One of the best games of the year for sure. Stray has a different idea from "normal" games, where we control a cat, and by chance (or not) it works surprisingly well. The gameplay itself is very good.

But the most amazing part, in addition to the cyberpunk city conception that is amazing, we have the narrative that is incredibly good and relaxing.

Anyway, I already had high expectations for Stray, but I never imagined that he would compete and strongly enter "my" list of the best games of 2022. Simply incredible.

o jogo é muito bom, me tudo nele me surpreendeu, desde dos gráficos até a história

a história dele além de te prender bastante é muito bonita e te surpreende bastante ao decorrer do jogo

todos os personagens do jogo conseguem ser muito bons, desde aquele que participa da história até aquele que tem 2 diálogos

o unico ponto negativo do jogo é a sua otimização (pelo menos no meu ps4) que travou bastante e crashou umas 2/3 vezes

mas fora isso o jogo é muito bom e certamente é um dos melhores jogos que joguei nesse ano de 2022, tudo nele absolutamente tudo me surpreendeu

Pros:
- Gorgeous art direction
- Adored its cyberpunk atmosphere and detailed environments, they did a great job nailing the intrigue of this world for the short time you spend in it
- The music and audio design are exceptionally good and really sell the whole vibe of this game. For me it’s definitely a solid pick for best OST this year
- You play as a cat which is cute! Movement was fluid to control, it’s well animated, and seeing the world from a ground perspective was refreshing
- The more open areas are surprisingly dense, there’s a lot of rooms to explore even if there’s not much to find aside for a few collectables
- There’s a meow button, you can scratch things, and knock over important stuff like real cats

Cons:
- This is not really a platformer since there’s no jump button and all the climbing is automated, you can’t fall. While that may be an intentional design choice, it does make the game feel a bit shallow and restrictive to traverse outside of the cool perspective
- There are enemies (basically headcrabs from Half-Life) that chase you and you need to avoid. It’s fine, but not really a highlight either. And the stealth sections of the second half I could’ve done without
- Minor bugs like getting stuck in furniture and having to reload, though checkpoints are frequent so wasn’t a big deal
- No photo mode 😭

Pretty nice cozy adventure. There's a bit of a tonal shift that happens halfway through but afterwards it just ignores it lol. There are subplots here that are fascinating that always leaves you asking questions on what happened here, which demonstrate how invested I was in this adventure. To compare it to anything, it's akin to Gris or Journey in that it's a mostly silent adventure with simple platforming that helps carry the story forward and letting the world present itself to the player. The atmosphere you feel as you play is great. My only complaint is really that I wish there wasn't so much dialogue, honestly I feel like this game would be a tad better if the robots didn't speak.

you and i may well be aware of the absolute deluge of indie and double a backed video games that wear childhood nurtured inspiration on their sleeves, titles like a hat in time or here comes niko all too proud to let players know a timeline absent of the gamecube would just as well be one absent of either title. but little did i ever expect a small studio to find themselves filled with inspiration and passion stemming from the absolute most boring fucking trite of video games: those that play themselves. you surely know of those i refer to--the last of uses and the bow raiders and the arkhams and spidermans and ghosts of assassins dogs ages. games that exist as some sort of hollywood mimicry in which high production values are, lol, valued far above anything else, far above the relationship between players and gameplay. games that push, push, push the player forward down the water slide--or really, those dark rides you can watch a defunctland on featuring garfield, because either way, passengers sit tight, see the sights, and leave.

and a large problem with these games lies in their tunnels stretching far, far too long--its passengers lose the novelty of garfield, and most finish climaxing should they have brought a partner aboard far before the eventual light flickers in.

well, the novelty of stray's cat protagonist is one that lasts twenty minutes, a span of useless contextual button presses for reddit and twitter gifs, and this is followed by a further three hours of cinematic slop to slog through. and then the game still goes (for those who have never heard of the sunk cost theory and/or those who, holy fuck, somehow like this shit), and it goes and goes and goes: down linear hallways, up linear walls, along linear paths disguised as well as a blanket disguises the couch. it's a particularly frustrating feeling to emerge into stray's city and find yourself met with all sorts of balconies and vents and roofs and rubble and be able to climb absolutely none of it save the sole path its designers intend.

are linear games bad by design? no. half life 2 is lovely. half life 2 is also not a game made up of multitudes of contextual button presses and cutscenes strung together by cutscene gameplay strung together by more cutscenes. when a chopper chases dr. freeman, the player is threatened and has to haul fucking ass. when completely nonthreatening silverfish chase the stray, the player holds forward, holds their arbitrary run button, the threat of danger not even remotely present, until the next cutscene appears. of course, these moments are broken up by hub world dickery filled with toothless robots who offer no whimsy nor intriguing in their empty words, and the same can be said for your personality-less companion no doubt boardroom blasted to ensure no player would grow weary (or attached).

let's stop dancing around it: stray is an abysmal video game. stray is a complete failure of neutered, paw holding gameplay that is less interested in giving the player tools to navigate its world and more in making sure the wittle pwayer doesn't stway from the wittle path ): and on that note, i wonder to fucking god if its qa players actually enjoyed the experience. were they having fun? were they giving honest feedback? were they actually playing? if i were stuck with this shit, i know i'd be trying to stay off the controller and on my phone as much as possible.

it's rare for a game to truly feel like its designed to waste and absorb your time like a robotic parasite, but stray nails it, let me tell you.

anyway, the star is for the hints of creativity. the half star is for the surprisingly excellent soundtrack from the... guy who did cave story wii of all things. huh.

play this if you don't like video games.