Realising you’re lost is a moment of pure, cold, panic. Time inches past as thoughts tumble uncontrollably – was the last turn wrong? Why are there no signs in this town? And how did you get on this road in the first place? Because it’s definitely not on the map, and you don’t like the look of the house it’s leading to. Take this feeling and now imagine you’re a fluffy little being who’s not only lost, but surrounded by large, two-legged, metallic creatures, none of whom are impressed when you knock something off a table, and you have something close to the dilemma faced by the poor protagonist cat of Stray.
On the surface, this is a game that tells a simple science-fiction of a cat who, after falling into the city’s underbelly, Lion-King-style, must escape a mysterious place with the hope of reuniting with their family. But beneath that is something more.
Still, when it comes to simply recreating the experience of being a cat, developer BlueTwelve Studio has done a wonderful job; playing as a cat feels entirely unique, while also being surprisingly easy to master. It’s all the little features, though, that truly capture a cat’s essence, from knocking items off ledges to the little pawprints you leave behind after walking through wet paint, or how the controls invert when you investigate a paper bag. None of these are purely cosmetic things, either, with each screensaver-like moment coming to serve a purpose in your journey. Meowing, for example, can attract enemies so you can trap them, while scratching at a blind can reveal a window to climb through. Even sleeping goes beyond the sheer cuteness of the moment by causing the camera to zoom out, so you get a wider view of your current location.
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