I love cats, so when I saw the teaser trailer for BlueTwelve’s cat adventure game, Stray, back in 2020 I was immediately hyped for it…as was most of the internet. Even better was when it was announced that Stray would launch on the PlayStation Plus Collection for subscribers, meaning I didn’t have to pay any extra to play what looked like an awesome game. So, when the game released on July 19th I sat down with my own little furball, Archie, and released my inner feline for what had been my most anticipated game release in quite some time.
Separated from its friends after falling down a chasm in a mysterious structure, Stray sees you play as a cat trying to escape a mysterious walled city inhabited by robots. By completing tasks for them and exploring a cyberpunk world you must find a way back to the outside. However, the city is a dangerous place with robotic drones hunting you down, and a strange organism that has begun to consume everything it touches.
Separated from its friends after falling down a chasm in a mysterious structure, Stray sees you play as a cat trying to escape a mysterious walled city inhabited by robots. By completing tasks for them and exploring a cyberpunk world you must find a way back to the outside. However, the city is a dangerous place with robotic drones hunting you down, and a strange organism that has begun to consume everything it touches.
Stray is nothing short of fantastic. The story is told primarily through memory fragments that you pick up along the way with your robotic buddy B-12, and a lot of visual storytelling through the level and character design. But whilst the story was great to soak up, it’s not what kept me interested in Stray. For me the real draw was the interesting world it is set in, and the smooth fluid gameplay mechanics.
The walled city is one of the most alive game worlds I’ve encountered in quite some time, which is strange to say when you consider that it is devoid of intelligent living things. It feels lived in, and it feels massive and full of possibilities despite funnelling you through a linear path and not containing endless side activities.
Controlling your little feline friend is a dream too. With great agility and plenty to climb on or sneak under, just navigating the walled city is a real pleasure. Just being a cat is arguably the best thing Stray has to offer as it’s something so unique to this game, and it captures that feeling so perfectly. But where the game does stumble is in its combat and stealth sections. The combat only comes in for a brief ten to fifteen minutes around the game’s midpoint and it feels so detached from the rest of the game that it feels out of place. The stealth meanwhile is serviceable, we’re not talking Metal Gear Solid levels of complexity here but just some simple sightline avoidance exercises. Stray is best when it tasks you with solving problems, like needing to distract a shopkeeper to steal a jacket, or how to trap the nasty little creatures known as Zurk’s in a cage.
The walled city is one of the most alive game worlds I’ve encountered in quite some time, which is strange to say when you consider that it is devoid of intelligent living things. It feels lived in, and it feels massive and full of possibilities despite funnelling you through a linear path and not containing endless side activities.
Controlling your little feline friend is a dream too. With great agility and plenty to climb on or sneak under, just navigating the walled city is a real pleasure. Just being a cat is arguably the best thing Stray has to offer as it’s something so unique to this game, and it captures that feeling so perfectly. But where the game does stumble is in its combat and stealth sections. The combat only comes in for a brief ten to fifteen minutes around the game’s midpoint and it feels so detached from the rest of the game that it feels out of place. The stealth meanwhile is serviceable, we’re not talking Metal Gear Solid levels of complexity here but just some simple sightline avoidance exercises. Stray is best when it tasks you with solving problems, like needing to distract a shopkeeper to steal a jacket, or how to trap the nasty little creatures known as Zurk’s in a cage.
Stray looks and runs great too. Whilst playing on the PS5 I was treated to crisp native 4K image running at a buttery smooth and consistent 60FPS. Play on a PS4 and this is downgraded to 1080p and 30FPS no matter whether you play on a base PS4 or a Pro model. Character models are incredibly detailed, and animation, particularly on the player-controlled cat, is really smooth and lifelike. Combine this technical prowess with an art style that reeks of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, and a funky neo-noir inspired techno soundtrack from Yann Van Der Cruyessen and Stray is a delight to look at and listen to. Whilst the significant performance enhancements on PS5 make this a title worth playing on newer hardware, the stability at which it runs on PS4 systems won’t leave you feeling hard done by.
If you’re a cat lover like myself then Stray is simply a must play. Coming in at around eight hours long for a first run, it’s a great indie game that’ll tide you over for a couple of days, with plenty of collectibles and even a speedrun challenge to tackle for completionists. If you’re a PS+ Extra subscriber then you have no reason not to play Stray as it’s free with your subscription, but at £25 it’s a unique, gorgeous looking, and extremely fun to play budget title. If it weren’t for its awkwardly implemented combat mechanics and so-so stealth this game would be positively purrrfect (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).
If you’re a cat lover like myself then Stray is simply a must play. Coming in at around eight hours long for a first run, it’s a great indie game that’ll tide you over for a couple of days, with plenty of collectibles and even a speedrun challenge to tackle for completionists. If you’re a PS+ Extra subscriber then you have no reason not to play Stray as it’s free with your subscription, but at £25 it’s a unique, gorgeous looking, and extremely fun to play budget title. If it weren’t for its awkwardly implemented combat mechanics and so-so stealth this game would be positively purrrfect (sorry, I couldn’t help myself).