STAY (2018)

 PC
User Score
7.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 17 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 12 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 17
  3. Negative: 5 out of 17

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  1. yourartteacher
    May 31, 2018
    10
    Stay is an independent video game worth every cent of the ten dollar or less price tag. Sure it has some flaws, but they are buried in an engaging, story teller RPG. Artwork, music and heart bring this game together into a thoughtful, entertaining title.
  2. GBG_Jason
    May 21, 2018
    8
    The game quickly introduces us to Quinn, a character that is clearly dealing with some mental issues and is fighting insomnia while taken from his bed by a strange masked figure. He wakes up in a strange, dilapidated room with a single computer in the middle of it with his only contact with the outside world being you via a chat room. The narrative is the main reason to play the game, so IThe game quickly introduces us to Quinn, a character that is clearly dealing with some mental issues and is fighting insomnia while taken from his bed by a strange masked figure. He wakes up in a strange, dilapidated room with a single computer in the middle of it with his only contact with the outside world being you via a chat room. The narrative is the main reason to play the game, so I won't really touch on it more, as going in blind would make for the best experience.

    You don't directly control Quinn in the game world, as you are more of an adviser, offering guidance and companionship while he tries to escape the room and figure out who brought him to this dark place, and why. You'll do this primarily by selecting responses similar to any of the Telltale games. There is much more depth to this than it sounds, as your responses will help build trust between you and our hero or make him leery, as he may assume you are in fact the person keeping him captive. You'll need to carefully monitor his emotions as well as choose your responses wisely - choosing the proper responses will result in him opening up to you on the opposite end, and choosing poorly can result in his (often brutal) death, or even push him as far as breaking or disconnecting you from the game.buca

    Death or disconnection has little consequence, at least from what I could tell, as you can reload from the beginning of the most recent chapter. The biggest setback here is some of the more challenging or tedious puzzles will have to be repeated and you will have to sit patiently waiting for Quinn to complete his often long winded monologues. I initially felt a connection and genuine sense of dread for our protagonist, but his personality quickly became the equivalent of human sand paper. While I wanted to know more about him, his angst ridden, whiny responses full of obscure pop culture references made me want to see him die over and over again, often causing me to seek out new ways to see him bite it. At one point, he complains repeatedly about being hungry, yet when a food source pops up, he complains about eating it and refuses to do so in most cases. I kid you not; Quinn is the worst of the worst when it comes to being a Debbie Downer, no matter how nice or reassuring you are.

    Through the games 25 chapters, you will often be tasked with helping Quinn solve puzzles. These start out small, often just piecing together broken photos or objects, and then become more taxing, requiring you to rearrange or sort various items. Late into the game, the puzzles become even more tedious, one of which is simply randomized - I spent close to two hours simply selecting random solutions until I got lucky. I can confirm that the end solution is completely randomized, as I know for a fact I tried the same pattern before. These are also physically taxing, as the controls to manipulate the game world are a bit wonky and the game provides absolutely no hints. The puzzles are varied with only a few repeated themes, both of which are more akin to simply putting items together like a standard cardboard puzzle.

    The game boasts a mechanic where the time you spend away from the game will impact Quinn. I returned to find him opening a fridge to only be electrocuted after a time spent away from the game; I noticed no other changes with the exception of Quinn leaving a number of needy responses asking if you are there or complaining that you don't care about him. This makes him come across as an insecure girlfriend nagging you at level nine clinger status while out with your friends. I did find it easy to relate to him and legitimately wanted to help him initially, but this lead to my disdain for the character around the two hour mark.

    The time mechanic likely impacts the ending you receive, as there are an impressive number of seven endings to unlock - the one I received being not so great. In my first playthrough, with 55 hours away and around eight hours in game, I received an ending that provided more insight as to why Quinn is so depressed. This was certainly a devastating turn of events, although it did not provide any closure to what was occurring in the game.

    The overall presentation is acceptable for the adventure genre, but the bulk of the visuals will be in the chatroom, rarely exiting to show Quinn moving from one area to the next or completing certain actions. The pixel art works well to convey his reactions to your responses and makes it easy to determine what he felt without really needing to change to the menu that shows your overall friendship or his level of trust. The game suggests using headphones to play, which invokes a sense of dread early on, but after the first chapter, most of what you'll hear is the clicking of his typing or the ambient music, which I could take or leave. If you're up for the challenge, the game will likely offer hours of entertainment.    … Expand
  3. gretagarbo
    Jun 22, 2018
    10
    Stay is an amazing game full of heart and that deserves a chance. You won't regret it.
  4. eme_minuscula
    Jun 28, 2018
    10
    This is a really special game. It's not only a narrative driven game, but a really deep one.

    The story you discover while chatting away (multiple-choice style) with the poor troubled Quinn, the cut scenes, the description of the items he finds, the riddles and the puzzles ... make it a really profound game. It has a lot of philosophy and symbolism and it requires psycology and patience    This is a really special game. It's not only a narrative driven game, but a really deep one.

    The story you discover while chatting away (multiple-choice style) with the poor troubled Quinn, the cut scenes, the description of the items he finds, the riddles and the puzzles ... make it a really profound game. It has a lot of philosophy and symbolism and it requires psycology and patience to help him out (he can be a jerk sometimes that you just wish to let him rot in there, which you actually can).

    Some puzzles are tricky and the fact that you need to figure out how they work make it even more challenging (specially the wall, which becomes a real wall in the game). But, man, how great it is when you figure it out!

    I absolutely love the game!
    So for all puzzle lovers, problem solvers and profound souls out there, go for it!    … Expand
  5. hansgruber__
    Jun 28, 2018
    10
    Ok... I just killed Quinn... I'm going to give it another go later, but just wanted to drop a thumb up really quick, because this is a pretty cool game. So far haven't had issues with puzzles, although I haven't got to the ones people are saying are the most challenging ones. But I love the details in symbols, quotes and references, and that somehow Quinn gets to your nerves.

    Great game!
  6. KaNawogirusa
    Jul 31, 2018
    3
    Lo siento mucho por los desarrolladores, pero odie mucho este juego, no solo no me encariñe con el personaje principal, sino que el ritmo es muuuy lento, nunca se puede pasar el texto.. lo graficos cumplen, la musica y repetitiva y los efectos de sonido brillan por su ausencia. El insulto final es que al terminar el juego la secuencia de creditos no se puede saltar ni acelerar ni nada..Lo siento mucho por los desarrolladores, pero odie mucho este juego, no solo no me encariñe con el personaje principal, sino que el ritmo es muuuy lento, nunca se puede pasar el texto.. lo graficos cumplen, la musica y repetitiva y los efectos de sonido brillan por su ausencia. El insulto final es que al terminar el juego la secuencia de creditos no se puede saltar ni acelerar ni nada.. hay que dejarla pasar muuuy lentamente con la misma musica deprimente de todo el juego.… Expand
  7. GegiGuemes
    Aug 3, 2018
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. El juego, simplemente, es una joya. Me encariñé bastante rápido con Quinn, sin mencionar de qué el personaje se sentía lo suficientemente real como para llegar a ser cruel con él. Es como si realmente estuieras hablando con un amigo con serios problemas en su vida personal. La música simplemente es magnífica y acompaña muy bien la estética del juego. La adoro. Lo recomiendo a menos que el que lo lea también tega problemas mentales (Quinn 2 lol). En fin, un gran juego :3. Si no llega a hacerse muy popular, diría que es un juego de culto.… Expand
  8. AlkrEvans
    Nov 6, 2018
    10
    Stay is an indie game created with all the affection and dedication of its developers Appnormals. At first look, it looks like a storytelling game where you can take decisions in specific moments, but the truth is that this game goes deeper than that.

    The story starts with Quinn, the main character, being in a dangerous situation and he desperately ask for help using a text chat in a    Stay is an indie game created with all the affection and dedication of its developers Appnormals. At first look, it looks like a storytelling game where you can take decisions in specific moments, but the truth is that this game goes deeper than that.

    The story starts with Quinn, the main character, being in a dangerous situation and he desperately ask for help using a text chat in a computer. In this moment is when you, the player, receive his help message and you will become his only contact in the world and his last ray of hope.

    Afterwards, Quinn will tell you what happened to him, which is his story and will ask for advice to know what to do in certain situations. However, is not like he will do exactly what you tell him to do. Quinn is a person and, even if you are the only person he can talk, he won’t trust you to tell you his secrets from start. You will have to gain Quinn’s confidence with your actions, just as the game advances. First, you will be strangers to each other, but slowly you will turn into acquaintances and even friends. Just what happens when you meet a person in real life.

    The game doesn’t consist only in read text and take decisions. While you are talking with Quinn you can see him in a corner of the screen with a beautiful pixel art as if he was using a webcam. Using this feature you will see his reactions when you give him advices and even when he is lying to you.

    Quinn is in a dangerous situation and he won’t be talking with you all the time. He will decide if he needs time to stay alone or if he is going to investigate the place where he is trying to find some clues. In this part is where the great pixel art of Stay really shines showing us Quinn’s movements when he is not using the computer and the world that surrounds him. Due to it you can see Quinn’s suffering and his attempts trying to face the different situations he is in. That really makes you want to help him even more.

    In specific moments, while Quinn is investigating, will find something or objects that take his interest and become a puzzle that you will have to solve so he can continue the adventure. In my opinion, I love the way that puzzles are introduced in the game. You look at it and you will have to know how to solve it without any extra help. When you solve them it’s really gratifying, but it is true that some puzzles that you find later in the story are really hard without any hint.

    I want to highlight the gorgeous OST. I really loved it. It makes you feel Quinn’s loneliness and his efforts to survive. It is difficult to explain all this sensations with words, so I recommend that when people play it they must use headphones. In that moment they will understand what I’m trying to say.

    Taking all that into account is how yours and Quinn’s adventure pass while you are enjoying the pixel art and the OST together with the humanity of its main character. All these features make that you really go deep into the game and that you think even about your own life.

    Every person had been in a hard situation in their lives. In one hand, there are those people that were lucky and they had someone who could help them. On the other hand, there are the people that hadn’t someone to talk about the situation and, even if they can’t do it, they scream from their insides “Help!”. Quinn would be in the second group of people, isolated from the world and asking for help in a text chat without even knowing if he will receive an answer.

    In my opinion, I really enjoyed the game and I hope that lots of people answers his help message. I answered and I started this adventure with Quinn in the mysterious story of Stay. An adventure I will never forget and that I will play it again for sure. The saddest thing is that he will forget about me and our adventure together.

    My friend Quinn, I won’t forget.    … Expand
  9. quels
    Jan 13, 2019
    9
    STAY is more than just a game, is a journey. Every moment, dialog and item of this game has a meaning and when you understand that, the game gets even better. The artwork and music are also great pros! Give it a chance.
  10. NotoriousQX
    May 12, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I picked up this game on Switch without looking into it much, hoping for a pleasant surprise. By the end, I was mostly disappointed.

    The biggest flaw about this game is that it's supposed to be centered around empathizing with Quinn, the guy you are talking via text chat, but Stay makes that experience mostly unrewarding. The gameplay centers around helping him through this serial killer-esque house he's been trapped in for mysterious reasons. However, don't go into this looking for a mystery or even suspense, because it eventually turns out that nothing that's happening is real anyway, so therefore treating it like a real situation will only lead you to frustration.

    Quinn is clearly very depressed, and that's something I can associate with. However, he is also the sort of rambling, pretentious person that you would only tolerate in this state if you had a fond personal history, or it was your job. As a complete stranger, he gives you little reason to want to navigate the tortured labyrinth of his mind. The main reason to stick by him is the raw moral obligation to try to save another human from being murdered or imprisoned, which is done despite who he is rather than because of it. Quinn goes on long, uninteresting rambles about philosophy, makes dozens of unnecessary book and media references, assuming you even know what he's talking about, and will randomly criticize you for not understanding him when you make innocuous suggestions. Overall, I found what will cause him to like you or dislike you a complete shot in the dark, and it's not like how much he trusts you actually affects anything in the game until the end, anyway.

    It does realistically portray the kind of difficult to navigate conversations that comes up with talking to someone who is depressed, but there is a reason that most people are not happy to be dumped on with this stuff by total strangers. It would be difficult, even if you already knew and liked Quinn. Realistic or not, the writers need to give you a reason to keep playing the game. Still, i finished the game to see where it was going, though by the end I found myself scoffing out loud at a lot of the **** Quinn would say rather than being drawn in by it. Also, there is a 'fight' scene that happens where there are several dialogue choices where only one out of there choices results in anything other than death, and the game gives you little idea which is the right one. This wouldn't be so bad if it didn't make you start from the beginning of the chapter every time you fail. One of the answers that you ARE required to pick to progress seems completely absurd, and I only came upon it by process of elimination.

    A lot of the deaths that happen in this game are just completely random, and quite stupid. In one of them, he crawls into an obviously too-small vent and somehow manages to die instantly. In other, he tries to kick a door down, and the result is it spontaneously falling off its hinges (despite it functioning like a regular door in other paths) and crushes him, killing him instantly. Another, you suggest he put some tools into the appropriate places in a workshop, thinking it might be a puzzle, and a random tool falls off and kills him instantly. Another path has the suggestion that he find food to eat railroads you into death by touching a fridge that is electrified for some reason. If you tell him not to eat, however, he gets mad at you and scolds you for not having empathy. Then, if you tell him to open the fridge, he also gets mad at you.

    Possibly this makes more sense if you take into account that nothing in the game is actually real and all seems to be some sort of metaphorical psychological journey that Quinn is going on. There is no actual kidnapper, and there is no actual house - it's all in Quinn's imagination. You are not real, and the entire thing functions on dream logic. So, don't expect realistic actions to result in realistic consequences.

    One last thing: the puzzles are very hard and often rely on information that cannot be found in game. According to the devs, this was intentional, because they wanted you to feel as helpless as Quinn. While I can't say that I enjoyed all of the puzzles, and by the end I had mostly given up and just looked up a walkthrough for each one I didn't understand, I can see how such merciless puzzles may be rewarding and appealing for some people. It just wasn't for me, because I mostly just wanted to progress the story. So, take that as you will, since that could be a pro or a con depending on your tastes. One brick puzzle gives you nothing to work with what so ever and I still don't really know the logic behind the 'right' solution even after looking it up.

    Overall, baffling narrative logic and Quinn's annoying dialogue were the biggest dealbreakers for me.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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No score yet - based on 2 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Cubed3
    May 24, 2018
    60
    STAY starts as an nail-biting adventure that's hard to let go of - literally and figuratively. Soon enough, however, it will become an exercise in frustration, partly because of the slow pace of it all, but mainly due to some bad design choices, with the aggravatingly cryptic, and speed-bumpy puzzles taking the biscuit.
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  2. Adventure Gamers
    May 18, 2018
    80
    STAY is a game that requires dedication, both to its digital protagonist and its puzzle solving, and features the kind of narrative that’s best digested via discussion with others who’ve played it. Eccentricities aside, it provides the kind of fodder that transcends the superficial and is recommended for anybody willing to face a slice of real-world drama.
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