These environmental puzzles never get overly complicated, and most of them are convincing enough that a specifically clever cat can actually figure out these solutions on its own. There’s also an instance where the cat will have to throw an empty paint bucket towards a rotating exhaust fan to stop it from spinning, allowing the cat to safely squeeze through the space. The solution is to have the cat climb to the roof and push the plank forward so that the cat can use it as a bridge. Nearby, there’s a plank of wood leaning against a wall. One easy example that happens early on in the game is how the cat will have to cross a large gap between two buildings. The game’s environmental puzzles have the cat interacting with objects in the environment so that the path will be cleared.
If you’ve played any other video game in the past, it’s unlikely that you’ll have any trouble figuring out how to play this game at all.Īs mentioned above, the game also has environmental puzzles and stealth elements. The fact that there’s a prompt that will appear for contextual interaction gives players a clear visual of what pressing a button will do, avoiding annoying miss-jumps or unintended interactions. Stray’s controls are fluid and responsive. You can nap in all sorts of places, snuggle with the robots and nuzzle against their legs, and do all sorts of other simple things that the game allows you to do that are consistent with real-world cat behavior. There’s a lot of attention to detail in the game that both cat owners and regular players alike would recognize these behaviors and acknowledge that hey, cats do actually act like these. There’s a dedicated button for meowing, you can scratch at posts and fabrics, and even push objects down the edge of surfaces like most cats do. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Stray immerses you so much that you do feel like you’re a cat. In that aspect, BlueTwelve Studios did a pretty great job in making players feel like they are a cat. But that only comes second to the fact that you play as a cat. Sure, exploring a post-apocalyptic, post-human, cyberpunk-esque city with a robot society is also an exciting aspect of the game. Stray’s appeal comes mainly from the fact that you play as a cat. There are hostile robots in the game that are involved in the game’s stealth sequences, and organic bug-like beings called Zurks infest the undercity that pose a threat to you and the other inhabitants of the undercity, who drive the more action-oriented and some of the most intense moments of the game. The robots in this game have developed sentience, and each of the robot characters you’ll meet in this game has its own personality and would react to the cat in different ways. He then finds himself in a cyber undercity that has not seen humans for a long time and has since become a society of robots. In Stray, players take control of a stray cat that has been separated from his clowder. Stray is an immersive action-adventure game with environmental puzzles, platforming, and stealth elements. But is Stray worth the hype? Would the game actually be enjoyable to all sorts of audiences – from cat lovers to action-adventure fans? We’ll help you learn the answer here in our Stray Review so that you’d know if you should play Stray. Match the game’s adorable elevator pitch and the expertise and reputation of its publisher, and you get a game that would capture many people’s attention. But then, the game is being published by Annapurna Interactive, a reputable publisher that has brought a lot of amazing games to players in the past several years, such as Neon White, The Outer Wilds, and The Artful Escape.
Cue “Everybody Wants To Be A Cat” from “Aristocats.” Almost anyone who has an ounce of fluff in their heart immediately became intrigued by the prospect of playing as a cat, and Stray quickly became one of the most desired games of the year, becoming July’s most wishlisted game on Steam at the start of the month. It has, after all, a unique but simple premise.
BlueTwelve Studios didn’t have to spend a lot of resources to make people interested in Stray.