Level design is more subjective, but SS2 levels felt way more distinct. As for balance both have issues with that even on higher difficulties. Hacking I would say is a tie, neither is really ideal. I'd say they're about on par with each other, with people slightly overvaluing System Shock 2 (which pared a bunch of ♥♥♥♥ down from the first one senselessly) and undervaluing Prey (not realizing the actual quality of what is there). Obviously System Shock 2 'did it first,' with Arkane mainly just reinventing these sorts of Thief/Shock mechanics various times over this century so far while adding in little diversions. Setting (characters, enemies, plot, except that SHODAN would never have made it to Tau Ceti in that timeline)

Originally posted by Mountain Man:System Shock 2

Trevelling through the guts of an alien creature. Hazardous locations that you'll be passing through, for example the engineering coolant tunnels, certain rooms on the sci/med deck full of radiation and the same on the recreation deck. Information displays that give you a full run down on everything worth knowing about. You occasionally had to apply an ICE device to a door lock to override it. Gun repair tasks were simply dedicated to maintenance tools. Replicator for general items, which can be hacked further for special items if successful or they break down. Separate keycode and keycards, half the keycode locks had no ability to be hacked and the keycards can't be hacked at all. mechs that fire grenades at you or fire laser weapons.Ĭamera detection that would spawn enemies to hunt you down or alert nearby enemies to the alarm being raised. Turrets that are tougher and always fight against you, also come in different flavours of attack ability, laser, regular, rocket and so forth.

System shock 2 difficulty