Gotcha.
I think I half agree with you. As I briefly mentioned above, I think the loose, hub-like nature of the game causes the biggest problems when the power curve shifts, the player loses their fear and survival tensions, and they start to get control over the environment, and they start ticking through side content. I think the horror tone, especially, dies when the scaling features can’t keep up and that’s the biggest argument against reusing levels instead of treating them in linear order, if hub-and-spoke based within themselves. The horror tone is not a major factor of UU by comparison and having people in that world gives it a reason to persist; Prey only halfheartedly pulls that off with its heard-but-not-seen NPCs.
Retracing ground gets dicey if it’s as tight as horror needs to be, so it tends to fall into painful tedium unless tightly managed. Prey doesn’t find a workable balance between emptied levels and the higher-tier respawns, ending both somewhat tedious and lacking tension. Now, obviously the terrain refuse is also an issue forced by modern production being more expensive, an issue that bit Deus Ex: Human Revolution especially harshly. Here it feels like the intended design, albeit unsuccessful.