Difficulty: Easy
Overall Playtime
100% Playthrough with 100% memories collected.
I entered 'Stray' blindly without watching any trailers or knowing what the game entailed. What I thought was a cute cat simulator game at the beginning, soon turned into a dark but phenomenal & atmospheric world with a deep story that is told in a short playthrough time.
I absolutely loved exploring every crevice of the areas you visit as most objects are either climbable or interactable. This encourages you to make detours to traverse every corner to discover new things. I just wish exploration was rewarding with more collectables and secrets as this game is mainly focused on exploration. The vibrant locations and scenery had me mesmerised while the eerie environments captured the hopelessness and darkness which almost made it initially seem like a horror game, especially when the Zurks first made an appearance.
This game never "strays" from it's intended story-telling and is straight to the point, making it a very impactful and engaging story & it made you feel sympathetic for the automatons that reside inside the cybercity, especially for B-12 towards the end of the game.
Despite the beauty of the game, I did find the cat's face a bit uncanny, especially when it meows. The movement of the cat also did feel a bit janky at times & a lot of repeating dialogue with each NPC when you show an item. If there was one thing I could add to the game, I would have hoped for a customisation of the cat at the start, even if it is a basic one, to make it a bit more personalised. Overall, amazing game and I would love to see a sequel (or even a prequel).
Gameplay: 4/5
Narrative: 4.5/5
Art Direction/Graphics: 4/5
Music: 4/5
Creativity: 4/5
Overall: 4/5
Overall Playtime
100% Playthrough with 100% memories collected.
I entered 'Stray' blindly without watching any trailers or knowing what the game entailed. What I thought was a cute cat simulator game at the beginning, soon turned into a dark but phenomenal & atmospheric world with a deep story that is told in a short playthrough time.
I absolutely loved exploring every crevice of the areas you visit as most objects are either climbable or interactable. This encourages you to make detours to traverse every corner to discover new things. I just wish exploration was rewarding with more collectables and secrets as this game is mainly focused on exploration. The vibrant locations and scenery had me mesmerised while the eerie environments captured the hopelessness and darkness which almost made it initially seem like a horror game, especially when the Zurks first made an appearance.
This game never "strays" from it's intended story-telling and is straight to the point, making it a very impactful and engaging story & it made you feel sympathetic for the automatons that reside inside the cybercity, especially for B-12 towards the end of the game.
Despite the beauty of the game, I did find the cat's face a bit uncanny, especially when it meows. The movement of the cat also did feel a bit janky at times & a lot of repeating dialogue with each NPC when you show an item. If there was one thing I could add to the game, I would have hoped for a customisation of the cat at the start, even if it is a basic one, to make it a bit more personalised. Overall, amazing game and I would love to see a sequel (or even a prequel).
Gameplay: 4/5
Narrative: 4.5/5
Art Direction/Graphics: 4/5
Music: 4/5
Creativity: 4/5
Overall: 4/5