gaming | Stray, the cat game

(Crossposted to my journal and

i_love_games)

Content notes for (virtual) animal death, which is basically my whole issue with the game as I thought I was buying an exploration game. And the exploration parts and puzzles are wonderful!! I had an absolute blast in the safe zones, it was so fun to explore and jump around and talk to robots and find little items and complete little quests. I loved all of these parts so much. The settings are a mix of beautiful, intriguing, colourful, always interesting.

I don't know why but I really didn't expect the cat to die - and the deaths are so gruesome, too? I searched online whether the game was meant to be horror and the articles all say "no" - but I think it's a case of not enough horror elements to be called horror by fans of the genre, and too many of them for those of us who struggle with it.

I also didn't expect it would affect me so much since I can laugh at over the top deaths in games like Skyrim but a virtual cat? Apparently, not so ok (to be fair, I'm not sure I'd be chill about the death by Zurk with human characters either. The first 10 seconds of this video show the kind of scene you need to prepare yourself for if you're not fast enough - and that's after the game's done a great job of getting you emotionally attached to the cat!) So I probably still would have bought the game, and been surprised, haha.

All of this made the game way more stressful than I anticipated though, and after dying maybe 90 times before the end it kind of numbed me to the emotional impact of the story, which is unfortunate. I wish there was a story mode where you can't die, just get slowed down or something. I missed a couple of things in the not-safe zones that I'd love to go back and find, but I don't have the stomach for going through these levels again. It's like there are two games: the exploration one, and the run-fast-and-think-fast-or-DOOM!!! parts. I am good at one of these 😂

Still a delightful concept! May an easy/story mode be added someday, haha. I'd love to see more cat games with that kind of exploration and puzzles. Walking on keyboards, pushing objects off ledges, tripping up walking characters, etc: this was like living the cat high life and quite a rush to experience :D Has anyone else here played it?

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJawWyRUOBM

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Yeah it's one reason I've avoided buying it. I think it'd be too horrifying for me.

I'm told there are immortality mods available when playing on PC, for what it's worth! (I play on console.) And people who don't suck at thinking fast might be able to go through the game without seeing those scenes too, unfortunately I am... really not that great at that T_T It's too bad because I still want to recommend the game warmly, the "safe zones" are gorgeous, it's super fun to be a cat and do cat things, and the explorations sections were great as well.

Just... some of the other levels :( It's like there are two games in this!

Since I'm so bad at platformers I don't think I'd be one of those people lol And I really like playing games without mods. From what I've seen the other parts are good, but I'm still struggling with the loss of a cat, so I've just... largely avoided it. I'm all for cat games, but this one seems like it might be too much for me.

I've played it and that's the reason I avoided a trophy in particular. I just can't handle doing that on purpose. D: I tried not to dwell too much if I messed up and died.

But the ending! Oh my goodness. I never thought I would cry over a robot but I cried. Man, that ending was heavy for me. I spent so long in the game getting attached and to have that happen. It was the worst. I cried some more when it let me lay down next to my friend for however long I wanted to. :(

I do hope the ending hints at something more to the future! Maybe it will be a brighter game if they do continue this story.

Haha omg is that the nine lives trophy? I am SO IMPRESSED you didn't just get it by default, I got it way too early ~~and it didn't help with the pain ;-;~~ Like, not the first time you run away from the Zurks but the second time or so. I probably could have won it ten times over by the end T_T I was terrible at all these "think fast and figure out where to jump" or "run in circles until it's safe" levels. I'm more of an "observe and don't notice the obvious path forward until 20 minutes in" kind of slow player 😂

I was sad for the robot at the end but I was also so damn numb from watching the cat get devoured or electrocuted 90 times within a couple of weeks, that I know I didn't feel as much as I would have otherwise :( I did lie down beside it for a long while, too... It's too bad because I loved the story, worldbuilding, and I wish I could go back to find two of the memories I missed because I enjoyed discovering these, it was great and moving to learn more about B12 and the old world, but... I can't make myself go through the Zurk levels again.

I'd love a follow-up, especially since all the enemies should be gone, haha. It would be lovely to see more games using this cat engine!!

Yes, that one! Zigzagging helped me out a great deal. That and straight up panicking, haha. But when it got to the part with the robots patrolling, I was trying to get a trophy anyways so I reset before I had to watch the cat get zapped. I panicked a good deal with the zurks and I think that's the only reason why I didn't get that trophy.

A follow up would be great! Especially with what happened in the very ending. There might be hope after all. And I wanted to see the cat find his other cat friends too! That was also a little disappointing.

Yes, it would be lovely to see more games with the cat engine!

I would love a sequel where we find them again, more exploration of ruins overrun by nature, maybe exploring the changed city together with them etc :D Introduce the family to the robot friends!!

The cat can die?? I was not expecting that based on all the marketing material/articles I've seen about it.

I was recommending this game to my fiancée based on the "look, you play a cute cat exploring robot world!" premise but maybe I'll have to warn her if she does think of buying it.

I wasn't expecting it either... All of the parts of the game where you can go "cute cat exploring robot world!!" are absolutely wonderful and exactly what I expected from the trailers, maybe even more fun. The sections where the cat can die, though... they're quite different and it doesn't start until about a third of the way in, but, yeah. Maybe a heads-up wouldn't hurt! I still want to recommend the game but if you're not good at this kind of "thinking fast" levels, having to watch the death scenes over and over and over gets pretty rough.

Couldn't wait for this game to come out and loved playing it! I think you and I might be a good fit otherwise if you're in the mood to add me. :) Feel free!

Haha, it's hard to say without seeing your entries but sure, let's see if this works out :) The game was beautiful, I hope they use the engine to make more cat games! Throwing things off ledges and walking on keyboards is even more satisfying than I suspected ;)

Stray, the cat game

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