Hey everyone, PushingUpRoses here and as you can see, I am playing Stray,
a half adventure, half platformer game where you play as an adorable
orange kitty cat. I got my head stuck in a bag and I think I am doing PRETTY GOOD.
This game has been on everyone’s radar since its release on July 19th. People have been
enamored with the sweet tabby and all of the cute things you can make it do. You can scratch stuff!
And scratch stuff! And scratch stuff! And…nuzzle stuff. (Affectionate robot noises) But underneath
these frankly adorable mechanics is a really good game with an interesting story line and
impressive world building. I’m going to briefly go over the things I liked and disliked about
this title so you can decide yourself whether you want to dive into the intriguing world of Stray.
First things first, I named my cat Bert with an E, so he wouldn’t be confused with Burt
with a U. Cute, isn’t he? You begin the game with three other cats. After some brief interaction,
which is again, adorable, you all go to sleep. When you wake up, you engage in the CAT ROUTINE,
which is extremely catlike. My cat has her own routine which includes bugging me,
eating, bugging me, pooping, looking out the window,
and sliding around on my hardwood floors with a shocked expression on her face.
The routine in the game just seems to be exploring your territory, a lush yet industrial setting with
many things to climb and jump on. Unfortunately, curiosity nearly did kill the cat, as you jump
on a broken pipe and fall. This upset me. This upset me a lot. I thought Bert with an E just
died or broke their leg, but he manages to get up, shake it off, and start exploring this new world.
You come to find out that you are in a walled community of sorts, inhabited by these lovely,
personality filled robots. I love them. I love them all. I especially like this one, named Momo.
Through a series of inventory object puzzles and some light platforming,
you find out that this city has been overrun by dangerous critters named Zurks who can easily
overtake the robots. Because I am a cunning, fast lil cat, I am able to get around them,
and it has become my job to help everyone escape. Joining us early in the game is B-12, which
is not a vitamin and is in fact a cute little drone that can’t remember its own background.
By finding memories throughout the game, you can unlock their story.
I must admit, I was a little bored at first. I realize there needs to be a little tutorial to
get you used to the platforming but I was getting a little worried that I had found
myself in a Myst situation; all atmosphere, no characters or substance. However, that didn’t
last long as I discovered different parts of the city where I could meet different robot characters
and help them with small little quests. This one wanted a poncho, so I got it a poncho.
He would then help me, then I’d help someone else, etc. My favorite parts of the game were
talking to these characters, they are animated in such a way that I feel I can truly hear
their voices and sense their emotions. I enjoyed their body language, their design,
and the sounds used for their voices. (Sad robot sounds, followed by happy robot sounds.)
I like that there isn’t any spoken dialogue in the entire game;
this makes the game more accessible to more people. It truly doesn’t even need speech;
I was able to connect with these characters just based on their stories and movements.
The world is a little small, and yet I still found myself getting lost. This is likely a
me problem because I do tend to flail and not remember directions very well, much as I try.
Despite it being a small world, it’s very dense and filled with detail. There aren’t many items
you need to find over the course of the game, but the things you do find are important, unlike in
adventure games past where you can find 52 random items and never use them. “Some planks, some sad,
rubber chicken…” Everything has a purpose and I didn’t get stuck many times, and if I did it
wasn’t for very long. I think the puzzles are well balanced with the platforming and overall,
I had a great time with this game. It did take me a bit to really become engaged,
but that’s probably because I don’t typically play this style of adventure game,
and also I am stressed as all hell so my attention span isn’t exactly in tip top shape.
If you like cats, you’ll either love or hate this title. Full disclosure, Bert with an E
did get hurt a few times, and it did bother me, but it’s not a major part of the plot and you
always recover. The cat animations and behavior are very, very catlike. I am actually a fairly
new cat owner myself; I've had my lil rescue Tuxie Basket for only a year, naively believing
that I was not a cat person. I’ve never been so wrong in my entire life. One year later,
I have been converted into a cat person, and I need to hug and save all of them or I will die.
Being a cat person makes playing this game very amusing, but you probably won’t like
some of the platforming where you have to run away from these flesh eating imps,
who WILL kill you. It was upsetting at first, but after a few times it just begins to get
annoying. That leads me right into the things I didn’t like about this game.
I played this on my desktop with a keyboard, and it is not an ideal way to play. I found
that really unfortunate because I do still love being on my computer, but the controls don’t
lend itself well to the arrow keys or the W,A,S,D keys, or really any keys plus using the mouse for
the camera. I just couldn’t get comfortable, and that made the platforming parts of the game really
frustrating. In the game’s defense, it blatantly says you should play this with a controller. I
100% think that the issues I had on the computer would be fully improved either on a console,
or by using a controller with your desktop. I found running from enemies tense and tiring and
I couldn’t wait for those sections to end. This is a fairly short game but it has some replayability
if you missed some of B-12s memories, or if you didn’t talk to all of the robots.
I probably spent more time on it because I enjoyed exploring and bugging all of these characters.
I also think the setting can be a little confusing, even if I do have some direction
problems. It’s all very dark, grungy, post apocalyptic, and due to that I got a little
confused about what I was looking at or where I was a few times. Despite that, I loved the
vibes I was getting from this little world; it reminded me of the movie Castle in the Sky,
and the adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky, which I did a video on so if you’re interested in more
adventure games with similar Cyberpunk vibes to Stray, be sure to check it out.
All of these minor criticisms aside, I think this is a really good game with a lot of heart.
It’s touching, it has comedic moments, it has well thought out puzzles,
and it has a cat. What more can one ask for? You can currently play Stray on the PS4, the PS5,
and on Windows 10. Let me know if you played this game and what you
named your cat in the comments. Until next time, happy gaming.
Hey everyone, thanks for watching my short little review on Stray,
beloved cat video game. I hope you’ll check it out. If you want to see more content from me,
I have much to show you, but first I want to thank my patrons. Thank you all so much for
continuing to support my channel, and helping me to buy treats for my sweet lil Basket.
Who is my cat. I am not taking care of a Basket, that’s my cat’s name.
If you wanna support me and my cat, consider joining my campaign. If not,
likes and shares are free and help boost my self esteem.
If you want to see more content from me, here’s a few suggestions:
On the right I have the aforementioned Cyberpunk game I did a review on: Beneath a Steel Sky.
On the left i have an episode from my flagship series, That Time on Murder She Wrote.
Be sure to check both of them out, and as always, I will see you in the next one.