Reminiscent of an old gem
For people who have played Shadow of the Colossus, Praey for the Gods is an obvious inspiration/homage. I won’t go so far as to term it a clone, much in the same way as Sleeping Dogs isn’t a clone of GTA, but it clearly borrows a lot from Shadow of the Colossus.
Clever bit of designing in the title logo – the ‘e’ in Prey is made to look like a praying figure, hence the name Praey for the Gods. Not sure how it fits into the theme of the game; maybe it’s subtly saying that the player might look like a prey on the surface, fighting giant demons all by themselves, but actually they are praying for the Gods by ridding the world of evil. Maybe the demons have the Gods trapped somewhere. Whatever.
Climb and survive
Praey for the Gods is a boss-climbing game with some survival elements thrown in. There are these giant, hulking creatures strewn around a foreign, deserted island and the player has to negotiate the cold and unforgiving terrain and slay these beasts. Mind you, these are not your typical boss battles where you are hurling your sword or raining arrows. No, these battles involve the player getting up close and personal with the enemy, climbing right on their bodies in order to strike them where it hurts. In addition, the player must also keep track of their health, stamina and cold resistance and craft weapons from whatever little supplies they can gather.
Why are we here, though?
As for the ‘whys’ and the ‘wheres’, a little bit of backstory is indeed provided, but it’s vague. More insights can be gained from notes scattered around the land by previous visitors. Still, it is left up to the player to form their own idea about why the protagonist has found herself in a forsaken island and why the world in the game is the way it is. We can only guess as to why the story was kept open to interpretation, but introducing this aura of mystery narrowed the difference between this game and Shadow of the Colossus, which begins in similar fashion – the character just arrives in an isolated place and gets to know that he has to kill giants to achieve his goal. Maybe the makers did this on purpose, even, but having played both the games, I would have loved to see a new story being woven around the whole idea of boss-climbing. Not that whatever has been done in this game has grown stale. It’s more of a personal wish than a critical opinion.
Alone, but with animals and giants for company
Visually, this game pleases the eye. The bleak expanse conveys desolation and loneliness successfully, and the perpetual snowfall further amplifies the coldness of being by oneself, cut off from the world. However, occasional appearances of animals dulls these feelings. Views on whether they should have been included can vary, but I feel they could have been done away with, seeing as their only purpose is to add another layer to the survival mechanics by being hunted and keeping the character well-fed.
The reason animals, and the survival elements as a whole, feel redundant and forced into the game is that they don’t really affect the boss battles at all unless you are playing on the hardest difficulty settings. Apart from the occasional use of a bow and arrow, the player doesn’t even need a weapon to kill the giants. This, however, does not make the battles any less engaging. On the contrary, it brings something fresh to the table. It is just the player and their enemy, without the involvement of any weapon or a third party. Each boss is an expansive playground in themselves, and the player must navigate through it by figuring out how to get there and hold on without falling off, all the while looking for a way to bring it down. There’s just an otherworldly feeling about beholding a gargantuan beast from a distance, and then climbing onto it and truly realizing how big it is.
Plenty of room left unventured
Gargantuan beasts are also what left me a tad bit disappointed, though. A few beasts – their design, structures, attacks and movements – all seemed to have been copied straight from Shadow of the Colossus. The two aerial bosses, in particular, looked like they were lifted directly, with only some minor modifications. The other giants, no doubt, have been created afresh. The last two battles introduce a lot of new concepts too, but it would have been better if these concepts had appeared earlier and spaced out more uniformly over the whole game. Boss-climbing is an exciting genre, and this game could have immensely exploited the creative space that it brings.
There are plenty other similarities between the two games like having a central, temple-like structure acting as a base of operations where the character returns after defeating each giant. This structure is also where the finale takes place in both the games. Still, Praey for the Gods manages to bring in enough new ideas – survival elements, new mechanisms involved in slaying the giants, crafting and upgrading – to remain its own game and avoid the tag of a blatant copy.
An itch scratched, a craving satisfied
I would like to express special appreciation here for the designing and modelling of the giants. They are a sight to behold, with clear features and crisp textures. The photo mode allows these works of art to be explored properly and allows one to showcase how insignificant and mosquito-like it feels while scaling these mountainous villains.
I remember once seeing an excavator, which already is a huge vehicle, at work inside a container ship. The container was of such massive proportions that it made the excavator look like a toy car in comparison. This sight birthed in me an unexplainable excitement and fascination for extraordinarily giant structures. Shadow of the Colossus gave me the chance to explore that feeling, and what an experience that was. Ever since, I had been looking for a similar game and Praey for the Gods satisfied that craving. I absolutely enjoyed fighting its incredible bosses and engaging in its beautifully crafted battles. Truly a memorable game.
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