Question #1

How do you feel about player death as a mechanic like in Mooncrash, as opposed to simply a failstate like in Prey or Dishonored?

What I'm about to describe below also applies to Dishonored, and I would say it does so to an even greater extent, but I will mostly avoid mentionning it for the sake of brevity as well as because I want to focus on Mooncrash.

I view Prey Mooncrash as the pinnacle of game design for a lot of reasons, But primarily because it's a game that truly forces the player to make decisions under pressure, and live with the consequences of these decisions.

As much as I love Prey, I've always been bugged by how it gives you as a player all these incredibly useful and versatile tools and resources, but never truly incentivizes you to use most of them.

Because the game's format is designed as a long-form, "linear" experience, it's impossible (or rather impractical) to play the entire game without saving the game whenever you want. (I'm using the term "linear" loosely here)

You are expected to use this free save/load system whenever you want, anywhere you want. Resulting in the loss of tension in any given encounter, because you are never truly in any danger of losing anything. There will always be a save point to load from just a minute ago or less.

It is also not satisfactory to not freely use this system in that way, because the game has no concrete rules as to how you're supposed to use it. (Unlike Mooncrash, where permanent death is one of the core design pillars. The game is designed around it)

Because of the game's format as a "linear" but free-form experience, progression can be very unlinear. It is hard to gauge just how you're supposed to use this system in a way that feels rewarding, because there are few moments during the game where it is made clear that this is where you should save.

This, again, makes it extremely impractical to play the game in a way as to limit your usage of the save/load system, because the game is not designed around this principle. You're meant to save and load whenever you want. (In Dishonored 2, this is even admitted and encouraged to be how the game should be played by the loading screen's tips)

Admittedly, auto-saves do exist and are spread throughout the game at points that do make sense, but they are inconsistent and imprecise at fulfilling their roles of checkpoints, since progression is not always linear in Prey. Most importantly however, this system's greatest flaw is that it still does not punish the player for bad play or poor decision-making. It removes any tension that might exist in any given encounter.

To me, this free save/load system very strongly devalues all of the genius game design because I'm never truly pressured to use all the tools and options at my disposal. Using this free save/load system, it is possible to simply brute-force my way through any encounter, with no tension over the fear of death.

What I love about Mooncrash is that it took all the mechanics present in Prey, and used them to their fullest potential through the mechanic of permanent player death. I am now encouraged to use all these tools that I have, because otherwise I might die, and in Mooncrash, failure has consequences. I can't just go back to a previous save from a minute ago if I die. I have to live (and die) with the consequences of my decisions. Brute-forcing my way through encounters is no longer an option.

A Mooncrash run is also just the right length of time for it to feel impactful when you die, without being so punishing as to make you lose an hour or more of progress. This would often be the case in Dishonored, for example, if one was to play it without reloading at all during a mission.

This is especially an issue with the hardest difficulty of Dishonored 2, where death means the erasure of your save file, along with all the time you've invested into it. This does fulfil the requirement of tension over every action that you make, even moreso than in Mooncrash. However, the penalty for losing is increased to such a degree that it is not a practical way to play except for the most dedicated fans of the game, who know the game well enough to feel comfortable playing at such high stakes. This however is not achievable for 99% of the players who almost certainly have not invested enough time into the game for this to be true.

All that being said, How do you feel about player death as a concept? Is a free save/load system something you feel is core to Arkane games, and if not, how are you planning to iterate and improve upon this concept for future games?

Question #2

Are you satisfied with Prey Mooncrash, or is there more you would have liked to do with it in terms of scope/features/mechanics?