Hero cat liberates underground city of friendly robots

July 22, 2022 4:26 AM

Stray follows a brave cat's journey through a world without humans, making robot friends along the way. Dog review. Cat reviews. More cat reviews. IGN. RPS.
posted by adept256 (45 comments total)

Looks nice, and I love cats. But I'll wait for a sale.
posted by SoberHighland at 4:44 AM on July 22, 2022

I want this game so badly. Sure, mostly because it looks beautiful, but also to see how our cats react to it.
posted by Ghidorah at 4:46 AM on July 22, 2022

Yeah we want to play this not just for us but our cats. Also waiting for a sale, though.
posted by seanmpuckett at 4:50 AM on July 22, 2022

I have been AGONIZING waiting to play this and I'm not a traditional gamer, per se. I don't even have a controller, I only play PC games. Thinking of getting one just for this game.
posted by tiny frying pan at 4:53 AM on July 22, 2022

I got this yesterday (PS4), because cat game.

I'm also ill (not covid, per the RAT), so I've only got as far as the first part that requires coordination. TBH I expect my cat to be annoyed at me pressing O for miaow. TV-cats miaowing normally shits him to tears.
posted by pompomtom at 5:09 AM on July 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

It's short and sweet, only six hours. When my only complaint is that there isn't more of it, that's a good game.

The soundtrack is amazing. There's a jukebox in the slums, when you play it the organ melody sounds like cats... of course a cat would choose this song. The astromech language the droids speak has character; nervous, dolorous, neurotic, playful, all expressed with bleeps and blorps.

The graphics are up to the standard you'd expect of any AAA game. Hell I'd say it surpasses many of the lazier AAAs. A game like this needs great animation, the cat is convincingly fluid as only cats are.

One charming thing is that there are hidden cozy places. Places only a cat would find where it's just right for a nap. I find myself putting the controller down after the cat curls into a cozy ball. I don't want to disturb them! That's a pretty rare game mechanic, I appreciate it. Put the controller down for a bit and just purrrrrrrr.
posted by adept256 at 5:17 AM on July 22, 2022 [8 favorites]

I bought this in Steam, though am half wishing I bought it on the PS4 so I could share the gameplay with my cat, who lays on the sofa while I'm playing.
posted by acb at 5:18 AM on July 22, 2022

Thinking of getting one just for this game.

You will not regret doing so. I’m partway through it; the puzzles are solid, the world is a grim delight and the ambience is flawlessly executed.

“Annapurna says here's a game where the aesthetic is "Blade Runner took a detour through Dresden Codak" and you play as a cat" was always going to be a day-one purchase for me, but yeah, I t’s a very good game.
posted by mhoye at 5:23 AM on July 22, 2022 [7 favorites]

I haven't played it, but I found a couple of play-throughs on YouTube and, man, if you just have it on in the background, only occasionally looking at the video, you get this beautiful mix of ambient music and occasional meows and it is so soothing.

Swear to god, somebody better record just an hour of the first five minutes, when it's cats and rain and quiet, put that online, and they would have the newest greatest relaxation hit.
posted by Katemonkey at 5:24 AM on July 22, 2022 [6 favorites]

Given the development team being French, I'd suggest resonances with Jeunet and Caro's films Delicatessen and La Cité Des Enfants Perdus, at least for the subterranean not-quite-postapocalyptic feel.
posted by acb at 5:30 AM on July 22, 2022 [5 favorites]

(Whoever is making the decisions at Annapurna has exceptional taste. Just about every game in their stable is eminently worthwhile.)
posted by mhoye at 5:30 AM on July 22, 2022 [6 favorites]

One of the first things I did in this game was knock a bunch of paint cans off a ledge just because I could.
posted by curious nu at 5:54 AM on July 22, 2022 [18 favorites]

I love this game so much. I'm only about 45 minutes in, but it really captures "being a cat".
posted by Torosaurus at 6:17 AM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm only about 45 minutes in, but it really captures "being a cat".

"Press Y to cat".
posted by mhoye at 6:29 AM on July 22, 2022 [4 favorites]

Here is a full walkthrough without commentary. Belongs in the post, really.

One of the first things I did in this game was knock a bunch of paint cans off a ledge just because I could.

I was darting through a busier part of the city when a big dumb robot got their feet over me and fell flat on their face, making angry blorps. This is hilarious from a cat's perspective.
posted by adept256 at 6:31 AM on July 22, 2022 [11 favorites]

I swear that the robot talk in this game is creatively mixed speak and spell samples
posted by signsofrain at 6:55 AM on July 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

One of the first things I did in this game was knock a bunch of paint cans off a ledge just because I could.

Now we understand why cats knock shit off ledges. It's eminently entertaining.
posted by Your Childhood Pet Rock at 6:57 AM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

I bought this in Steam, though am half wishing I bought it on the PS4 so I could share the gameplay with my cat, who lays on the sofa while I'm playing.

It's available through PS+ Premium, if you're not wanting to buy it again.
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:11 AM on July 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

(Whoever is making the decisions at Annapurna has exceptional taste. Just about every game in their stable is eminently worthwhile.)

Too bad that they are routinely enabling toxic work environments and abuse at the studios they're publishing for.
posted by NoxAeternum at 7:14 AM on July 22, 2022 [11 favorites]

Those of you waiting for a sale, I'll just note: this game is part of the PS plus extra bundle. I was shocked to discover that!
posted by dbx at 7:17 AM on July 22, 2022

Have any reviews commented on motion sickness? I want to play it, but searching is tricky for me given the shortness of the game's name.
posted by cobaltnine at 7:45 AM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

My youngest son just bought this off Steam yesterday and has been playing the heck out of it. It looks really fun, and they certainly made the cat very ... cat.
posted by fimbulvetr at 8:20 AM on July 22, 2022

No Mac version. :(
posted by praemunire at 8:58 AM on July 22, 2022

The Windows version seems sufficiently well-behaved to run on the WINE-based Windows emulation layer in SteamOS, which may also be an option on macOS. It does, however, run the Steam Deck's battery down quite quickly, though not sure how much of this is the Windows-emulation overhead and how much is the graphics.
posted by acb at 9:13 AM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Is this game a hardware hog? I'd love to play on my living room PC connected to the TV (because I also want our animals to be an audience), but it's a bare bones PC.
posted by Popular Ethics at 9:18 AM on July 22, 2022

Ah, it's out now. Have been checking on and off since some kind of preview/announcement in The Guardian quite a while ago already. Last time was a couple of weeks ago I think, and it was getting close.

I'm not a gamer at all except for occasionally playing Angband, a Rogue-like, but this piqued my interest.
posted by Stoneshop at 9:28 AM on July 22, 2022

One charming thing is that there are hidden cozy places. Places only a cat would find where it's just right for a nap. I find myself putting the controller down after the cat curls into a cozy ball. I don't want to disturb them! That's a pretty rare game mechanic, I appreciate it. Put the controller down for a bit and just purrrrrrrr.

There's an achievement for spending an hour napping.
posted by NoxAeternum at 9:50 AM on July 22, 2022 [9 favorites]

I have been having a bad week, and my husband bought this for me yesterday on pc. I'm gonna have to wait till this weekend to play it but I am so excited to be a cat. Turns out what I most wanted in videogames, this whole time, was to be a cat.

Will report back on Sunday.
posted by stillnocturnal at 10:02 AM on July 22, 2022 [6 favorites]

If video games about being a cat and knocking things off shelves appeals, you may want to check out this previously.
posted by subocoyne at 10:27 AM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Have any reviews commented on motion sickness? I want to play it, but searching is tricky for me given the shortness of the game's name.

Are you planning to buy/play through Steam? If so, you can always buy and play for about half an hour to test it out. I've returned multiple games to Steam after 30 mins or less of playtime because of motion sickness issues, and I've never had an issue with the return process.
posted by yasaman at 10:59 AM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

As an Xbox owner, I feel like that meme of Squidward watching Spongebob and Patrick play by themselves. It'd be really nice if console exclusivity became less of a thing, especially for indie games like this.
posted by ZaphodB at 1:57 PM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

It's available through PS+ Premium, if you're not wanting to buy it again.

It's actually in the PS+ Extra tier (there are three tiers now, Extra is the middle one). Not to sound like a Sony ad, but PS+ Extra is a pretty great deal if you're already paying for PS+. It includes a bunch of big titles (Ghost of Tsushima, Control, Returnal, Demon's Souls).

I played through this on PS5. I was ready to be disappointed but I enjoyed it a lot. One PS5-exclusive feature: the fancy haptics on the DualSense controller mean that when another cat licks you at the beginning, you can feel it. Ditto with the purring.

(also when you meow it comes out of the controller speaker which is pretty cute)
posted by neckro23 at 6:41 PM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

No Mac version. :(

Also SO sad about this. I went to Steam to buy it as soon as I could and then saw no mac version and googling has not indicated that a mac version is coming. Woe!
posted by urbanlenny at 8:51 PM on July 22, 2022 [2 favorites]

Have any reviews commented on motion sickness?

Ymmv, but I’ve found adding a reticule (an option on this game) eliminates the motion sickness.
posted by queseyo at 10:26 PM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]

Hey, I'm back having played a couple of hours or so, and I have some thoughts (mild spoilers).

- I love being a cat. There are various fun Cat Things you can do when you find things in the environment. I made several happy squeaky noises playing this game.

- I had avoided a lot of the marketing, so I didn't realise the setting was going to be so grim and depressing and claustrophobic. It kind of takes away from the sheer joy of Being A Cat, for me. There's been no delight in exploring and discovery, and I just felt bad for the cat being stuck there. Maybe I've been in slightly the wrong headspace for this, because I wanted something more joyful.

- it's not really platforming, you can't fall off anything, so far the puzzles have just been figuring out how to path to places with the occasional sprinting to avoid gribblies, and some looking for objects. It's fun, but not taxing.

I would probably have stopped playing this if I was playing as a human or robot instead of a cat, but I love the cat now and I have to help them get home. (Yes, I am very much a crouton petter and the fall at the beginning made me SO SAD!)
posted by stillnocturnal at 1:26 AM on July 24, 2022 [2 favorites]

Also I did not get motion sick, but I've also never gotten motion sick playing VR so I don't think I'm very susceptible.
posted by stillnocturnal at 1:26 AM on July 24, 2022

Stray is great! I think I'm at the endgame, desk I've been rationing it. Think I missed some optional collectibles earlier, so another party through is very much on the cards, though partly that's me looking for an excuse.

I utterly adore the setting. Normally I'm not one to wax lyrical about graphics, but they are stunning, and to a level where it genuinely has made me stop and just spend a minute gawping at the world about a dozen times. I grew up in Hong Kong, though, mostly in the New Territories and old Kowloon, so it's tripping a lot of nostalgia for me.

(No motion sickness issues for me, and I do get that occasionally, especially when watching others play FPS out playing something movement heavy and rapid paced. For the most part, Stray is very relaxed, and even the short intense bits aren't particularly rapid-fire.)
posted by Dysk at 9:27 PM on July 24, 2022

I love this game so far, but it took about an hour before I was painfully nauseated. I’ll have to fuss with the settings before I try again.

A dedicated meow button is genius and lovely and I adore meowing at robots to see their face displays change.
posted by lesser weasel at 10:30 PM on July 24, 2022

I've been playing exclusively VR lately, but I gladly sat down for some 2D so I could be a cat. This is so delightful. You can scratch up the furniture and the carpets for no other reason than you're a cat, so of course you're gonna. The setting is dystopian, but I found the gentle squatter personality of the robot community and their overall wistful mood makes it a cozy dystopia. The only negative for me is the fast-twitch parts where you have to evade zurks. I tend to frantically flip between over-steering and freezing up, so I find those parts frustrating rather than fun. But I guess it is a video game. Luckily you can spend plenty of stress-free time exploring, napping, and being a brat in the city areas.
posted by antinomia at 6:15 AM on July 25, 2022

I'm part of the way through it.

One criticism: it's rather linear. There's a succession of levels you progress through, and in each of them, the paths you can follow are narrowly defined (i.e., you can only jump somewhere that the A marker appears). It would have been nice had it been more open-world, like a feline Assassin's Creed set in this cyberpunk fantasy world or something, though that would have probably required a team an order of magnitude larger to build.

Another nice to have would have been a level based on the Nakagin Capsule Tower. We know that that and the Kowloon Walled City that Stray was originally said to be set in will merge in the public imagination into one vision of a long-lost rusted future that never was.
posted by acb at 1:38 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

I'm about half-way through now, and it is indeed delightful to play as a cat. However, I'm awaiting the downloadable content to allow additional actions so that I can play more like one of our cats:

- stick hind leg in the air and lick own butthole
- noisily groom yourself with a sound like a messy drain clearance
- beg for food with a thin, wheezy "I am plainly about to die of starvation" miaow
- bring up a hairball
posted by Major Clanger at 3:18 AM on July 27, 2022 [3 favorites]

Apparently you can mod the game to play as your own cat.
posted by eviemath at 5:49 AM on July 27, 2022

(I hope a mod to play as Jorts or Jean will soon be available too!)
posted by eviemath at 5:53 AM on July 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Heads up to anyone reading this far down: there are some REALLY tough stealth sequences later in the game that are.. just not fun. This isn't the "be a chill cat and explore the world" game I was hoping it would be. It's kind of tough to recommend it, despite all the neat things it does.
posted by curious nu at 6:14 PM on August 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

I just finished the game. All in all, it was great.

My main criticism was that it would have been better as a more open-worldy game. The path went linearly through various levels, with no possibility of return (and also no way of completing side quests once you cross the threshold to the next level). The paths you can traverse are also fairly minimal (which is good in preventing you from plunging to your death or whatever, but encloses what you can do). Still, for such a small team, it's an impressive game. Though the ability to go back to territory you have unlocked would have been nice.

Some of the action sequences were annoying (such as the ones outrunning/blasting the zurks or trying to trap the sentinel drones), though not insurmountably so. Cuphead, this isn't.
posted by acb at 3:10 PM on August 9, 2022