henke on 21/7/2022 at 09:13
I wasn't too enthralled by Stray from the trailers, the inclusion of combat-bits felt like pandering to a more mainstream audience and the movement looked very generic 3rd person platforming rather than anything uniquely cat-like (like what Snake Pass did for snakes). But it's included in PS+ Extra so I've played the first few hours of it. Turns out the movement is graceful and slick and does feel appropriately catlike, and your small size lets you navigate environments in a very pleasing way. The game starts out quite linear, with a mix of light platforming, light puzzling, and avoiding swarms of robo-mice. These sections mostly remind me of A Plague Tale, both in gameplay, production value, and post-apocalyptic ambiance. After a while you get to the first hub area where you interact with robots and get a few quests. This is where the game feels best, and you feel the most like a cat. Exploring an area and slinking around with your own objectives that are unknown to the robo-denizens of this underground town. You can run across rooftops, knock things of shelves, curl up next to a guy playing a guitar. Take life at your own pace. You're a cat! It's great!
I've made it to the 2nd (or maybe 3rd?) hub at this point. The story is kinda interesting, but not super-engaging, we'll see if it picks up towards the end. As for right now, yeah, this is pretty good!
Malf on 21/7/2022 at 11:56
I'm playing it on my Steam Deck at the moment during commutes, and have just got to that first hub.
There's so many well-observed touches, and it's obviously had a lot of love poured into it. I find myself chuckling out loud at so many little instances of typically cat-like behaviour, or opportunities to behave like one.
I understand it's somewhat short and rather linear, but I'll take it. I just can't believe it's taken this long for someone to make a game where the protagonist is a cat.
I mean, have you SEEN the Internet?
Looking forward to (
https://www.littlekittybigcity.com/)
Little Kitty, Big City too now.
Oh, and as I suspected, BIG
Tokyo Jungle vibes from Stray.
That's a game that needs a PC re-release.
WingedKagouti on 21/7/2022 at 12:35
Quote Posted by Malf
I just can't believe it's taken this long for someone to make a game where the protagonist is a cat.
I mean, have you SEEN the Internet?.
Both Cat Quest 1 & 2 are several years old by now.
Pyrian on 21/7/2022 at 15:38
Well, those are heavily anthropomorphized cats. Way more humanoid than cat, really.
Twist on 21/7/2022 at 15:45
Yeah, but isn't that just a Zelda-like with a humanoid protagonist who has a cat head and tail?
In Stray, you are a cat. I love it.
(D'oh! Yeah, what Pyrian said.)
Malf on 21/7/2022 at 16:52
And you can meow at will!
I already have the "A Little Chatty" achievement for meowing 100 times, and am hoping it's a tiered achievement with the top being "Siamese" :D
henke on 22/7/2022 at 10:32
Finished Stray. It does nail the landing. Despite not being that hooked on the story for most of it, it does pull itself together in a nice way at the end. There's also some great stealth-bits towards the end. They're quite simple, but sneaking around as a cat feels so right I'm surprised it hasn't been done before. 8/10 from me!
Other cat games: Catlateral Damage? (I haven't actually played it) Rain World, in which you play a slugcat which is very cat-like (and slug-like)
Tomi on 27/7/2022 at 08:51
I finished Rise of the Tomb Raider. It's a bit better than the first game in the new (?) trilogy, but it's pretty much the same game with new levels. Having said that, the new levels have more places to explore and they're more interesting, even the lore and the story are better albeit nothing special. Somehow the combat is not as fun as in RotTR though; there were about three exciting gunfights in the entire game. I wish they had ditched all the RPG stuff and crafting instead, because all that stuff didn't add anything worthwhile to the game - in fact it was just sort of annoying. Also, hunting in this game is one of the most ridiculous things that I've ever seen. The natives keep talking about how we're supposed to respect the nature and how the animals are like our brothers and sisters or something, yet I'm pretty much expected to "hunt" these animals just to get XP. On the other hand, hunting rabbits and deer with an assault rifle or a grenade launcher feels so absurd that it's funny in a way.
All in all, I thought that RotTR was okay, but I'm not sure if I feel like playing the last game in the trilogy. Is it supposed to be more of the same again?
Malf on 27/7/2022 at 09:02
I remember being relatively disappointed with Shadow of the Tomb Raider.
They do add more actual tomb-raiding, but something about the game just felt anaemic to me, and there's a lot of the "White Saviour" thing going on which left a nasty taste in my mouth.
I still think the games previous to the reboot trilogy (starting with Anniversary) are probably my favourites in the entire series.
Oh, and modern Lara is remarkably stupid for someone who supposedly knows so much about antiquities, and has a nasty habit of stating the blindingly obvious.
I really couldn't stand the performance by the voice actor.
Pyrian on 27/7/2022 at 12:38
Quote Posted by Tomi
On the other hand, hunting rabbits and deer with an assault rifle or a grenade launcher feels so absurd that it's funny in a way.
Ah yes, the holy hand grenade launcher. :cheeky:
