In 2022 a small indie company going by the name BlueTwelve Studio made their debut in the gaming industry with the well known Stray game. The game was set to be a cat simulator which would follow the story of a cat in a futuristick world.
The developers wanted their main character to be a cat as they believed the cat people would instantly buy the game. They also mentioned that the game would not have anything crazy game mechanics as it was going to be a normal cat in a world. The game was originally
released for the Playstation in July 2022. XBox and Pc had their release 1 year later in 2023.
With every presentation the game was getting alot of attention and alot of props for what it was demonstrating. Whether it was the world environment or the cat model and the way it interacted with the world. When the game finally came out everyone lost their marbles.
It was like the game was the indie GOAT and everybody was praising it for multiple reasons. This phenomenom of the fans praising the game made others hate the game for the exact same reasons. For example, this was NOT the first game to introduce an animal as a playable hero.
Maybe its one of the best ones to execute the concept BUT it was not the first "vanila" animal hero. Furthermore, you would see/hear people on websites like Twitter or reviews praising the game for making the cat have a meow button. It was bizzare cause everything people were
praising it online, had already been done in other animal games(Life of Dog(PS2), Okami(PS2) etc).
To clarify, this is NOT my opinion. It's simply the online war that occured during the games pre-release and release. Comments from both sides.
The game had 31 nominations in various award shows and succesfully won 6 of them including the game awards 2022 Best Indie game and best debut indie game of the year. The game's online reviews were extremely possitive and the reception from the fans was also very possitive.
The arguments online did continue but by the time of the release the negative waves towards the game were targeted towards it's fanbase. On September 2023, an announcement was made that a film was being produced based on the game.
A physical release of the game was also released which includes 6 full colored Art cards.
The story of the game takes place in a futuristic Earth. The game's oppening act introduces us to a group of four stray cats avoiding the rain. Later on the cats move around the environment and its a simple scene where cats do cats things. The cats tried to cross a path by jumping across pipes, however the player control cat
has an accident and it fell through a chasm as the pipe collaped. The cat finds itself in an underground city. Whilst moving around, the cat finds a small drone on which it uploads an AI. The robot call itself B-12 and promises to the cat, that it will take it up to the surface. The two heroes come to the realisation that all
the human life is extinct and that the entire undergound city is inhabited by Robots. These robots are called the companions and they used to be the humans helpers. Now that the human life is gone, these Robots tried to act as humans as part of their evolution. Their AI turned self aware and they miss their human. The robots
believe that humans still exist in the surface of Earth and want to escape this underground city. However their problem is the Zurks, mutant bacteria that have evolved to devour and destroy both living organisms and robots.
These monsters lurk around outside of the cities and wait for their pray. The cat and its new found friend try to make it to the surface. This includes communicating with the reobots to learn details about the path and the means to reach the top. Whilst on their adventure they ll need to take care of themselves and stay out of the
Zurks way if they wish to survive in this undergound city. Through this adventure, the drone B-12 will also understand what happened to it but also to the world.
I personally enjoyed what the developers tried to do with the story. The mystery of what happened to the world is interesting and the way the players are being exposed to the story is also quite fun. The players 're exposed to the story though the main progression but when you look around they can gather new information. My main problem is that some of things that were interesting are left unexplained. For example, there was an area that resembled Little Nightmares 2. In that area there were eyes on the walls and track the cat. The wall resembled the materoal of the Zurks forming a spiderweb. The eyes though look nothing like the Zurks as those look more like mini spiders, and they dont do anything if the cat touches them. The story elements do not explain what these are and what their purpose is. My Guess is that its the bacteria that grew on the walls but nothing supports this theory. There's a couple of things that remained unanswered but this was something i was looking forward.
The gameplay of Stray is quite simple. The players get control of the Cat and they move around the area. The good thing about the cat's gameplay is that if a cat does it in real life you can do it in Stray. For example, in Stray you move through doors, through the small animal portals but as a cat you can also squeeze between small spaces or
go through a window. The cat's mobily feels quite nice and quite realistic. Its worth mentioning that a real cat was used for motion track. The cat can move small things around but it cannot move heavy items. What you can do, is simply use the environment to your advantage. For example(not game related) throw a pile of books onto a troley to
move that troley. The game is focussing mostly on platforming and on puzzle solving. As a cat there will be alot of areas where you jump from roof to roof, from wooden planks to pipes and so many areas. Movement is a strong part of the game.
Around the world there's alot of interactable items where by tapping buttons the cat will react. These are small innocent interactions that someone would expect of a cat. For example walking near a sofa or a tree or ontop of a crapet will allow you to start scratching it. Be aware that you will not find a hidden item if you continue scratching. When walking
around buckets or other small items(bottles, books) that are located near a cliff, you can simply push them off the cliff. You know, like a cat. Furthermore, when near a billiard ball or a general ball you can use your paws to move them around as if you re playing with them. Moreover, there are alot of comfortable places that the cat will simply lie down and start
sleeping. Whilst sleeping the camera zooms out to show you the area whilst your controller pours.
When the cat is under attack from the Zurks, all you can do is run as fast as possible away from them. If one gets a hold of you, it slows you down but you can still push it away. If your cat gets overwelmed then all the Zurks will attack you and kill you. There was a very small portion of the game where the cat is capable of fighting them but unfortunately that
moment doesnt last long. It made me wish it did, but to be honest that would go againts the game's idea.
As mentioned the game is a simple emulator of a cat focussing in platforming and puzzle solving which is something I quite enjoy. Unfortunately that was the time were i played alot of the indie games that re very similar and because those were a platformer first and puzzle second i felt like they were more interesting and had fresh ideas. Which is 100% my fault. It made me
want more from the game as the hype from online and from my friends made me believe that the game had more than what the trailers showned. The stealth sections were fun because as a cat my mobility and the way i can hide or run to escape give me more options. Whether im running from robots or Zurks my options were alot. When it came down to fighting the Zurks not just dodging them
the game became more interesting as it gave me more options and changed the gameplay significally. Unfortunately by the time i got the ability i lost it soon after. It didnt stay long for me to enjoy and by the time i was feeling it, it got away.
For Stray being Bluetwelve's first game it looks gorgeous. The game looks like a Ps5 game with the environments, the characters and the animations looking polish. The game depictions an underground apocalyptic city perfectly. There are many Robots that took the role of humans, such as some annoying the neighbors, others breaking the law, others minding their own bussiness and others
being enclosed to themslves. The movement of the cat felt perfect and world/level design was excelent for both the gameplay and asthetic. The Zurk areas were scary looking and created a gloomy area.
The music on the other hand does not consist of any memorable OSTs but during the game the re perfect. The audio feeling is enchanced with the power of Ps5 and its hardwares.
The game has a plethera of collectables scattered around the area and its chapters. The collectables are mostly there to reward the players with trophies.
These collectables are in the form of:
In conclusion, Stray is a fun game that allows the players to traverse though an apocalyptic area filled with dangers. The plot has some interesting points that can hold the players interest through the end. The gameplay
is very simple as it focusses mainly in platforming. It's filled with different puzzles and interatable items. As a first attempt in the industry it's a commentable effort thay found alot of success.
However, maybe the game isn't for me but I found Stray overrated(like i mentioned... too much hype around it). While the graphics of the game are nice, I found the script and gameplay boring as there are other indie games with more interesting
mystery and gameplay of the same type. When the game was gaining my interest at the next checkpoint it was losing me. I found the puzzles easy and the side activities boring as they are the same. When finishing the game, I'm left with
questions that I don't care to have answered and the ending after trying to find all the "lore" of a character, failed to impress me or "connect" me emotionally to the heroes or his story. I can see why other peopled loved it and praise it but to me
it was a one and done run.