Domestic cats are very interesting. They look like proud, graceful, and independent creatures, but often destroy their image with irregular behavior, clumsy movements, and affectionate headbutts. Poor ones work hard to maintain a sense of superiority, but they are far more adorable and stupid than you think. Stray, a game that plays like a cat, captures both sides of an animal while telling the story of a mysterious cyberpunk.
After falling into a city that has been forgotten for a long time, you—the little ginger moggy—have to figure out how to escape. But on the way to meet B-12, a companion drone that helps you survive in most organic lifeless worlds. Small droids can translate for you, hold items and provide insights into your surroundings. An unlikely duo teams up to the outside world, but you’ll also learn what happened to the city in the first place.
This game is an almost linear adventure that traverses different environments so that only cats can. This means precise jumps, crawling small gaps, and complex explorations by using your Catty’s abilities to solve problems. One of Stray’s greatest strengths is the cat itself. The cat itself is nicely animated and feels easy to operate. You can’t jump at any time. The cat makes a calculated deliberate leap, and to reflect this behavior, reachable spots are highlighted at the button prompt, ensuring a safe landing. This is an interesting design choice that captures how cats move and forces them to adopt their characteristics.
This may sound like limiting your search, but it’s not. Most chapters have a fairly simple path, sometimes hiding your collection in another route. However, some levels are much larger and can be fully explored. The area, simply called the slums, is where you were first released, a gorgeous and complex place with crevices everywhere. There are many ways to do this miniature sandbox. The crowd of objects that can be jumped makes the cat curious. Not only will you find new places, but you’ll be rewarded with collectibles, fun interactions, and spots to curl up and take a nap for your cat.
The slums are also the place to meet the crushed robot inhabitants of the city. Some of them are wary of you, others help your cause. In such open chapters, the game combines exploration and research. Assist the robot by searching for specific items at the level and reaching places where the robot cannot. There is also an optional mini quest that encourages you to combine the maps perfectly. For example, you can find the score for one guitarist bot and play it.
Some parts of the game are peaceful and you can look around at your own pace, while others are a little more action-packed. Part of the city is infested with Zurks, small creatures that attack your sights. For most of the game, your only option is to somehow shake off the latched one and run. They aren’t too hard to deal with, but you can kill you right away if you’re not on your toes. At some levels, use Zurks as part of an environmental puzzle and instruct them to pull Zurks away from where they are needed. These enemies provide a change in pace and also lead to an overall story.
At other levels, you need a stealth approach, hiding inside a box or behind an object to avoid detection. Many games jump and fetch items, but they do the decent job of providing diversity within their own limits. You can visit different places, meet many robot friends, see new things, and do things with little change in fundamentals. Linear stages are less interesting than open stages and limit movement to mostly set paths, but focus on the story to keep moving. Overall, the game isn’t overwhelming and is timed somewhere between 7 and 10 hours. If you absolutely want to see everything, it could be a little longer.
The world itself is beautifully realized. Again, each environment is packed with details and is often visually very clean. Especially the neon-lit streets and cluttered buildings in the open chapter. Great lighting and great music convey a melancholic and hopeful atmosphere throughout.
Sadly, we encountered some blip that took us out of that immersive setting. Arranging the jumps can be a bit tricky, or it can look a little jerky when connecting. We also found some bugs, such as one robot freezing in place and the security drone spinning violently. Many objects also have physics. This is great on the one hand, as you can use the cat’s impulses to knock things off the shelves. However, these objects tend to fly around if they collide in the wrong way.
Conclusion
Despite one or two rough cuts, Stray is a very enjoyable adventure. It’s pretty easy and gives you many opportunities to embody a cat, whether you’re rubbing a robot’s paw, grabbing furniture, or finding a cozy place to snooze. The story hasn’t fully reached the emotional hit it’s looking for, but it has lots of interesting details to learn and slowly shows its hand. The combination of common pets and moody sci-fi worked well, making it a unique and engaging game with strengths that outweigh its shortcomings.
