"STRAY"
The cat that took over everyone’s heart
Ana Fernanda Llano Muñoz
As the game awards approach let's look back at one of the past winners, a game that moved audiences to its core: Stray.
In 2022 Stray won best indie game and best debut indie, and while you wait for the Game Awards 2023, it's a great game to play or replay for those of you who have already experienced it.
Stray was produced by BlueTwelve Studio and Annapurna Interactive, and published on July 19th, 2022, soon earning a larger audience and fanbase, taking hardcore gamers and casual players by surprise with simple, yet fun gameplay and lovable characters.
For those that aren't familiar with the game you might be wondering, how did a cat manage to motivate audiences and become the best indie game of 2022?
Well for its charming yet short narrative, although it is not a fully open world, the game still gives you the opportunity to explore areas and dive deeper into the story by connecting with the characters and world.
It's a thrilling game that makes you want to learn more about the city's past and its habitats.
The story centers around a cat that fell into a cyberpunk post-apocalyptic underground civilization, however, it's only populated by machines since all humans have perished. The objective is to find a way back to the surface while exploring this underground world and its inhabitants.
The story it's simple at its core, it doesn't try to tackle all at once which helps the experience flow and feel more natural, yet as more clues unravel, the mystery grows and so does your curiosity. Once deeper in the story, the cast of characters starts to become familiar, which is why many enjoy getting to know each character's past and exploring areas that have a deeper meaning to them. This not only creates a bond between the characters but also amplifies the connection the player has over the world, making it an immersive and exciting experience.
The graphics are beautiful and create an incredible environment, combining a futuristic and technologically advanced world with an old and ruined society that has definitely suffered many losses. This is a way of storytelling called “show don't tell”, the main objective is to
not explicitly tell the audience what is happening, instead making the story more dramatic, it's a way to reward players who try to understand the story further.
There are different ways this can be achieved but the most common one is to describe in greater detail something that is important rather than just saying “it is important”, it's a much more complicated way of writing since you are trying to balance between a dramatic turn and something that is coherent to the story and will be understood by all player (from the ones that are knee deep in the lore to the ones that are just playing to have a good time), it's a very thin line that most people fall when trying to write a dramatic story, however, this game seems to tackle it well and makes the twists and turns all the more interesting.
Although the game is visually appealing and the environment might look cute, the story becomes darker the more you progress which takes away the “cozy game” tag. To some, their expectations were shattered the moment the enemy was introduced.
If you get easily disgusted this game might be hard to tackle! There are scenes that disturb people when the cat begins to be attacked by blobby enemies that leak fluid when they pop.
This made some turn away from the game, as these scenes are not skippable. Nevertheless, the story makes up for those moments and further explains the plot and world, an impressive way of worldbuilding, just make sure you are not eating while you play this!
This game blows your expectations and rewards the player for exploring and trying to become more inverse in the universe, it's a great game that lives up to its awards, it captivates audiences and makes the gaming experience more paw-some!
For now, until December rolls around and so do the Game Awards, you can make the waiting all the more fun by tackling Stray, available for all gaming consoles and PCs.