Overview of the game Stray. Why it became a major hit on Steam

Two years ago, Sony held a presentation at which they showed games for the PlayStation 5.

But there were not only exclusives. And one of the unusual announcements was the game Stray, which tells about the adventures of a cat.

No sooner had the novelty come out yesterday than it broke the online record from the publisher Annapurna Interactive, known for Outer Wilds and Twelve Minutes. Now the novelty retains its leadership in the Steam TOP chart.

And online, the game entered the TOP-20 of the platform. This is a very high result for an indie project.

We have already passed the novelty and are in a hurry to share our impressions. Does everyone deserve her praise? Spoiler: yes.

Adventures of a brave cat (no boots)

Stray’s adventure game about a cat in a cyberpunk city inhabited by robots attracted everyone’s attention at the Sony presentation. Still, not every game has the opportunity to play for such a cute protagonist.

The plot itself is fairly simple. The plot: a company of cats walks through the pipes, but at one point our main character fights off his relatives and falls into a mysterious underground city inhabited by robots alone. Now he has to solve the mystery of the disappearance of people and find a way out – home.

Presumably, people died out, leaving behind a legacy: technology, robots and numerous underground cities in case of a man-made disaster.

Barely getting out alive from the ruins and sewers, the protagonist finds an unmanned drone named B-12. He helps us on our adventures.

The plot is as simple as possible, but no less interesting. Yes, the idea is not enough stars from the sky, this is already a hackneyed topic, but simple and understandable to absolutely everyone.

According to the plot, robots used to be assistants to people, but as soon as the latter disappeared, they evolved to adopt the behavior of people. They now have their own way of life and language, and they are afraid of any “new” living organism: God forbid, they will face the same fate as humanity.

In fact, the whole game is built on the constant interaction of the cat with a relatively small “open” world. In fact, these are extended locations in which you have to wander and constantly study them. Locations are constantly replaced by each other, but have a decent scope for exploring the local world.

The developers clearly knew what they were doing. In every even the smallest corner, either notes or various inscriptions are hidden, bit by bit telling about the universe of the game. Study – it’s basically one of the strongest parts of the gamea big bet has been made on it.

Considering that we are playing as a cat, the creators have worked out the vertical gameplay with high quality. You can climb almost any roof or any gap, because this is a small creature. The main thing is to see this opportunity.

Stylistically, Stray periodically resembles Cyberpunk 2077 with its slums and numerous neon signs that actively consume an excess of electricity in the city.

The gameplay of the game is close to quests, where you need to once again solve a simple riddle, or find a passage to the next zone, or figure out how to get this or that thing. The developers were able to neatly fit the puzzles into both the plot and the gameplay. Nothing looks unnatural, everything is quite logical and easy. Just like a cat game.

That is, this is not some frankly stupid bread simulator, but complete adventure game with its own (albeit simple) history and well-developed world. It is simply impossible to get bored here for two reasons:

one. The plot develops, albeit as linearly as possible, but interesting (in spirit it resembles Machinarium with an oppressive world and cute robots)

2. The game itself is short, I literally completed it in 5 hours

That is, it will turn out to run here very quickly (in one or two evenings), and the game will not have time to get bored during this time.

In terms of gameplay, the project combines various elements. Here you have both horror elements and stealth action. The latter is traditional for cats: you need to hide in cardboard boxes. True, only in certain stages of the game. Not all boxes can be climbed – this is a drawback.

Say meow

The work of the cats here is done at a high level, but not without flaws.

As we said above, you can run here almost everywhere. The cat deftly overcomes obstacles, jumps high and climbs fast.

Behavior animations are well recreated: there are unique places on the maps where you can lie down to sleep or just take a break, scratch sofas, lift your claws on trees, wash your paws on the carpet, and so on. True, I did not quite like the animation of jumping from objects, but apparently it was the most difficult to capture from a real cat.

You can even find a package that the cat will happily stick his head in, but the controls will change a little. Still, it is problematic to navigate in space with a bag on the face.

And for meowing there is a separate button! Especially nice to play with gamepad PlayStation 5 when the cat starts purring. There are many variations of meowing, and you want to listen to them all the time. And some game elements even trigger on your sounds. For example, you can meow at the camera, and it will shake in approval. A trifle, but nice.

Speaking of horror moments, there are so-called Zurks in Stray, which look a lot like the headcrabs from Half-Life, but with a huge eye in front. They feed on organic matter and metal, so you have to run away from them, everyone in the local world is afraid of them, because the flock can destroy you in a matter of seconds.

But do not think that you will always have to run away from them. Sometimes they can be fought back.

There are not so many game mechanics in the game, but they are quite enough to beat this or that funny situation, imbue the cat even more and have fun.

This is the cutest game ever

In principle, answering the question why the game became a hit on Steam, the reason becomes clear. Here you will find an interesting world, an incredibly cute protagonist along with a B-12 “comrade-in-arms”, and unique gameplay unlike any other.

This is a short game that you will most likely forget about in a month. But the time spent in it, you will not consider wasted.

Stray is available on Steam for 700 rubles and on PlayStation 5 for $30. Mac support is not available.