platform with no access to the rest. Prey is already available in stores, while The Surge is set to be released on May 16.

Which are you planning to pick up? Let us know in the comments down below.