Things are mixed up further with chase sequences where you must evade small fleshy creatures, and stealth segments where drones shooting deadly electric bolts try to hunt you down. Stray can also feel quite restricted during some platforming sections as the route your cat must follow is too heavily guided. This makes it impossible to fail any platforming sequence as there’s no way to mistime your jumps. But jumping is always contextual and a single button press automatically guides you from one place to another. Platforming is a big part of how your traverse the city. Although the game does keep things a little too simple throughout.
Thankfully there is more to Stray than just interacting with the world as a cat would. You may find yourself leaving surfaces unscratched quicker than you might expect. However, doing the various things that cats often do does get old pretty fast and after the first couple of chapters these opportunities to express your inner cat-ness feel more like distractions than meaningful game mechanics. You’ll likely spend your first thirty or so minutes with Stray enamored with scratching everything in sight and hammering the meow button until you’ve heard each audio clip multiple times. And a dedicated meow button allows you to audibly express yourself whenever you feel like it. You’re frequently given the opportunity to do regular cat activities from scratching sofas and rugs, to drinking from puddles and sleeping on anything that looks even vaguely comfortable (there’s actually a Trophy for napping for a whole real-world hour). It’s a regular household ginger cat and plays like one. It’s not a cat that’s been imbued with unique powers, or can be upgraded with various cybernetic enhancements, or evolved into some sort of biomutant. It’s important to note in Stray the hero is just a standard everyday cat. This little guy is useful both in terms of game action and for dolling out surprisingly intriguing snippets of lore. You receive help from several friendly robots, but most crucially you have a small drone companion named B-12 strapped to your back. You don’t have to undertake this mission alone either. Your quest is a simple one: find your way back to the surface. There are no people in this strange place, just humanoid robots going about their daily lives and wandering the neon-lit streets of an eerie, but also oddly inviting, cyberpunk world. While jumping across steel beams and running along moss-covered pipes your kitty falls down a deep hole and awakes in a mysterious underground city.
The game begins with its feline protagonist awaking from a peaceful slumber and after a few playful moments where you’ll get to grips with what it’s like to control a cat, you venture off to explore the ruins of an abandoned facility alongside your furry friends. Stray’s opening moments are wonderfully serene. (Image credit: Annapurna Interactive/BlueTwelve Studio)
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