This game was not on my radar whatsoever, as someone who played XCOM 2 for a few hours and wasn't grabbed by it. I'm a big Marvel fan and the fact that this had Blade, Ghost Rider, Wolverine and other favorites of mine was definitely exciting though. Still, I didn't think I'd ever play this.

I felt intrigued to watch some gameplay eventually when Dave from PlayStation Access had lots of good things to say about it, and suddenly felt very interested by it. I never do this, especially when a game is on sale for only a little less than full price, but I bought it. I barely even buy games I really want to play when they're on sale for half off! I don't know what compelled me to do this, but it was one of the best chance purchases I've done in a long time.

Simply put, I love this game. You get engaging, tactical strategy battles with various ways to take out enemies and make your heroes work together. You get a fun story with rewarding character engagement, great voice acting (IMO) and lots of Marvel references and lore. You get a cool little open world area (keyword: little) and a cozy main hub to explore, find collectibles, resources, and cosmetics. It's all wrapped up in this addicting package that I was hooked to for weeks. I seriously had to pull myself away from this to do chores, get work done, and go to bed. It has a day and night cycle so it has this "one more day", "one more battle" feel. There's always more abilities to upgrade, more missions to do, more hangouts with your heroes to engage in.

The customization for players here is immense, you can choose what abilities, attacks and skills work for you and disregard what you don't like. You can alter hero costumes and what they wear around the main hub area. You can change your difficulty to go harder, or scale back if you're getting your ass kicked; you get higher difficulties as you progress, and it's very risk versus reward. It's a game full of menus, systems and choices that feels daunting, but is introduced in a way that you'll never not understand what you're doing and how you'll navigate it.

The main player character, The Hunter, is a pretty by-the-numbers "chosen one", and both their appearance and their attitude/personality is chosen by the player. There is a standard light/dark path that can be followed, allowing for different abilities, perks and costumes to be unlocked for both. I went light, because I'm not choosing the asshole replies to my hero pals, although to get the Platinum Trophy I started a New Game + file and went full dark. Took me a few hours, I just blasted through story missions, using a ton of dark abilities and of course choose dark for all dialogue options, which I hated! At one point I was a total dick to Captain Marvel and she said "Ouch, Hunter..." with an upset face. My dark Hunter was a prick and I hated that asshole!

I think I'll definitely get the DLC at some point so I can revisit this great game with some new heroes (Storm and Venom I am definitely super interested in).

My unfortunate downsides with this were some glitches; both heroes and enemies fell through the floor a few times, unable to be used or attacked. Also some visual glitches, after using a big screen-filling hero combo sometimes the color of the screen would change to a bright yellow. It would go away eventually, but it was still annoying. The game doesn't look incredible graphically, you'll see people clipping through the environment, walls, and each other, and sometimes there will be a delay or hiccup from characters in battle. I thought the graphics kind of fit with the fun superhero comic-book style of the game though, it didn't have to look super realistic.

All in all, this was a HUGE surprise for me, and I couldn't wait to get back to this game every time I stopped playing. The battles were both fun and challenging, the characters were great to spend time with, and exploring the grounds unlocking items and side quests during a day/night cycle was a nice added touch. It felt very Persona 5 to me (another game I love).

Come for the silly characters, colourful graphics, Pokémon Snap-like creature collecting and fun puzzles, and stay for the weird undertones, plot twists and dialogue/situations that only adults will truly understand.

You really get to know the game as you play - every location, the music, and the characters all have their own unique identities and flair; you’ll know what type of personalities they are, and how to get around the island and which Bugsnax are located where. It feels homey and fun, welcoming and calm, yet mysterious and foreboding.

The arsenal of tools is very Pokémon Snap, mainly used to lure, traverse and trap the critters. The puzzles all felt fun to solve, and studying the patterns and attributes of the Bugsnax was fun to understand how they would be captured. It was also fun to have little boss battles and rare ones to uncover.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect with this one, with a game that looked like it could’ve been a puppet game for toddlers, but it’s really something special and unique. I was not expecting it to go where it went, and as mentioned, a lot of the dialogue is certainly not aimed at kids and contains references, and just overall feelings and situations that children would not have much perspective on. But as an adult and not a child, this felt welcoming for me.

The free DLC area was also very fun and just more to add to an already very impressive title.

Overall, I really enjoyed Bugsnax and all of its strange, snacky goodness while appreciating its overall message and very creepy final stretch.

Oh, and there’s also a CD in this game parodying Chumbawamba’s Tubthumping - Grumpawamba’s Grumpthumping. Incredible

I absolutely loved this game and will remember it for a long time. I got wrapped up in the story and this smart little cat and his cool robot buddy (okay, the cat is smart because I was controlling it, but still!).

Everything about its look and feel, the colors and environments, whether dark and dreary or neon and vibrant, were incredible. Exploring the nooks and crannies of rooftops, shops and alleyways, finding little items and completing quests, was a joy in these well designed environments. There are so many spots in the game to just stop and look around at it all. Seeing all of the robots walking around, drinking at the bar, watching TV, hanging out with each other, it felt alive and lived in. I loved discovering all of the memories/remnants from the past that the little robot dude was piecing together. The dialogue was all great and I felt compelled to talk to everyone I could and really ingest the plot.

Controls wise, it felt responsive and snappy jumping around as the cat. I'll admit at times it was tricky to aim at the place you want to jump to, and in chase sequences or stealth sections it made things more tense, but in my opinion it didn't ruin anything and made it feel even more heightened. If the cat could just jump around at free will with a designated jump button I feel a lot of the platforming would have been more frustrating... and let's be honest, cats are nimble and precise creatures who can balance and jump very flawlessly. It would feel weird to be able to jump around and potentially kill yourself over gaps that most cats could navigate with ease. It just felt more realistic.

The puzzles and various sequences all created a cohesive experience where there was enough variety throughout that it didn't feel same-y. I loved jumping between exploring and finding items, using your environment as a jungle gym of sorts to reach other areas, finding ways to trick robots, sneaking around enemies, and the tense escape sections where you had to run for your life.

As a horror fan, let's just say parts of this game were very much up my alley as well. There's a certain chapter that is tense with some very unsettling sci-fi imagery that will stick with me.

I need to mention the musical score, and how damn good it was too. Moody and emotional, quiet and subdued, but also pumping and intense. I can't count how many times during the game I was honed in on the music during certain parts, thinking about how good it was. It might be one of the most impressive original scores I've heard in a video game in awhile.

To wrap it up, this is a game that doesn't overstay its welcome, and while I would have loved to be able to spend more time in this world with this cat and little robot guy, the ending was emotionally satisfying and in my opinion, it's the optimal length for a little indie adventure like this. Please play Stray, and enjoy it for the cute little adventure that it isn't ashamed to be.