"Being a cat is enough. The rest is window dressing."
About
You play as a cat navigating a sprawling underground metropolis inhabited by robots, using environmental platforming and puzzle-solving to progress through interconnected districts. The story unfolds as you interact with robotic inhabitants, gather clues about the city's past, and work toward escaping to the surface. Your feline abilities—climbing, jumping, and squeezing through tight spaces—are essential to reaching new areas and uncovering the mystery of how this civilization became isolated.
Verdict
Stray nails the fantasy of prowling a dead cyberpunk city as a curious orange tabby, and its world tells you more through rusted signage and grieving robots than most games manage with hours of dialogue. The platforming and puzzles are barely there, and once the credits roll there's little reason to return. You play it for the atmosphere and the ending, not the systems.
You'll like it if …
- +atmosphere and a moving ending matter more to you than mechanics
- +you want environmental storytelling that shows instead of explains
- +a compact handcrafted evening beats a long replayable one
You'll dislike it if …
- −you want platforming and puzzles that actually test you
- −you expect systems that generate fresh runs after the credits
Breakdown
- +Feline movement and behaviour captured with real affection, from rooftop leaps to knocking cups off ledges
- +Smooth, responsive controls that run well even on modest hardware
- −Platforming is mostly automated with minimal challenge or player agency
- −Puzzles are simple and rarely ask anything of you
- −One chase sequence disables mouse controls entirely, making it miserable on keyboard
- +Environmental storytelling that reveals humanity's fate through detail rather than exposition
- −Linear, six-to-eight hour run with almost no replay pull
- −Achievement hunting and missed collectibles offer only one additional pass, no system generating fresh runs
- +An ending that lands harder than a wordless cat protagonist has any right to
- +The bond between the cat and B-12 carries genuine weight without a word from your protagonist, showing rather than lecturing
- +Neon-soaked alleys and crumbling industrial sprawl punch well above the studio's size, with individual screens frequently called wallpaper-worthy
- +Soundtrack does substantial emotional heavy lifting, and robotic chirps and ambient city noise effectively sell the world
- −A few physics quirks prevent truly spotless presentation
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