No idea why people were hyping this up based on the "le cute catto" factor considering the game's got a lot more to it than that, but I'm glad I decided to play it anyway. I was pretty worried it'd be overhyped yet shallow both mechanically and narratively... but thankfully, while it doesn't exactly challenge the player too much, it's still fun to play and has more depth to its narrative than I expected. It's a fun time and it's worth spending an afternoon or two on for sure. I will mention that it feels overpriced right now for how compact and gameplay-light it is, but that'll likely be less of an issue once it goes on sale sometime in the future. The game unfortunately has little to no replay value, so I'm a bit unsure on how to feel about the amount I paid for it even with its cheaper pre-release price. Anyway...

Stray uses the feline shape and size of its protagonist really well for navigation and environmental puzzles/platforming - there's quite a lot in it that I could not imagine a humanoid protagonist would be able to accomplish, and the game leans on it just enough so that those things don't feel tacked on. I will say that the combat and stealth mechanics are underutilized and don't take up enough of the game's runtime to feel like "main" mechanics as opposed to the exploration ones, but they're nothing offensive. They just come across as somewhat missed opportunities.

The sound design is awesome in this game and pretty consistently great the whole way through. The various feline noises are a treat to hear and the character babble-voices work plenty well to give the setting life. Just about every music track is one that I want to go give a listen to again even now that I finished the game, and I appreciate how a decent chunk of it is diegetic as well.

As usual for my reviews I do want to talk about the writing in this game. I'll do my best to avoid spoilers.

The characterization of your various robot friends tends to be brief but enjoyable, with nobody coming across as super duper notably great as a character but plenty of people feeling real, fun, or both. I found that the main speaking character - B12 - is nice to have around even while at first appearing to possibly be a Navi-ish character concept. I think I'd rather have had the main character not have a cat-to-robot translator on hand at all times but I do understand why they went with it. I think it's also helpful for the target audience of the game, which I assume is fairly wide; while I know I would have liked an experience far more divorced from human concepts of language and such, that's not really what this game was going for.

The actual story is light in terms of the sheer amount of things that happen, but its simplicity tends to be a benefit as the game's a lot more about interacting with the world and becoming attached to its sights and sounds than anything else. The game doesn't try to bring players in to hyperfixate on and love certain characters in a fandom-y way or to try to become a huge hero of some sort, but instead tells a grounded tale of unfamiliarity, community, and a need to rise. At the end of the day you're a small cat who wants to get back into nature and do what you can to help out the various robots who clearly deserve more than they've had for so long. I do wish it had had more time to flesh out the world some more and make the lategame have more oomph, but what we do have is plenty good for what it is. With only societal separations, swarms of small beings, and the world itself being the closest things to antagonists the game has, I was pleasantly surprised at how engaging it remained the whole time.

I found it to be a big breath of fresh air that this post-human story in a post-human world is one which doesn't really try to elevate humans to some untouchable high and which does not give them a special treatment beyond a (very believable!) general robot admiration as ancestors. Getting to experience media with that sort of feeling and style is something that I've wanted to see more and more with time, so I appreciate it a hell of a lot.

The short runtime of the game was a boon, I'd say, as it never overstayed its welcome nor did it feel like it was missing too much. Perhaps another half hour to an hour of content could have been neat to flesh out a couple areas some more, but I'm fine with what we got.

To speak briefly about the other major parts of the game, the graphics are beautiful, though the character models sometimes look a bit more dated than the environments. Regardless, it all fits together well and I found myself staring at lots of different parts of the world and those who inhabited it with a smile on my face. It's got a bit of a neat style to it yet also uses realism juuuust enough to ground things again to a degree. It is a bit of a tough tightrope to walk but I believe the game definitely achieves that which it intends with its graphics and it looks good for it.

My problems with this game are few but do come up somewhat frequently to bring it down a bit. There are quite a few bits of weird grammar, particularly coming from missing punctuation that leads to sentences reading more awkwardly than intended. It's nothing that ruins the game, but it really should have had another pass or two over the script to make sure it was all ready to go.

The other somewhat disappointing part of things was that you can't ever freely jump, but I do understand that the game is designed such that doing so might break some parts and make other parts way more difficult. Still, there were a number of instances where it looked like I'd 100% be able to make it to some area if I could freely jump but simply could not do so because the game did not want me to, instead forcing me to take some side path over. Again, nothing game-ruining, but it was something that made me see the limitations of the game in a sort of ugly manner.

Overall, though, I think Stray was a game I really needed and one I'm glad has been successful (at least circa launch). Still, I do hope people have gotten more out of it than just pointing at the meow button and saying "le cute catto" and then giving it a 5/5. If anything I'd find that it comes across as insulting to the game's many other qualities.

So... to combat the recommendations and impressions I'd seen up till now, I'll give my own: I highly recommend this to anyone who's looking to play a game taking place in a post-human world that treats said world with respect for both non-humans and humans. I'd also highly recommend this game to people who enjoy playing games with unique control styles and tempos to get used to and truly engage with for a good few hours. And of course, I'd most highly recommend this game to anyone who would like to know how it might feel to be in the proverbial shoes of a cat or other small animal. It might just boost your respect or admiration for them all the more even if it doesn't quite hit the level of immersion in the role that I would have hoped for.

Reviewed on Jul 24, 2022


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