- Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
- Release Date: Jul 19, 2022
- Also On: Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
- Unscored
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Jun 2, 2023Stray is an awesome looking game, with a neon-cyberpunk world that feels like it is alive. The run-time is short enough that the gameplay loop of solving puzzles via finding random items scattered throughout the world is well complemented from sequences that require running from area to area without getting caught by local mutated predators. While Stray is pretty to look at and is fun while it lasts the limitations of movement and rather simplistic puzzles hold this back from being greater than it could have been.
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Sep 3, 2022A cute kitty is wandering in a beautiful city of robots — now that’s a cool idea to scribble on a napkin during a brainstorm session. Unfortunately, Stray never develops it into a full-fledged game.
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Jul 18, 2022Stray captures the cat experience perfectly, but is bogged down by boring platforming mechanics and an unengaging narrative experience which leaves the game feeling dull.
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Jul 18, 2022Stray is a heartfelt, passionate and fascinating game that, sadly, suffers from oversimplification in terms of gameplay. The exceptional art direction and pleasant plot, however, make it advisable for anyone looking for a single player game with an absolutely magnetic imagery.
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Jul 18, 2022Stray is at its best when it lets you do the things you’d expect from a cat – sleeping on cozy pillows, meowing, or scratching sofas – but fails to build consistently compelling gameplay around these flavorful bits. Although it creates a believable world, I found it hard to connect with the robots you encounter across its forgotten city, making the game’s admittedly grand climax feel hollow…There’s plenty of attention to detail going into certain areas, but once the credits rolled, I was disappointed to see the cat I played as was just a vessel through which I experienced someone else’s story…Stray works and runs smoothly but is ultimately a fairly inoffensive game with a handful of special moments, that also happens to have a cat as its leading character. You can do much worse, but you can also do much better.
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
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Jul 18, 2022Stray is truly (and perhaps fittingly) the work of sly cat people. And for this reason alone, it’s a triumph.
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Jul 18, 2022Will dog lovers and cat-haters get as much out of Stray as someone who, as we speak, has two stretched out purr machines on the bed behind her? Probably not, in all honesty, as fully inhabiting its feline lead is at least 50% of the appeal here. But even if you're not massively into cats the same way I am, Stray is still a remarkable action adventure game in its own right, and whose naturalistic approach to 3D platforming is among the best I've seen. It proves we don't need condescending slathers of paint to point us in the right direction anymore, and that there are better, more immersive ways of traversing dense and detailed play environments. That's something worth celebrating in my books, so take note Lara Croft, Nathan Drake and every 3D action hero of the last twenty years. A good game of billiards isn't the only thing you'll learn from this four-legged fluffball. [RPS Bestest Bests]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 476 out of 599
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Mixed: 68 out of 599
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Negative: 55 out of 599
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Jul 20, 2022Cute, but very boring game. Cat walking simulator. Preschool level puzzles. Suitable for young children.
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Jul 20, 2022
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Jul 21, 2022