Prey: Mooncrash

Metaprogression has become increasingly more common in new games with roguelike elements. I reckon that's because people simply hate permadeath so much. Even with procedurally generated content (which in theory is what makes permadeath to have more value than merely being a punishing difficulty), the thought of losing everything upon death really puts them off. Thus permadeath games that move forward even with botched runs seem to sell better.

What is a roguelite

Roguelite (with a t) as a term is slowly solidifying to mean a title with procedural generation, permadeath, and metaprogression. Rogue Legacy as well as TotalBiscuit's video about the subject probably helped with that. I personally recognize the term's usefulness as a tag to find games that have those features but alone it does not define a genre.

A roguelite first person shooter and a roguelite 2D action platformer play rather differently. In my opinion it's important to include the actual genre that informs of the viewport/controls of the game. At least when you are telling someone about it. I have hard time imagining anyone specifically looks to play roguelites regardless of anything else (though those people probably exist).

Also, if you add metaprogression to a roguelike, say Ancient Domains of Mystery, does it suddenly become a roguelite? Roguelike-lite? I don't think so; the gameplay would stay the same. Roguelite isn't a strong genre word.

I think it would be nice if roguelite completely replaced roguelike regardless of metaprogression when speaking of games that don't play like Rogue. "Is a roguelike" really is just another way of saying "has roguelike elements" for the less enlightened masses/indie developers who don't care or know better. It would make searching for actual roguelikes easier. I don't greatly enjoy the idea of having to add 'classic' or something to define proper roguelikes, although that may end up being the case. 'Turn-based' excludes many roguelites already, come to think of it... Anyway, I'm getting sidetracked here.

While I generally enjoy progression mechanics (that singleplayer games tend to have), I'm not sure if roguelite games truly need through death persisting upgrades. To me it seems their sole purpose tends to be superfluously lengthening the time to beat the game. Or even worse, removing all challenge right from the start like I think is the case with Mooncrash by Arkane Studios.

Immersive sim roguelite

Mooncrash is an intriguing addition to Prey. A big studio with a lot of skill and resources (albeit with a down-sized team from the main game) combining roguelike elements with an immersive sim. Both genres at their greatest are excellent for emergent gameplay thanks to interacting mechanics. Mooncrash also limits the abilities you have access to, which (in theory) is great for forcing creativity from the player.

In Prey, unless I'm playing with self-imposed rules such as no human powers allowed, I pretty quickly have everything. There's never a lack of means when you're a completionist: exploring and looting everything. Prey and immersive sims in general are also designed for nothing essential to ever require a specific (optional) upgrade since they can't know what the player has.

In Mooncrash it's not as rare having to look for an alternative route. One obstacle that often blocks your way in the DLC is a typhon gate that activates when there are typhon nearby. At first it's a matter of simply disposing of the creatures. But when you have enough typhon powers yourself, the gates detect you as a typhon as well, similarly to how the game's turrets work. The gates can also be temporarily disabled with electrical attacks (which you don't necessarily have).

(That's kind of a big security flaw, come to think of it, considering there are electrified typhon. Maybe that's how they got out of containment.)

I saw a clip on r/prey of someone activating a medical operator, taking its form using the Mimic Matter power, and then as the operator using its shock attack to disable a typhon gate. I doubt I would've come up with such a clever solution -- simply because there's no need to; the metaprogression system of Mooncrash negates problems such the typhon gates. (Unless you decide not to utilize it, of course.)

Mooncrash's gameplay has a handful of new additions that would be nice to even have in the main game. The GLOO charge is funny and the pretty psychostatic cutter really cool. Weapons (and items in general) also have rarity (color-coded as is tradition) that determines how many upgrade levels they come with. They can also have an additional effect such as fire damage or power nullification.

Story built around permadeath

Mooncrash is a separate story from the main game. In its sort of a framework narrative you're Peter, a KASMA Corp contractor aboard a spy satellite, a hacker now tasked to figure out what happened on TranStar's moonbase, the Pytheas facility. This happens by entering a simulation of the base -- built from intercepted transmissions I guess -- and taking the role of one of five playable characters at a time.

You complete different objectives such as unlock all the characters, escape the base with each one's preferred method, do each one's personal quest as well as other miscellaneous stuff. After you die or escape with a character, depending on your objective progress you might get pulled out of the simulation for the framework narrative to briefly continue. Once all of Peter's tasks are complete, the story concludes and the DLC is over.

Continuing with the Yu puns, one of the playable characters and the director of the facility is Riley Yu, a cousin of Morgan and Alex. Alex appears as a voice too but unfortunately they couldn't get Benedict Wong to reprise his role (maybe due to him being busy with Marvel movie stuff). It was quite off putting to hear someone else as Alex. Wong gave him such a distinctive voice; that hint of a Chinese accent. I particularly enjoyed how he delivered the "This is the world today." line at the end of Prey.

The simulation resets when you have escaped/died with all currently unlocked characters. You can later reset it manually too if you want to immediately continue working towards some specific objective for instance.

One of the escape methods requires two different characters to prepare because Hacking and Repair skills are exclusive to them. I thought there might be more such chains and you'd need to figure out the correct order of play if you want to escape with everyone in the same simulation instance. That didn't turn out to be the case. For a moment, I pondered if you could in theory make it go deeper and randomize it too but then I realized you could fail immediately by having chosen a key character too early.

Mooncrash's map layout has no procedural generation. I'd imagine doing that in a first person game would require quite a bit of effort, especially if you try to retain the plausibility of an actual location. Enemy spawns, loot, hazards, and even some quest objectives are randomized however.

Characters' neuromod upgrades persist through runs. By spending sim points you can also buy suit chipset upgrades and items whose fabrication plans you've previously found when starting a run. The problem with the points is that they're way too easy to accrue. About any accomplishment awards you with points -- with extra on top if you have the MicroMiner chip.

Once you've found the fabrication plans for the disruptor stun gun and its ammunition, you don't ever need to worry about the typhon gates again even on characters who don't get a power that bypasses them. Another useful item to buy is the delay loop.

No time to waste

Mooncrash features another game mechanic that, like permadeath, is often disliked: a timer. Roguelikes often have one in some form to hurry you along, but in realtime games, timers feel a tad more obtruding. The Mooncrash simulation has a corruption level that keeps going up. Every time it reaches a new level, new enemies spawn throughout the facility, more dangerous than before. Once corruption reaches its maximum the simulation resets. Corruption also rises the quicker the further you are into completing Peter's mission.

The delay loops push the current level of corruption back. You can find them lying around but once you have the fabrication plan, corruption becomes a non-issue (as long as you remember to craft/buy and use the loops). It's like in about every game with a timer; it's only a problem when you don't know how to deal with it yet. People complaining about it on forums should work to change their attitude and stop stressing about it. You will get your time to explore.

By staying on the lowest level of corruption the DLC never becomes truly challenging. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it though -- quite the opposite. Still, the next time I play, I will probably limit how much stuff I buy with the sim points.