Despite a few performance issues, the original Prey works really well in standalone VR

It’s been a long time since I played the original Prey from Human Head Studios, but I still vividly remember so much of it thanks to how groundbreaking the gravity-defying, portal-hopping gameplay was at the time. There were so many mind-blowing moments as you followed protagonist Tommy Tawodi on the search for his girlfriend Jen through the gigantic and often very goopy interior of an alien space craft. The way the game played with the very concept of 3D space and even its sense of scale was epic to say the least, but how does this all transfer to VR? How does it feel to jump through portals and walk up walls when you’re fully immersed in the experience?

Well, that’s what I’m investigating in this week’s episode of VR Corner, as I finally take Prey’s flat screen to VR mod for a spin on the Quest 3. This standalone mod, which was created by a modder named Luboš who used some of Team Beef’s VR code for Doom3Quest has been available to download on Sidequest for over a year now. Handily, it includes a free demo of the first 90 minutes of the game with the download. This means you can try it out to see if your stomach can handle all the gravity flipping action, even if you don’t own the full game.

Featuring full VR controller aiming and roomscale, Prey VR runs fairly well as a standalone app on the Quest 3. As you’ll see in the video however, there are a few performance issues here and there. While rare, lower framerates are sometimes noticeable when looking through large portals that appear in big rooms and, for some reason, especially when Tommy is in spirit form during the spirit-walking tutorial. Other than that there’s a few minor graphical hiccups surrounding the portals themselves but it’s all forgiveable when you’re confronted by the majesty of the rest of the experience.

In flat, Prey expertly plays with your position in 3D space to create puzzles that force you to think in ways that are alien to how your mind normally works and, in my opinion, VR implementation only serves to enhance these effects. Human Head Studios constantly pushed these mechanics to their limits in order to surprise the player over and over again and, while they were great in flat, being able to experience these moments as if you were really there is on another level. Don’t believe me? Then please do give this week’s VR Corner (above) a watch! In it, I explore a grimy bar, play some fruit machines and then attempt to escape a gigantic alien space ship. The less said about what I do to all the men in their underwear, the better though…

If you’d prefer, or if the above video isn’t showing up for you (it’s a bug, sorry, we’re working on it), you can watch my video on the Prey VR Mod over on YouTube.