I had always been interested in playing Stray right from when I heard the premise - who doesn't love wandering around a post-apocalyptic underground city as a cat? While the mechanics of the game are quite simple (the cat has basically three abilities, jump, scratch and using a torch) the introduction of the story about 10 minutes into the gameplay immediately engaged me and made me want to continue.

Stray doesn't disappoint: the story is intriguing and one of the things I most loved was the beautiful Bladerunner-esque sceneries that you get to explore, which reminded me of the eerie underground landscapes in Portal 2. I also enjoyed the fact that hints towards the story are delivered through Memories, which do not need to be collected to complete the game, giving the player an incentive to search every area and a reward for doing so. The same goes for the special badges/achievements you can collect by finding secret items. it didn't bother me that most of these weren't difficult to find, because I feel that having to spend ages looking for a certain item would have detracted from the pace of the game.

However, Stray is not perfect. There are basically three types of gameplay in Stray: puzzles, roaming an area freely to explore for items, and fighting/running. I feel that the game is at its best when the player is allowed to explore the beautiful cities, as this is where the ability to play as a cat feels most unique. In contrast, the parts where you have to run and swerve to avoid enemies felt like other games I had played before (any number of Nintendo games for example).

Also, there were moments where it felt like the plot was building towards a crescendo, and it did not always follow this up. For example, when the Stray travels through the underground and sees the massive Flesh Eyeballs, I kept expecting that this would build to some sort of confrontation between the eyes and the Stray, or perhaps that the player would have to attack them with the light. Yet what actually happened was a brief chase by some Zurks, which felt slightly anticlimactic. Furthermore, the design of the final area felt like it could have been pushed a bit further, to show what the long-destroyed human society had been like, although perhaps the game creators wanted to save this for a possible sequel.

I have seen others comment that the game is not adapted to PC very well, and while the game did run fine on my (mid level) PC, it did lag occasionally. However, this was not a massive issue.

Overall, a really great game and definitely worth the money, even though its not quite enough to become one of my favourite games.

Stray is a game of simple pleasures, as it should be with a cat as the main character. You jump around, drop stuff from shelves, scratch every surface you can and make people trip as you move between their feet. The problem is, there isn't much else to do to satisfy our human sensitivities.

Game looks and sounds beautiful, but exploration is very limited aside from the two hub areas. The story can be intriguing, but it's also kinda predictable and it has a very lackluster payoff. I never cared about any of the characters except the cat himself.

The game has some clear limitations, but also a very important pro: you play as a cat and can cause mayhem around you without any consequence, and then curl and rest on the belly of some random stranger. Charming moments like these are what really elevates this game above its mostly pedestrian game design, along with a gorgeous art style and a sensibly brief length with a brisk pace. Even when you are simply doing fetch quests, controlling a cat makes them feel distinct and somewhat unique compared to other games.

If you got it free on any of the PS+ higher tiers, you should play this game ASAP. Otherwise, it's still worth a playthrough if you find it on sale. And, as expected, it's a mandatory buy if you are a cat lover.