r/prey • u/Fit-Top-2468 • 1d ago
Is this game supposed to be this slow?
I'm 10 hours into Prey and I've reached Gathering Echoes. I've had the option to learn Psi abilities for about 5 hours but not had enough neuromods to learn anything. I spent what I have found on basic abilities like med pack health boost, repair 2, and hacking 1, gunsmith, and the ability to recycle monster parts. That's it. In 10 hours!
Seems like progression is excruciatingly slow and the only thing I do to kill enemies is gloo them and shoot them in the face with a shotgun.
I'm loving Talos as a setting but I'm desperate for some variety.
Are neuromods rare?
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u/ZylonBane 1d ago
If you don't have enough neuromods to do anything interesting after 10 hours, you're not properly scavenging and/or doing side quests. There are neuromods hidden all over the place.
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u/CrispyAccountant806 1d ago
Hey bro, cool to hear you’re jamming this game. Progression can be as fast or slow as your relative gameplay and as well as the order you choose to do things.
1. Neuromods can be rare but there is also a butt ton hidden around the place. Leave no leaf unturned especially in office or staff areas.
2. Recycling and ammo conservation is your friend. Gloo or stun + Wrench helps a hell of a lot with most enemies.
3. You don’t have to fight every enemy. Sneaking is a perfectly viable tactic when needed.
Once you can get the Neuromod plan you’ll be able to make your own which will also help a lot. Be nosey, be sneaky, and most importantly, remeber to look up. You’ll suprise yourself how often you’ll find a solution.
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u/Fit-Top-2468 1d ago
Thanks.
Tbf my inventory is always full. I have tones of ammo and med kits too - so much so that there's no point fabricating any - but don't want my next upgrade to be the inventory increase 😅
So far, Talos has been one of the most incredible game settings I've ever experienced. But the upgrade system seems way out of balance
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u/EdJD-1968 18h ago
>Tbf my inventory is always full. I have tones of ammo and med kits too - so much so that there's no point fabricating any - but don't want my next upgrade to be the inventory increase
You can just stash away items anywhere, and no one will steal them. So just leave a pile of stuff and you can come back to it when you want to.
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u/mkylvr81 18h ago
Hahaha I stash on bodies all the time...i mean they are just laying there... they can hold my stuff for me lmao 🤣 😂
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u/CrispyAccountant806 1d ago
Personally for me my favorite early upgrades usually involve recycling and wrench at least one. Being able to stun them with the wrench helps with anything that isn’t elemental or flying. Also makes you feel like a boss. Inventory upgrades are Great but managing with a small one is a fun challange also.
One other tip would be get creative with recycle granades. They are amazing for so many things.
Build on what feels like it’ll make you more efficient then you can branch out from there.5
u/ViciousCDXX 1d ago
You're going to do some decent backtracking if you decide to mess with side quests and you can craft pretty much everything you need from recipes. Resources aren't as hard to come by as you may think at the start. Boost your recycle yield and spec into typhon organ harvesting and you will be able to make more neuromods than you even need Recycle charges are best for enemies or removing obstacles, don't try to use them to get mats. Highly inefficient. Scan everything with your scope that you can and Telepathy is absolutely OP.
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u/RandomSwaith 1d ago
Is it the weapon mods that are your main issue? You can manufacture them too.
I'll typically aim to have the shotgun fully upgraded in the first few hours to ensure optimal ammo usage for the early sparse period.
Glad to hear you're having a good time
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u/TranslatorCapital818 9h ago
You should be able to upgrade your inventory soon if you haven't reached that point already. Also, I don't recommend modding on the first playthrough, but if you decide to play it again (Prey is an addicting game for me), there's a mod that will allow items to stack that normally wouldn't, like banana peels, baseball gloves, all food, etc.
Edit: if you're playing on PC and not console
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u/SheepskinWulf 1d ago
You'll get lots in the long run. The more you explore the more you'll find
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u/Fit-Top-2468 1d ago
In 10 hours I was hoping to be mind bending phantoms. Alas, my next upgrade will be the ability to upgrade my gloogun 😢
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u/GregTheMadMonk 1d ago
Neuromods are rare until you find the neuromod fabrication plan, and are able to craft them. As far as I've read, there's also a thing you need to do to allow to fabricate more than some amount, but I've discovered it accidentally, so didn't actually have to do any quests lol
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u/Tsunamiis 1d ago
From your comments you’re not either collecting enough resources to make neuromods at the fabricator or just not exploring enough. You get the neuromod plan pretty early. And i found like 17 before starting the garden area.
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u/Daemonbane1 1d ago
Explore more and think about the areas - there are enough neuromods (or materials to make them) before crew quarters that you should easily have 50-75% of the human trees maxed out if thats how you want (and this is without using recycler charges on anything not nailed down).
You can pretty much fully clear most areas, outside a couple rooms, on the first time through them if you really try.
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u/Fit-Top-2468 1d ago
Where the heck are these neuromods... 🤔
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u/EdJD-1968 18h ago
During the campaign you find the plans for the neuro-mods, and you end up being able to create as many neuro-mods as you like. And once you've played through the game and know where to find the plans, then when you next play through the game, then you can use the in-game mechanics to go to the place where you find the neuro-mod plans, but earlier than you otherwise would, and take the plans and then make neuro-mods whenever you like.
That said, you do need to have found a few neuro-mods before hand, to allow you to get to the neuro-plans in the first place, but there are many neuro-mods hidden/openly available about the station. And in fact, when you do have a lot of neuro-mods then you can make the game too easy by upgrading your weapons and skills, and buying all of the alien abilities too.
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u/Meccaria 1d ago
Make sure you dont have repeat weapons taking up inventory space.
The game does reward exploration, especially vertically. Really try getting into every space and checking every corner.
Try to enjoy the pace! It is rewarding when you finally get to the next step. I feel like story does have intent to make you feel weak/vulnerable at first especially against this enemy. This start helps make neuromods feel like the ultimate game-changer, because story-wise it is!
Also stun gun is underrated. I never used it in my playthroughs, but watched someone else heavily utilize it, and it was amazing.
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u/ZylonBane 21h ago
Also stun gun is underrated
By whom? It's the absolute best weapon against operators.
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u/Meccaria 19h ago
I watch people play Prey on Twitch, and more often than not the strategy is run in and blast with shotgun or swing with wrench.
People definitely have a better time when utilizing gloo and stun. And a bit of planning/prep instead of leeroy jenkins-ing through lol
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u/ZylonBane 16h ago
As if it needs saying, Twitch streamers do not represent the actual player base for ANY game.
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u/Jamesworkshop 1d ago
i'm 20 odd neuromods by the time of finishing the Lobby
if you are past Psychotronics then the radio should have already directed you to the safe with the neuromod fabrication plans
gloo + shotgun is a waste, doesn't increase the damage output, stun+shotgun is better
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u/WillowLocal423 1d ago
I mean I saw a guy beat the game in 7 minutes so it's really how you play it, that's the beauty of imsims.
I'm pretty sure I spent over an hour in the starting room alone, but I'm very meticulous player
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u/EdJD-1968 18h ago
That was by breaking boundaries (moving outside the genuine areas of the game) and so being able to travel to areas that you wouldn't normally be able to so until much later in the game), and also by clever use of the glue-gun.
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u/notsolivingboii 1d ago
Well I think you're just not exploring because that doesn't seem right at all, maybe you'd rather just do the story but that means barely any upgrades which is still playable but obviously harder
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u/ReasonableTea8184 4h ago
Also means missing the whole point of the game, which is the gameplay expression.
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u/alexsaurus_332 1d ago
There are tons of additional ways to kill enemies. Theres grenades, different weapons, environment, turrets, even the leverage skill is kinda nuts when you throw heavy objects
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u/Jimmy_KSJT 1d ago
Curiously enough when I play the game. I hardly spend any time shooting enemies in the face with a shotgun.
If that is all you are doing then it isn't the fault of the game.
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u/Fit-Top-2468 1d ago
I've got the ammo for it, and they drop good loot what can I say 🤷♂️
If I had the abilities to do something different I would
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u/CrispyAccountant806 1d ago
I think what he’s saying is relying on the shogun has diminishing returns. It’s a great weapon but if it’s your main weapon you might find yourself scratching around for metal material to make more ammo.
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u/Sonicmasterxyz 1d ago
How thorough are you when searching areas? You should have enough to make some interesting variety in your gameplay by finding ways into places or looking inside things. The key to this game is to be a problem solver. Think about how you want to proceed.
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u/whatmustido 1d ago
If you haven't gotten the Neuromod fabricator, you'll want to pick that up. You can find it in the Neuromod division where you start the game. You have to find your way through the Volunteer barracks for it and deal with some hefty monsters, though. Once you can start making your own, the rate at which you increase in strength rapidly goes up.
The weapon upgrade kit fabricator is also incredibly useful. You can actually get it during Gathering Echoes in Sarah's room in Crew Quarters. The door is blocked but there's a vent nearby you can use instead, though you may need a recycler to access it. Just don't upgrade the pistol too much until you find the captain's unique one, because you'll waste your upgrade kits otherwise.
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u/Tactless_Ninja 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you want an alternative to Gloo'ing everything, the Disruptor is much quicker and punchier. Well against anything not a Voltaic.
And nueromods aren't all that rare. They are hidden in various safes, locked rooms, and hidden caches. There's even a sidequest for finding them. The alarm panels with a red light will open by wacking it with a wrench three times.
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u/Daemonbane1 1d ago
You should spoiler tag that last sentence, its far too specific advice and not something youre supposed to know/is supposed to incentivise you exploring previous areas after you learn about it.
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u/Fluffy_data_doges 1d ago
You are supposed to craft them at a certain point. It's the reason you can get a mod to extract extra materials from Typhon.
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u/theangrypragmatist 1d ago
You can make neuromuscular. I dont remember exactly where the recipe is but it's fairly easy to find relatively early.
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u/Best-Main8672 1d ago
Don’t just think laterally; get creative in how you view the environment. The Gloo Gun is your best friend (it’s literally my favourite gun from any game), use it to reach out of the way places, or reach areas you may not normally have access to yet in the storyline.
The Mimic Matter ability is another great way to get into tight places you may not yet have access to; coffee mug is my regular object of choice.
Open everything, search everywhere, and always look around your environment for “secret” areas.
Gather items into a pile and then toss in a Recycler Charge to maximise your collected resources; once you get the Neuromod fFabrication Plan, you’ll be using it a lot to maximise your skills ASAP.
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u/Lego_Ki-Adi-Mundi 1d ago
My first playthrough took me 30 hours but I did absolutely everything. I had every useful skill unlocked and around 300ish~ Neuromods used by the end I think. A lot are scattered throughout the ship and some are well hidden, but (very minor spoilers) you can also craft them for quite cheap, there's 4 or 5 blueprints for them scattered around the station but you only need 1
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u/wifematerial138 1d ago
I love looting in games and prey has a limited amount to loot. Always take anything you can find in every area you can. When you see plants incased in glass break the glass with the wrench and loot the plants for organic material. Once you find a recycler put all that and recycle and hold onto it until you can store it.
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u/yvogi 13h ago
You should be able to find a blue print to make neoromods, you will have a limited amount untill you reset the license (via another quest) I find most on named enemies, or in named locations. I also found, expect the areas to be like they sound, neromod sector had about 3-4, while the engineers had 4-6 due to thefts (via the emails)
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u/S-Vortex Press Sneak Fuck 7h ago
I am a Clepto and I found the neurolink plans and I hit the limit of around 15 and I have to go find the body of the original Maker of them to unlock as many as I want. Get the plans to make a recycle charge and place them on all the floating guys to grab chunks of their health along with a bundle of Exotic Materials before you throw their guts into the recycle machine for More exotic materials lol.
Neuromods are just some exotic material and some metal or something.
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u/ReasonableTea8184 4h ago
My friend, you're almost halfway through the main story progression at only 10 hours in.
If you're having a hard time finding neuromods and you ONLY have those abilities you named, I can tell you're not exploring much.
Prey is a loot scourer, and an incredibly detailed and complex one at that. The game kind of expects you to look through like all of the rooms you've had access to, and get every piece of gear along your path. The game wont open up in variety until then.
Just have the mindset of experiencing everything.
Btw, you should find a neuromod fab plan sometime soon. Put all your resources toward making them.
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u/bopman14 1d ago
Are you exploring the space station or just gunning straight for the objectives? Gathering Echoes isn't a terrible time to explore the entire crew quarters location for lots of loot