Stray

The shooting part isn't amazing from a mechanics perspective, but I'm not willing to drop my score for it because I loved the rest. There's some thrilling chase scenes, some horror, a lot of cat cuteness, an interesting city to explore, it's not overlong, an awesome soundtrack and some hefty emotional beats. Ending is very sad. Don't get it twisted though, for the most part this is an exploration game.

Stray is funny in the sense of how it recontextualizes generic gaming tropes within the context of being a cat, but these tropes are still played straight which doesn't make the mechanics enthralling. Despite that, Stray is elevated by its visual design in such a way that its rather trite plot beats and theming end up hitting hard. The core narrative is mostly focused on its setting and the game manages to make this engaging by revealing a lot but being vague enough that there's some conjecture.

Just because you're a cat doesn't not make it a boring walking simulator. The platforming is restrictive and devoid of any challenge, and action limited to a few precious segments. It does not live up to the hype. This is no game as much as it is just an interactive movie and a dull, disposable one at that.

Cat is cute as hell. It's a pity we can jump as we want, but i suppose it's more cat-like. Lots of different gameplay, stealth, puzzles, and platforming, neither is very deep but all are pleasant and it allows the game to be fun from beginning to the end.

Damn, it must be tough to be level designer at a game like this. You craft these intricate, atmospheric and gorgeous environments...and then the gameplay mechanics consist of running right past everything, occasionally meowing.