Stray is an excellent 'walking simulator' that is perfect on the PS5. It's a unique take on the walking sim genre, highly stylized and wonderfully charming. It is, perhaps, the strongest console-exclusive Sony has had to date. Easy controls, wide appeal and a great price point, Stray is the king of current console gaming.

The story is short, minimal and heartfelt. A very tropey tale about capitalism-induced climate change gone awry and you're left to travel in its aftermath. The protagonist is a silent observer that experiences the narrative in a rather passive fashion. Serving as catalyst for the story that unfolds around them. It makes Stray easy to get into, easy to experience. Effortless.

And the gameplay aids this. A minimal inventory system that's easy to access, limited but smooth movement and environment traversal. Novel dialogue and plenty of hints, both explicit and implicit, to guide you through your quests. Playing Stray is really easy.

Stray also represents the greatest usage of the Sony DualSense controller to date. Surpassing even Sony's PS5-launch tech demo controller showcase, Astro's Playroom. The haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, controller speaker. It's all highly immersive and unendingly pleasing. While in most games the sound design and tech elements are unsung heroes, they are the standout in Stray. Feeling the purrs and scratches and pitter patter of your trot is immersive and captivating each time.

The game is probably a little too short. It's probably missing a little too much story or sidequest elements. The map seems big at first but is probably a shade too small given how easy it is to travel the entire thing. The combat is great but probably could've made better usage of the Defluxor. I'm sad at the decision to not include one boss fight or miniboss in the sewers. What the hell were all those eyeballs?!

There are some annoyances in level design. Open windows, invisible walls, re-used models that could clearly be climbed in one area but not in another. Why place an open door or open window or open sewer gate and not make it traversable? Just close the damn thing! Why place a model that can be climbed in every previous instance but can't be climbed now? Just don't put it there! It's not like a cracked window or air conditioner is what creates the game's immersion. It just serves to frustrate when players find they can't interact with it.

Also felt like a real missed opportunity for collectibles. The start of the game in the slums is full of them and it's great. There's interesting platforming puzzles and cryptographic puzzles. Finding the sheet music and drink cans to buy from the merchant is all really enjoyable. But then after the slums the collectibles stop entirely, there's only the robo-memories to be found after. Just felt like a major missed opportunity.

Stray comes off, ultimately, as a highly polished tech demo. It shows off all of the features the PS5 has to offer and gives you a really memorable and unique gaming experience. It's warm and welcoming even if its narrative is a little too tropey and generic. A really cool game that's fun and accessible for gamers of all ages and skill

(Review from 2022) Great small adventure game. Surprisingly solid production quality for an indie game and I appreciated that it had more game direction than a simple cat simulator. The PS5 hints were really well done, I started using a guide and slowly switched away from it for the in-game hints instead. In rare moments, the controls could be a little clunky, like when trying to focus on one specific spot to jump. Chapter structure reminded me of FF7 Remake, general structure reminded me of Portal.