Stray Review

"Meow."

Campaign

July 23, 2022 at 5:43pm
By Jason Stettner

Stepping into the furry paws of a cat you begin a quest to escape a long forgotten city that you’ve found yourself fallen into. It’s an interesting premise as you play the entirety of this from the perspective of a cat.

It’s a desolate, sad sort of world that you find yourself in as there’s a mystery of what happened to the humans that used to dwell here. It’s just a collection of typically glum looking robots that are hiding away from this terrifying grouping of monstrous little creature that roam about.

It’s a story told through visual interactions and straight forward dialogue from robots. You complete the various set missions with a sense of freedom to take in the world further if you so choose. It’s not necessarily a long experience, but still a profound one that was rather pleasing to engage with.

There are some fun references, a good sense of mystery and the odd memory collectible to gather to understand more of what happened over time. It leaves you in wondrous thought, and yet at the same time satisfied with how it concluded. Perhaps a bit abrupt, yet at the same time a very fine conclusion.

Gameplay

You’ll explore the lost ruins of this once living city. It’s cold, filled to the brim with neon and stuck with a collection of mostly sad robots trying to live in an almost human like way. There are remnants of the past, but things have changed and it creates a moody atmosphere.

It’s a gorgeous game, and if an indicator of indie like experiences going forward we’re in for a real treat gaming wise. The cat is perfectly captured with options to scratch stuff or even meow on command. The movement is parkour based essentially feeling like a swift Assassin’s Creed esque style. They really did a grand job with the movement as you flow perfectly throughout the world.

It doesn’t necessarily hold your hand, but each moment of the game feels very logical. I didn’t really ever have to sit there and really think as I was just doing what felt right. That was great as it makes the experience come across as natural. This cat really moved and was strangely super smart.

The Conclusion

Stray is a lovely, thought provoking experience that nails the feeling of being a cat. It really was a sort of moving tale that was simplistic in its direction yet complex enough to keep me engaged throughout. I liked that it wasn’t an overly long game, it felt to be about the right amount of time in all honesty.

It didn’t overstay it’s welcome and left me wanting just a bit more afterwards. It provided some visually stunning locations, and exciting characters to meet. The world felt rich with lore, yet nothing too ambitious to dive into. It felt a tad spooky at times, while still hopeful despite the mystery. This was a very well put together experience and it made being a cat sort of exciting.

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Stray Review on Playstation 5

Rating Overall: 9.0