By Mario Orozco
Lost in a robotic world, you journey through neon-lit streets as a cat trying to find your way back home. This week’s edition of Mar’s Gaming Garage will focus on Stray, an indie game recommended by a fellow journalism major.
Stray is set in a cyberpunk environment filled with bright neon signs and crumbling buildings. The lost city is completely walled off with a giant dome., keeping the residents secluded from the outside world.
I am typically not a huge fan of the cyberpunk aesthetic, but seeing this strange world from the perspective of a cat adds a fresh feel to an otherwise bleak setting. The environment is used creatively, with much of the gameplay only being possible because you’re a cat.
Stray excels at immersing the player into the role of a cat and does a fantastic job at incorporating cat behaviors. You can tear at carpet, knock things off shelves, scratch at wallpaper, and more. These actions are often used to chaotically progress through the story. Little details like these ground you in the feline perspective, adding life to the game.
The characters in Stray almost entirely consist of robots. Despite this, they all feel very human, they have bonds with each other, care for each other, and overall are very emotional beings.
The secondary protagonist of Stray, B-12, is my favorite character in the game. Throughout the story, you recover B-12’s past memories, which allow you to unlock a very touching and emotional experience that I did not expect coming into the game.
Stray has two sets of antagonists. The first are small, mutated bacteria called Zurks. Zurks resemble wrinkly potatoes and share the primary goal of eating you and anything else in sight. They chase and leap at you from every direction, making every interaction with them extremely thrilling.
The second and main antagonists of the game are the Sentinels. The Sentinels are small security drones that chase and shoot at you whenever you enter their view. While I enjoyed the Zurks, the Sentinels didn’t do it for me. Getting past them requires waiting and observing their patrol patterns, which wasn’t as fun as running for your life from a pack of potato monsters.
While I enjoyed playing Stray, there are a couple of things I thought could be improved. The first is the game’s lack of replay value. While this isn’t a necessity, if Stray had more side quests, it could help flesh out the world more. The other issue is the lack of other animal-like beings. The addition of robotic animals could have created some funny and interesting interactions.
Overall, Stray is a short and sweet experience that I had a blast playing. It took me a total of 4 hours and 36 minutes to complete. While I had some issues with it, Stray was such a fun and unique experience and I rate it a 4.2 out of 5. If you love cats or are interested in dystopian games, I would definitely recommend Stray to you.
If you have any games you would like me to review, you can email marsgaminggarage@gmail.com.
Mario Orozco is a writer and assistant social media editor for The Lumberjack. He transferred to Cal Poly Humboldt in 2022 and his favorite game of all time is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
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