“Stray delivers on its adorable cat adventure premise, but its excellent atmosphere and strong sci-fi storytelling are what elevate it.”

Pros

Creative cat gameplay

Excellent ambiance

Intricate degree design

Impactful sci-fi narrative

Cons

Limited interactions

Some undercooked concepts

I used to be mendacity on my sofa taking part in Stray when my cat, Mirah, jumped up subsequent to me. As I managed the sport’s digital orange cat, Mirah climbed onto my legs and lay down along with her face pointed in direction of the display screen. I may really feel a mild rumble as she purred, not dissimilar from the vibrations my DualSense controller’s haptic suggestions was giving off. It’s maybe the one second I’ve had whereas taking part in a sport the place the pure and mechanical felt completely in sync.
Stray explores that very intersection with a way of cat-like curiosity. Developed by BlueTwelve Studio, the journey sport imagines a not-too-unbelievable future the place people have destroyed themselves, leaving overgrown vegetation, animals, and sentient robots to take cost of the Earth. Much has been made in regards to the sport’s lovely feline lead because the sport was first introduced, however Stray isn’t only a cute gimmick; it’s a forward-thinking science-fiction sport about our more and more difficult reference to know-how.
Between its intelligent (although restricted) gameplay concepts and weighty social commentary, Stray is a particular expertise that works finest as a futuristic temper piece. And a very darn cute one at that.
Press O to meow
Stray has maybe the simplest promoting level within the historical past of video video games: Live out your final fantasy by controlling a very regular cat. The sport’s orange hero isn’t some anthropomorphized, speaking tabby operating round on two legs. It’s your on a regular basis pet that naps and scratches couches. That premise permits for some artistic gameplay choices which might be all the time a delight to find.

Separated from its household after dropping right into a walled metropolis stuffed with sentient robots, the furry hero has to make use of its distinctive expertise to unravel puzzles and escape the mysterious slums. BlueTwelve Studio has a blast right here determining how normal cat behaviors can twist into navigation instruments. For occasion, scratching a door would possibly trigger an irritated robotic to swing it open, permitting you to dart inside. A stealth part had me leaping into bins to cover from patrolling drones. Even completely optionally available interactions, like discovering a very good e book nook to nap in, are joyfully intelligent.
There are limits to what Stray’s capable of do with its feline setup. By the tip of my journey, it felt like nearly any non-platforming puzzle was solved by scratching or knocking one thing over. Some of the attraction will get misplaced in these moments, as I’d virtually overlook I used to be controlling a cat altogether as soon as the journey sport auto-pilot kicked in. There are a small handful of conventional puzzles that require brainwork, like utilizing written clues to determine protected mixtures, however Stray doesn’t fairly discover as some ways to make the most of the few expertise gamers have in addition to, say, Untitled Goose Game.
It’s the genuine feline moments that make the sport particular …

To widen out the record of actions gamers can do, Stray provides its cat hero a drone companion that handles the extra primary journey sport tropes like buying and selling objects with NPCs. Those concepts assist deliver some selection to the sport, although they will really feel a little bit compulsory at occasions. For occasion, one transient stretch of the sport introduces a fight mechanic that disappears earlier than it could actually develop.
It’s the genuine feline moments that make the sport particular relatively than its video game-y ones. For me, essentially the most memorable scene wasn’t once I was operating from a pack of parasitic enemies. It was once I bought my head caught in a paper bag, inverting my controls till I managed to shake it off. Those typically comedic touches gave me a momentary glimpse into my cat’s confused little mind. No different sport I’ve performed with an animal lead has actually captured that feeling in the identical means, however now I want extra did.
The world is your litter field
The cat-focused gameplay is just a small a part of what makes Stray work. The actual star of the present is its distinct ambiance, which turns the sport into a really transportive expertise. From the sport’s astonishing digital soundtrack to its detailed cityscapes awash in decaying neon indicators, it’s simple to black out the actual world as you wander across the digital one (that’s, until your precise cat will get hungry and begins shouting over your headset).
Stray will get {that a} well-designed world doesn’t must dangle treats in entrance of gamers …

Stray looks like a direct descendant of Ico. There’s an underlying sense of tragedy current within the remoted robotic world, however the sport doesn’t have a miserable tone. The feline perspective permits gamers to see a doubtlessly dystopian area by earnestly curious eyes. Dilapidated condominium buildings turn out to be cat towers with a lot of ledges to leap on and nooks to discover. There’s a tragic backstory behind all of it, however it’s a sport a few creature discovering a strategy to survive and thrive in any setting it’s positioned in.
The navigation system helps emphasize that concept. Rather than giving gamers a leap button and having them wrestle with tough platforming puzzles, Stray takes an Assassin’s Creed-like method to motion — name it purrkour. Players transfer from floor to floor by urgent the X button when it seems on display screen. That permits the cat to make exact, agile actions because it safely scales structure. There’s no menace of dying attributable to a mistimed leap when exploring; the sport desires to indulge your curiosity and encourage you to bravely snoop round.

It helps that the areas, impressed by the real-world Kowloon Walled City, are so intricately designed with a lot of nooks and vertical area to mess around with. The first main space you’ll encounter is a compact, however open metropolis that may be freely explored. First, I hopped up as excessive as I may, slipping my means by barely-open condominium home windows. Later, I hopped onto the bottom and strolled by slim alleys as I chatted with the native robots lining the streets. Even when there’s nothing to seek out in some tucked-away nook, I used to be content material simply sticking my head the place it didn’t belong (the extra I write this, the extra I’m beginning to perceive why my cat is so keen to stay her head within the fridge anytime it’s open).
Where different video games flip exploration right into a chore with countless duties to chase, Stray will get {that a} well-designed world doesn’t must dangle treats in entrance of gamers to get them to maneuver.
Anti-cat-pitalism
If you’re the type of one that sees Stray as a “meme game,” you could be shocked by how weighty its story is. It delivers a socially acutely aware sci-fi narrative that weaves collectively quite a lot of fashionable threads. There’s a transparent environmentalist streak, as an illustration, digging into how humanity is poisoning itself out of existence. That runs into a category inequality reflection, because the robotic metropolis is actually a slum that people used as an enormous dumpster.
Stray understands that tech is usually simply used as a scapegoat to excuse the individuals who abuse it.

The cat hero often is the character that will get essentially the most consideration, however the androids that populate the world give the story its coronary heart. Using my drone pal as a translator, I rapidly turned engrossed within the mysterious robotic backstory advised by collectible reminiscences. It’s a bittersweet story about honest machines that wished to interact with their creators and the uncaring people that deserted them.
It can be simple for a narrative like this to be cynical about know-how, inserting all of the world’s issues on all these dang screens we have a look at. But Stray understands that tech is usually simply used as a scapegoat to excuse the individuals who abuse it. It’s telling that the closest factor the sport has to antagonists are androids which have recreated the concept of a police state by mimicking the mistaken folks.

It’s simple to see Stray’s decaying cities as a darkish dystopia, however I truly walked away feeling the alternative. It imagines a world the place nature and know-how have discovered a pure steadiness, undisturbed by the egocentric chaos humanity can typically deliver to the equation. We’ve all the time seen androids in sci-fi depicted as creepy villains that’ll result in mankind’s downfall; Stray posits that perhaps they’d truly be higher caretakers for our planet than we’re.
Our take
Stray isn’t a furry gimmick that’s in it for the memes. Its cat-centric gameplay brings a contemporary perspective to the journey style, placing an emphasis on curiosity-driven exploration. Some of its gameplay concepts really feel restricted and underutilized, however playful cat interactions make it a heat and fuzzy expertise from begin to end. Come for its lovely furball hero, however keep for the socially acutely aware sci-fi story about how human beings are the architects of their very own downfall.
Is there a greater different?
Not actually! Stray’s feline gameplay is a bit one-of-a-kind for a sport of this scale.
How lengthy will it final?
The story took me round 5 hours to finish, although I missed a number of collectibles. A 100% completion needs to be nearer to 6 or seven hours — eight should you’re going for the “nap for an hour” achievement.
Should you purchase it?
Yes. Stray is a really distinctive (and lovely) journey sport that’s way more than its central promoting level.
Stray was examined on a PlayStation 5 hooked as much as a TCL 6-Series R635.

Editors’ Recommendations