Is this the first game I've ever played on day (or day after) release?
I think it is. Made possible by PS Plus Premium (Extra Prime Deluxe) which is my first experience of the new service. I'm on board!
On to Stray. Playing a cat is all about the fidelity of the movement, mannerisms and to an extent pure "vibe". It's a solid bedrock for the game and makes walking around (essentially the central gameplay loop) into an immersive experience. 'Walking around' is unfair really becuase the game does capture our essential understanding of what a cat's life is life: 'exploring' and 'running away from things' with the occasional side quests of 'making people fall in love with you' and 'sleeping'. The only missing one here is 'chasing things' or 'stalking things'. Would have loved to chase a little drone over some rooftops but that's just me.
It's paced well and the right length. A schwifty set-up leads into hub town followed by chase sequence to the next hub town. Rinse and repeat. I've seen people talk about getting lost but I found the hub areas small enough that you got your bearings after enough exploring.
Story-wise it's a winner for me. Fresh off Outer Wilds I was still jazzed about the lost civilization narrative. Something resonates about a society trapped (both physically and emotionally) by the decisions of its ancestors. Attack on Titan, Horizon, Knights of Sidonia all riff on similar themes of legacy and survival.
Visually the world they create is rich. The neon cityscape and its robot inhabitants seem to take inspiration from Simon Stalenhag (particularly his Hector character). I love the concept of robots with clothes. One sidequest has you get a jumper for a chilly programmer. You get the sense these robots absorbed the neurotic foibles of their human creators into their chipsets.
The music complements all this perfectly, especially in the more high pace chase sequences. It swells and recedes like the Portal music with the action on screen.
More than anything we feel a connection with our cat PC. A personality is imprinted on him much like a real pet. If that's not testament to a job well one then what is....

TLDR: I was a cat. It was awesome.

Is the parry mechanic the most satisfying thing in gaming? It might be for me.
Sifu takes this and it's little brother the dodge mechanic and makes the kung fu game that us parry nerds have always wanted.
Tough enemies that are "learnable" makes the gameplay loop into visual storytelling process. I felt like a filmmaker trying to choreograph the most perfect and dramatic fight scenes. The "imma boss" factor goes through the roof after only a few playthroughs and my lizard brain was sparking!
Level design is smart and inventive. The shortcuts prevented the reruns getting boring without kneecapping the sense of scale.
There are some naughty bits though. Mrs Museum Boss's first phase: in the bin with you. The dodge window seemed miniscule and memorizing her patterns is almost impossible when they all look the same.
In general, a pet hate of mine is unblockable attacks having no indicators that they are unblockable. "Just learn the ones that are unblockable" you say? Well I just assume i'm "doing it wrong", missing the window or mistiming, so...no i won't learn them, dick.
Sure I should assume a huge roundhouse kick is unblockable but I want to believe my character does something awesome if I pull it off. The disappointment differential (TM me) becomes huge as I was expecting brilliance and literally got kicked in the teeth.

TLDR: more games should let you unlock a "punch in the balls" move.

Prithee the dialogue is dense af. I imagine it would take a night of YouTube lore videos to dissect. My only metroidvania before this was Hollow Knight but I didn't get too lost in the labyrinthine map.
Parry, dodge or tank is fun in 2d but too many enemies hop around your area of attack and neutralise the most interesting combat mechanics, leaving you to hit once then run away then hit again. Snooze. Those executions feel really cinematic and honestly never get boring. Bosses were perfect difficulty for me. Built my frustration up just enough without getting grindy. Art design and music are just stunning. A great one to tick off.

TLDR: REQUIEM!!!!!!

The jankiest AAA game I've ever played. Textures clipping in all over the place, stupid sliding sections, utterly infuriating little monster enemies, buggy AI. But that parry mechanic is sweeeet and the camera goes whoosh round when you do an execution so I've played it three times in 3 years. Originally was 3.5 stars but had to add half a star on each replay.
It doesn't deserve my love but I'm down bad for this goddamn game.
Also BD-1 rocks.

TLDR: Beep borp beep.

Is this the perfect puzzle game? Uncovering an ancient advanced race and their bitter end is probs my favourite sci-fi storyline. It taps into the part of me that loves Indiana Jones, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Subnautica and In The Mountains Of Madness. And the story of Outer Wilds stands with all of those.
Like all great sci-fi stories it manages to weave philosophy, metaphysics into its high-concept fabric.
To take quantum theory and relativity and forge an antihero story is peak sci-fi writing. It sticks its landing without resorting to a celestial mysticism to justify itself (looking at you Interstellar). Every beat of this game peels back another layer of the journey with perfect pacing, to reveal a genuinely fulfilling if melancholy ending.
I loved playing this game but also loved not playing it. As only the best games do, your mind wanders back to it during the day, desperate to uncover its mysteries. What a game man.

TLDR: Clang. clang. clang-a-lang-a-lang-a-langa langa lang....