Stray is a wholesome experience indeed, but is it purrfect?
Stray is an action-adventure game set in a post-apocalyptic dystopian future where humanity is long gone. The players follow a stray cat who tries to return to the surface with the help of a little android called B-12. During this journey, the cat encounters many different robots and machines. Piece by piece, the cat understands the lore behind humanity’s extinction and robots’ rise.
Despite the brevity of its playtime (~6 hours), the game delivers all of its promises. The puzzles are fun, the characters are likable enough, and the story is satisfying. It would be excruciating if the studio messed up a game in which the main character is a literal cat, but the studio has done a fantastic job.
Let us discuss the elephant in the room first: Does the game make you feel like a cat? Yes! Stray allows the players to do many things that one cannot understand why cats do. It sometimes feels very catastrophic, from knocking things over from a countertop to scratching at random couches.
Another thing to enjoy about this game is that being a cat adds to it rather than taking away from it. You help the robots by physically fitting into tighter spaces that they cannot.
Another reason being a cat just works is that this is a game in which the player must be alienated to really understand what it feels like not to have any humans around. As a cat who cannot read or understand the language the robots speak, you are indeed a stranger here.
Getting to know the NPCs and the lore behind the world is truly fascinating in this game. The player is not bombarded with information or expected to read every little letter or book the game throws at them. As a stranger to this universe, the information is learned very naturally. Step by step, slowly put the pieces together.
The gameplay is nothing ground-breaking, but it works for a game like this. It consists of simple puzzles; almost all are based on pulling a lever, getting on top of something, or rolling a barrel. But this is not all: You are a cat, after all, so there is some platforming.
There are also really well-executed chase scenes where the player is expected to outrun the Zurks, little creatures that eat everyone and everything in their way, as they chase after the little cat. Needless to say, the gameplay is relatively simple but enjoyable.
Though the game is short, there is still much left to do after you finish the main story. There are lots of collectibles to find and side quests to do, from collecting sheet music to helping gardener-bot pick flowers.
Though the puzzles are simple, the collectibles are not easy to find. Sometimes, the player must find a code for a safe that contains something that is then traded with an NPC to gain a single item! If you want to spend more than six hours in this game, it is safe to say that you can do that.
Furthermore, brevity supports simplicity. Stray’s short playtime saves It from being a repetitive mess. However, its simplicity also serves as a weakness for the story because it lacks originality. It is very intriguing to learn more about the history of this cyberpunk world that we are thrown into, but the story, which centers around the cat and B-12, lacks originality.
Players can virtually guess what the endgame will be or where the story is going. Finding the pieces and putting them together is fun, not the story itself. It should also be noted that this is not to say that the story in Stray is bad, just that it is weak compared to the other games in similar genres and its strengths.
Stray’s level design is ingenious. It is intuitive with lots of arrows and cables to follow, which is essential when there is no map indicator whatsoever anywhere on the screen. As a cat, you are supposed to be good at finding your way home instinctively; this is exactly what the game design leads you to think. The smallness of the maps also helps; had this been an open-world game, the level design would be nowhere as good as it is in Stray.
The music in Stray is nothing unique except for the collectible sheets of music. These collectibles can be given to a musician robot who will play the song for you, and in the meantime
, you can curl up in a ball, enjoying the musical feast. There are eight collectible sheets in total, many of which are incredibly pleasant to hear.
The protagonist is great, but how about the antagonist? Our antagonists are these small mouse-like creatures called Zurk, who can eat anything organic or metal. They are also small and agile, which means that the cat is virtually the only one who can escape them.
Another thing to mention about the Zurks is that they are terrifying. If you have a phobia of mice, be ready to get the fright of your life. The Zurks stick themselves onto the cat and slowly drain its life while looking like cute and friendly creatures. They are compelling, and this is what makes the chase sequences very thrilling to play.
In short, Stray is a brilliant but short experience that leaves a good taste in one’s mouth. Though the story itself is not the most enticing part, Stray is fun and cute in many more ways. The gameplay, the level design, the characters, and the world are intriguing enough to keep playing and wanting more. It is wholesome, and the main character is a cat! What more can a person want?
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