Stray

Everything in Stray works together so well; the characters, the story, and being a cat is so realistic and fun that it is so rewarding. I can't recommend this game enough; it is my game of the year for 2022 meow.

Though short, Stray is a delight of a game to experience. Forcing players to make organic progress feels like a genuine achievement, and viewing this world through the unique perspective of a cat gives the story considerable more weight. Stray is a game that you will think about even when you’re not playing it. Like a good book, its world pulls you in and you never want to put it down. It’s nice to see at least one cyberpunk game live up to the hype, eh?

Monsters that can chew through metal, a forgetful drone, lots of ontological questions you can push from the high ground as a cat... All of these come together and create a sincere and compact story that you should definitely experience.

Stray manages to straddle the glee of playing a roguish feline with an absorbing sci-fi story and gorgeously detailed landscapes.

Stray hits all of the right marks for a memorable adventure game. The ability to play solely as a normal cat with normal cat abilities is alluring. It's a great game hook, but every other element does their part to keep one playing. The familiar story remains fascinating, as do the characters you meet. The world is great to explore, while the game's overall pacing and mechanics keep you glued until the end. It's been a pretty good year for games thus far, and Stray is currently up there with Elden Ring and Tunic as being serious contenders for the best the year has to offer.

It delights in its subject matter, and what the protagonist lacks in dialogue, they make up for in puckish charm. Yes, the story is short, but it doesn’t waste any of its space or time. It’s a wonderful game to play, especially now before the really massive releases start later this year.

Stray is a game that has surprised me both for the good and for the bad. I expected a game that simply tried to distract us from its failures with the idea that it would be enough to put us in the shoes of an adorable cat. And it has been that, but also more things: my skepticism regarding him has ended up leaving as I saw more of the world he wants to present. In the end, it's ironic that the thing I've fallen least in love with in a game about controlling a cat was, precisely, controlling a cat.

Stray is a fairly short game with a few notable flaws. Still, it's a joy to experience the wonders of playing as a cat in a marvelously designed world.

While I expected Stray to be a cyberpunk-themed walking simulator about a day in the life of a cat, I was unprepared for the deeply emotional adventure that this little cat was going to take me on. This stunningly beautiful world left me with a mountain of questions and has undoubtedly earned a place in my mind for some time.

Stray merges feline mayhem with a classic cyberpunk setting, inviting you to explore its neon dystopia while never taking itself too seriously.

A lusciously dense world of natural beauty colliding with cyber-future grimness is ready to be explored from a uniquely tiny perspective. Stray tells a surprisingly emotional tale that instantly grips during its opening moments and doesn’t relent until its closing scene. A standout release so far this year, Stray proves to be so much deeper than just a cat adventure game.

Stray takes about five to six hours to finish, but it makes use of that short run time to tell a touching story between a cat and a robot drone. Its controls feel great and impactful, whether you're jumping or running. There’s so much personality to the cat, too: being able to meow on command and do cat things like knocking over items and scratching on walls is a nice touch. Stray is a tightly focused journey that is worth experiencing at least once.

Stray's ultimate strength is how well its overall design embodies the unique perspective and capabilities of its protagonist, but it also doesn't rely on this to be the only distinguishing feature of the entire adventure. A lot of the enjoyment throughout Stray's runtime comes from how well each scenario is designed for the abilities of its feline hero, and how empowering it is to be able to navigate its gorgeous hubs and derelict cities with the additional agility on offer. Its puzzles are routinely satisfying to solve and all work in service of a charming story with a satisfying conclusion, with the pacing only knocked slightly off by some slightly less than stellar combat scenarios in the first half. Thankfully, they're not prevalent enough to detract from the otherwise captivating adventure that Stray is, and that it tells a tale that will likely linger with you after the game's credits have rolled.

Stray boasts drop-dead gorgeous graphics, an intriguing story and unique post-apocalyptic world, and ridiculously fun and silky smooth gameplay that comes from climbing up and down every area possible with natural catlike agility. Stray is an absolute masterpiece that BlueTwelve should be proud of, and you’d be a fool to miss out on on no matter what, so make sure to check out this feline odyssey ASAP.

Stray is a must-play for cat lovers, or anyone who just appreciates a stellar game.

Despite having an unusual and cute protagonist in the game, we enjoyed a unique aesthetic and a very entertaining gameplay.

Stray is a disgustingly cute and visually gorgeous post-apocalyptic cat game. Rather short, and not without its flaws, but a truly unique title nonetheless.

Stray is a well-rounded gaming experience with an exciting narrative, excellent graphics and an incomparable cyberpunk atmosphere.

A tribute to the true cat lovers. Any gamer who loves cats is bound to fall in love with the great details of the cat looking just like real ones. But when you turn the eyes to where cats do not exist, you will face simple, linear game structure made out of monotonous puzzle and short volume.

What's the secret of earned success? A cat + cyberpunk. A small adventure game from a small developer dazzled the whole world and it doesn't seem that the spell will break anytime soon. Stray really is an incredible game.

Stray is phenomenal in all its aspects, from its audiovisual presentation to its gameplay and approach. A fable starring a cat that deals with themes of loss and friendship through a truly unique and original exploration adventure, all set in an absorbing cyberpunk universe.

Simple, polished systems allow Stray's rich fiction and charismatic star to shine.

Overall, Stray surprised me in how well it wears its features and themes on its sleeve and how well crafted said features are. It’s a game created for cat lovers by cat lovers, but with features and mechanics everyone can enjoy irrespective of age or pet preference. It’s just too bad that the journey you’ll go on, while memorable, is incredibly short, at only about eight hours long.

Stray is a very fun game with its gameplay, world and music. It has a gameplay and story presentation that will not tire you much.

Stray is a fairly common adventure from an uncommon perspective and always at it's best, when that is shown off...The very first interactions with objects and characters in the game world have something magical and playful about them. Later in the game there are less and less new functions to discover and we instead get classic gameplay of running, solving puzzles and stealth. It is still absolutely servicable and cute, thanks to the cat protagonist. The last part oft he game feels rushed though.

Stray is a wonderfully endearing game about humanity in a world without humans, delivering quality feline exploration/adventure, with some passable action thrown in.

Stray is a very good surprise. It is not a simple game where you play as a cat but it's a poetic, touching and exciting adventure.

Stray is the perfect game for all cat lovers. Not only does it gives us a full experience of a cat's life, but also a narrative that is impossible to ignore, especially when the mission is to save the world. In a city with vibrant colors, enigmatic sounds, unlikely friendships and full-fledged mischievous threats, what keeps Unity together is the resilience of an orange cat who doesn't give up hope of finding his family. Stray has an implicit lesson or moral, just like any good story told to a world in constant wave of skepticism, disbelief and uncertainty.

It might not quite have the substance and complexity in design to elevate the experience to genre-leading heights, but there's so little to fault and so much to love about it that I'm certain, cat lover or not, it shouldn't be missed. Stray is a superb achievement for a debut project from a studio in BlueTwelve that I cannot wait to see more from.

Stray is, more than anything, a charming game. Its gimmick – you are a cat, do cat things – never gets old; I constantly found it clever for the few hours it took to complete. But more than gimmicks, exploring a world this dense and detailed is a joy, amplified by the unique gameplay being a cat offers. It's a solid, brief ride through a strange world and one well worth taking.

Stray gets so much right about being a cat. It's not just the way you travel through the world. There are moments when you stop to rub your side against someone's legs. You can press a button to scratch the carpet and there are even a couple of puzzles that make smart use of this ability. The way you stretch out one paw to tentatively bat at a suspicious object or how you curl up on a cushion in the perfect pretzel… it's just so exquisitely, believably cat-like.

Stray is a brilliant adventure that lets you live out life as a cat in a compelling world with unique characters and well-thought-out puzzles, but its unsatisfactory ending marrs an otherwise great game.

Leisurely promenades and simple puzzles are interspersed with action moments where you have to flee from local aggressive fauna. There’s also some stealth involved. These segments aren’t stellar, but they do shake things up nicely. [Issue#260, p.58]

Stray's main strengths lie in its adorable protagonist and its settings which are a joy to explore. Let's add to that a nicely conducted narrative and a mystical atmosphere draped with beautiful synthesized melodies. There are still the puzzles, which are often too basic and the frustration of not being able to jump where we want, which prevent the game from reaching its full potential. Stray is nonetheless a very nice experience, perfect for the youngest and quite touching for adults.

Stray reminds of the good old adventure games with puzzles and little sandbox sections. Besides the cute protagonist, you're gonna love the other characters and their stories.

Stray is a heartfelt, passionate and fascinating game that, sadly, suffers from oversimplification in terms of gameplay. The exceptional art direction and pleasant plot, however, make it advisable for anyone looking for a single player game with an absolutely magnetic imagery.

A cute kitty is wandering in a beautiful city of robots — now that’s a cool idea to scribble on a napkin during a brainstorm session. Unfortunately, Stray never develops it into a full-fledged game.

Stray is at its best when it lets you do the things you’d expect from a cat – sleeping on cozy pillows, meowing, or scratching sofas – but fails to build consistently compelling gameplay around these flavorful bits. Although it creates a believable world, I found it hard to connect with the robots you encounter across its forgotten city, making the game’s admittedly grand climax feel hollow…There’s plenty of attention to detail going into certain areas, but once the credits rolled, I was disappointed to see the cat I played as was just a vessel through which I experienced someone else’s story…Stray works and runs smoothly but is ultimately a fairly inoffensive game with a handful of special moments, that also happens to have a cat as its leading character. You can do much worse, but you can also do much better.

Stray captures the cat experience perfectly, but is bogged down by boring platforming mechanics and an unengaging narrative experience which leaves the game feeling dull.