A feline struts gracefully through the streets of a city abandoned by humans, this is the plot of Stray, the new creation from BlueTwelve Studios. A mid-summer release that won the hearts of the press. All information in detail.
[Updated July 19, 2022 2:43 PM] If you’ve always dreamed of reincarnating as a cat, Stray is definitely for you. The new release from BlueTwelve studios offers us a unique adventure, immersing you in the shoes of man’s second best friend in the twists and turns of a futuristic city populated only by robots. It is therefore up to you, a reckless young feline, to fight your way through the heart of this dense and dangerous cyberpunk universe, avoiding obstacles, exploring the surroundings and occasionally scratching your claws on a piece of furniture that is a little too new for your taste. A summer release not to be missed, especially if we are to believe the critics who give it uncompromising praise.
For those who are not familiar with this new release, you can discover it through a gameplay sequence published a few months ago by Playstation. Indeed, the creation of Bluetwelve remains a Playstation exclusive, available on both PS4 and PS5, but also on PC via Steam. Without being one of the figureheads of the Playstation in the permanent war of exclusives, Stray remains a strong argument in favor of the Japanese console. When it comes to gameplay, Stray was made with the cat at the heart of all of its development processes. Using ingenious motion-capture methods, the BlueTwelve Studios teams managed to transcribe the movements, curiosity and even the personality of our favorite feline companions.
In Stray, you play as a stray cat, separated from his family and forced to cross the dense and dark “dead city”. This futuristic area is inspired by the district of Kowloon, which was once the most densely populated place on the planet. There is an endless verticality, the complex intricacy of urban elements and of course the total absence of blue sky. The ghost town is also inspired by cyberpunk, populated only by more or less welcoming and functional robots, whose language you understand thanks to B12, your companion who is also an automaton and amnesiac. These automatons have built a new civilization on the ruins of ours, without the game making it a central element of its plot. Rather, putting you in the shoes of a cat, Stray puts a heavy emphasis on exploration, with a few moments of puzzle solving and action. Because the robots are not the only inhabitants of the dead city, there are also the Zurks, these vile little batrachian creatures that move in groups and gnaw metal. You will have to avoid them at all costs during your urban excursion.
With a score of 84/100 on Metacritic (out of over 70 reviews), Stray is unquestionably a success. Hailed by the French and international press, the game seems to bring something new to the world of video games. An original project, subtly tackling the issues of the collapse and the influence of man on his environment, without acting as an environmental indictment. At least that’s the opinion of the Washington Post, which unflinchingly grants it “meow-sterpiece” status: “The game doesn’t try to make bombastic claims about the hubris or blind innovation of Instead, it takes you through a living, breathing city where robots have fashioned their own society out of the ashes of another, and lets the player make humanity’s self-destruction what it will please him”.
On the French side, the criticism is also very positive, JeuxVideo.com gives it a 15/20, deploring only the impossibility of jumping when you want, and the sometimes too great simplicity of the puzzles on offer. For IGN France, on the other hand, the puzzles are described as ingenious and we are only saddened by the lifespan of the game, which is a little too short (between 6 and 8 hours). The magazine still gives it 8/10. Going back a bit to our English-speaking colleagues, The Guardian is also rave about it, without hesitation calling it “a perfect moment in a broken world” before giving it five out of five stars.
Stray is of course one of the latest Playstation exclusives. The game is therefore reserved for Sony consoles, but not only. Indeed, it is possible to play it on PC, the Japanese manufacturer having long since decided to include keyboard and mouse players in its new releases. You can therefore find it on Steam, Valve’s gaming platform, at the very modest price of €26.99. The good news is that it is already on sale, a 10% discount which you can take advantage of if you create a Steam account. A quick reminder, the game will be available from July 19 at 7 p.m. on PC.
