2024 is in full swing, and Ponty is already pitching in with his hot takes on video games.

His latest review covers the 2022 video game Stray, in which players take control of a feline protagonist in a post-apocalyptic world.

I remember when Stray hit a couple years ago.  The premise seemed intriguing, and gameplay footage and screenshots looked gorgeous.  The Blade Runner aesthetic and MS-DOS-faced robots added another level of charm.

Cats and the Internet go hand in paw, and pretty soon even the most casual of gamers—but the most ardent of cat lovers—were playing the game.  I even recall rumors that the game would be up for Game of the Year, though that didn’t happen for reasons Ponty eludes to in his review.

It’s also a favorite among couples, as most women even loosely associated or familiar with gaming love cats, some to the point of building their personalities around it.  Naturally, these cat moms flocked to the game.

I have not played the game, unfortunately, but I’d like to try it.  I do have to wonder, though—why didn’t somebody think of this concept sooner?  Given the gaming world’s love of cats, it seems like a slam dunk.  In the case of Stray, it really was!

With that, here’s Ponty’s review of Stray:

Tina and I were initially sketchy about this game. For one, it had received rave reviews and we all know that this sort of praise nowadays can mean all sorts of things. We don’t trust game reviewers and haven’t for some time – my mistrust goes further back when I read a Times review which rated a game as 5 stars based entirely on the graphics – so when we looked at games for Christmas presents, I skirted past Stray and continued looking at other titles. Tina didn’t and decided to give this game a chance and I’m glad she did. It wasn’t entirely what I’d expected.

I had a whole different review in mind until I read that development for the game started in 2015. It was finally released in 2022 and considering the length of the game and its subject matter, I had initially presumed it had been made during the lockdown period. In a striking twist of irony, after you’ve played the game, in which you must negotiate a stray cat through a dystopian city supposedly locked down against a plague, you’d probably start to see it as I did. It echoes much of what we saw between 2021-2022; the denizens of the slums forced to exist in a manmade construction, ‘protected’ against a disease which had ravaged much of the outside world, suspicious of the propaganda pushed by their leaders, afraid of the weapon they had manufactured to combat it. And rightly so, since the Zurks – weird little creatures that hunt in packs and eat virtually everything in sight – are a law unto themselves. You also have the Sentinels, drone bots which were initially created to provide order within this environment but which continued to probe and punish after the events.

Strangely, it was like playing Lockdown: The Game, albeit as a cat, but there were additional elements to this environment that I enjoyed, like the idea of people uploading themselves to the system and finding themselves trapped in robotic bodies, losing their human capacities where it comes to senses but still maintaining the emotional ties which make us human. It certainly gave more substance to the game but what of it? Did it match, exceed or confirm my expectations?

It starts off on the Outside, a training arena as it were; you learn your controls whilst moving towards the main game arena where your story effectively begins. It is visually stunning, with a lovely soundtrack, retro electric in parts, delicate and subtle in others. Tina and I (and I bet many others) were pleased to learn that one of your controls is a meow button. This isn’t here for flat out cuteness, it can be effective later in the game. That didn’t stop me from pressing it at every available opportunity though! Your character is adorable, yes, but it negotiates the terrain beautifully, the movement surprisingly fluid considering the prompts which take in every leap or drop.

Tina and I being cat lovers, there wasn’t much to stop us ahhing and oohing and to be honest, we could have wandered around that training zone for days, listening to the meowing of the cats or watching them drink from the puddles. Through good periods of this game, I plonked my cat on a pavement or rooftop and just watched it meow or clean its ears. It gives the old heart a jolt, though, when your cat gets injured; in the opening scene (above), right at the end, our cat falls off a pipe and slips down towards the sewers, wailing as it goes. When it lifts itself to its paws, it limps, its injured back paw dangling uselessly at its side. You’d have to have a heart of stone to feel nothing there. Its one of the many things done well in Stray. The movement and characteristics of your cat are exactly what you’d come to see and expect in your real life furball. Well, apart from its attentiveness to other characters in the game. Anyone who has owned a cat (though, come on, we know you don’t ‘own’ a cat; they own you!) will know that they only ever pay you attention when they want something. Otherwise, you’re nothing to them. For the sake of gaming, though, this cat needs to be gregarious.

After being chased into the centre of your first hub by a load of Zurks, your cat must solve a puzzle which brings into play B12, a tiny robotic drone who becomes your companion for the rest of the game. A small tech savvy cosy is fitted to your body and this is used to check on memories you pick up, hold and use items, and consult with B12 when you need help, either with unlocking doors or for a drone weapon you receive later in the game. The relationship between B12 and your cat isn’t only about convenience; as you move through the puzzles, the intrigue and the danger, you learn more about what has happened in this weird little world you inhabit, as does B12, and your relationship becomes stronger, more entwined, so much so that when either of you is in real trouble, the other will come to their aid. It’s a strange friendship but it really works and one of the final scenes in the game will have you reaching for your handkerchief. It did for Tina, not for me, but as she’s always saying, I’m a heartless bastard with no soul. Not completely accurate. I do feel but I don’t let it be known.

Find a game synopsis for Stray and it’ll explain that your key task is to unravel the mystery of this city but when you play it, there’s not much mystery to be found. Yes, you uncover clues, you find documents and you listen to the stories of the various characters dotted about, but they’re not telling you much you couldn’t have already guessed at. The familiarity between Stray’s environment and the one we witnessed recently is quite striking. It didn’t take me long to work out how or why the robots could feel or were lonely or depressed, either. Still, it was interesting enough to keep my attention.

As for the gameplay and the visuals and controls, it was enjoyable but I should iron out one simple fact here; I’m not reviewing a game, per se, more a very long demo. At only a couple of hours, it feels very rushed in places, especially when you get to the end and realise you’ve only got 5 minutes game time before the credits roll. For a game that started development in 2015, I wonder whether this was always intended or whether they planned to expand but didn’t get around to it. It feels more like an experiment, an idea mooted towards an audience that could potentially get to grips with something like this in the future. I’m hoping the critical and commercial success provides us with a second much longer game, using some of the same techniques, styles and controls but on a much bigger scope. As much as I enjoyed playing the game, it seems, to me, a waste of money for something you can install and complete in an afternoon. Despite that, if there is a Stray 2, I’ll have to ascertain whether the developers have expanded on it before I buy it.

The pros. Well, as I’ve already mentioned, it’s visually striking. From the Outside to the Slums, the city and the sewers, the detail is lovely. When I found out in the beginning that you couldn’t jump from one pipe to another without being prompted, I thought that would make the controls clunky but, thankfully, it doesn’t feel like that, not once you get into it. There’s a lovely fluidity about pouncing from one rooftop or ledge to the next, and the movement never feels stunted. Granted, it doesn’t put you in much danger but your safety is tested in other areas, most notably from the Zurks and the Sentinels. The chase parts, where you bolt through different areas escaping the Zurks, are short but fun and are provided with a cool retro electric soundtrack, heightening the tension as you weave, dodge and leap away from those weird fleshy little monsters.

Though it operates in an open world environment, albeit quite linear at times, the game reminded me in parts of the Abe (Soulstorm) games, certainly the early ones, where combat was placed on a second, sometimes third, fiddle to the strategy; working out where you needed to go, avoiding rather than confronting, using your wits to beat a challenge. Some of the rainy grainy cityscapes also reminded me, in places, of visuals from Blade Runner or Big Trouble in Little China, the neon signs ostentatiously clashing with the oppressive darkness, effectively bouncing light through a claustrophobic dystopia and making you feel more closed in than you thought.

I love the soundtrack, which you can find on YouTube, and some of the exploration and escape aspects as potentially tricky, though not overly demanding. I think what I really enjoyed about this game was how emotive it is, strange when you consider that there are no human elements, not really, in the game. Your cat reacts to the toils of those it interacts with and the robots struggle with their own demons, whether regret or fear, as they attempt to find their own answers. Short as it is, the story and development will really exercise your heart and brain. That, for me, is the best thing about this game.

The negatives. Well, the length, as I’ve already mentioned. There are 12 chapters in the game, starting Inside the Wall and ending at the Control Room. You’ll get a semi-decent amount of time in The Slums and Midtown, but everywhere else feels rather rushed, fleeting moments before you’re pivoted to the next part. I was especially disappointed when I got to the very last chapter only to find there was very little to do there – a few actions and then it’s game over. I do hope the developers look at the good in this game and expand on it for Stray 2, that is, if there’s a plan to do a second.

It’s not very challenging or demanding, and danger to your character comes only in the form of 2 sets of enemies. You can’t fall off a roof, get impaled by the spikes sticking out of air vents or fall through gaps when climbing because your movements in these spaces are prompted. I very much hope that’s another element they fix. There are a few side missions in some areas but they’re quite easy to complete and very short. You get to The Slums and there’s a robot musician who you have to get sheet music for. It doesn’t take long to find them and after your Marley haired android plays out 8 different pieces, all you get for it is a badge, a collectible which provides no real use in the game. Actually, that was one of the visual aspects of the game that made me chuckle; the robots are dressed in different attire, some with cables passing for hair and bearing more than passing resemblances to either real people or fictional characters. There’s one you have to rescue called Doc, with cables crazily wired around his head resembling a particular mad scientist from an 80s sci-fi franchise. Doc – get it? Little things make me laugh.

All in all, it was an enjoyable way to pass a couple of hours and it did enough in that short time to make me intrigued, should a follow up be forthcoming. If you like cats, you’ll love it. If you like murky visuals with 80s throwbacks, you’ll love it. But if you want to be entertained for more than the time it takes for Joe Biden to get through a speech, hold out for the second, if we get it. And if we do, I’ll let you know if it’s worth your while.