Stray Review: Adventure on Xbox Series X

Originally released as a PlayStation exclusive, Annapurna Interactive’s Stray took a straightforward premise and ran with it. What happens to our beloved animals in a post-apocalyptic (after the destruction of the whole world) world? For one orange cat at the centre of the game, the answer is that you have to exceed a stray’s life to solve mysteries about a similar and unrecognisable world. Now available on the Xbox Series X, Stray tells a tale that is largely spoken through dialogue-heavy but still powerful.

Stray starts with a tragic sight of the player’s cat separating from its herd of strays. It’s your mission to aid our orange companion cross the neon-lit streets of a metropolis seemingly deserted to robots and subject to an invasion of bug-like animals. In the six hours I spent playing through the plot, I discovered that this relatively simple idea and setting allowed for excellent gameplay and fantastic story sequences, all without any conversation. 

Responsive Controls of Stray

When manipulating the cat, Stray’s controls feel tight—as they should. Things feel responsive when you can jump or interact with objects in the world. In this game, you never have any trouble doing what you know to do. The BlueTwelve Studio development team should admire it. I’ve played far too many games where the only thing to do is move about locations to advance the plot, and because of the awkward controls, it always feels like you’re struggling to go from one place to another. 

Stray also hits its aim visually, offering you glimpses of a futuristic society that appears similar to our own but obviously has distinct components and meanings. As you go through the narrative of this city and its isolation from the outside world, you’ll notice minor yet impactful world-building. Without really being given a tale, it’s storytelling at its best. In Stray’s neo-urban setting, anybody savouring the newest generation of comfortable walking simulators will undoubtedly feel at home.

Engaging Gameplay

That said, you’re not just walking in Stray. You go through the narrative in a way that doesn’t provide many challenges but keeps you interested, thanks to clever but simple puzzles. It is not intended for Stray to challenge your limits. Instead, puzzles let you explore areas like hallways and chambers that provide details about the kind of environment you’re in. By just letting you view more of the city’s smaller elements, it’s a brilliant approach to extend the game’s aim of finding out what’s going on in this place. 

Stray doesn’t provide visually stunning set pieces that make you appreciate the powerful console you’re playing on. Rather, everything in this environment feels familiar to you because of how well the art direction is done. When you first arrive at this cybercity’s centre, you get a particular sense of welcome. Not because you’re at home but because it seems you have everything you need to navigate this adventure.

Apart from its brief existence, Stray offers a lot of reasons to be fond of it. Stray is a fantastic immersive experience that evokes curiosity and calmness throughout, from the small things like meowing and clawing carpets to the ways in which being a cat enables you to accomplish things that other city dwellers cannot. Annapurna Interactive supplied an Xbox Series X|S review copy of Stray for this evaluation.