A number of PC users have reported a problem with performance in one specific area in recently released sci-fi mimic-hunt, Prey. Although the game is said to perform rather well — especially if your PC meets the recommended specifications — the Reactor room is giving some players difficulty.
Prey may be a reimagining of the property, but one aspect it shares with the original is that it has some gorgeous environments. While there are no sphincter doors this time around, there are a lot of mimics, but even they don’t stress a high-end system too much. When it comes to the Reactor room though, lots of people are having difficulties.
We won’t go into detail about why you happen to be there, or how it fits into the story, but suffice it to say you have some tasks to perform within that region of the space station. However, a lot of people are finding the experience almost unplayable. Despite the rest of the game running smoothly, some have found that particular area chugs down into low double-digit frame rates.
The above video gives you a good look at what the room does to the game’s framerate. Staring at the Reactor room’s wall yields perfectly fine frame rates, but spinning around and looking into its interior is another thing entirely. Changing settings does help, but it is still not perfect. PC Gamer even reports that higher-tier hardware does not make much difference either.
A thread on the Prey subreddit garnered a lot of interest and backs up the claim that hardware is not at fault. It doesn’t appear to be specific to Nvidia or AMD graphics cards. That means it will likely need a patch to fix, though some users have reported that soldiering through the experience does yield playable frame rates, as an in-game trigger appears to fix whatever the problem is.
Other users have suggested reloading the game, or reverting to an older driver release, though developer Arkane Studios has yet to release a statement on the bug.
