If you’re not familiar with Stray, it’s a PS4/PS5 game where you play as a cat. It’s a very short game; the main story can be beaten in an afternoon. However, it’s available on PS+ (although going away soon), and can be purchased outright for <$30.
It’s the first time in a long time where I felt totally delighted by how innovative and different a video game was. First of all, playing as a cat isn’t just a cute gimmick. The level designs are all about navigating around slums using your size and acrobatic abilities of a cat.
Second, the world that the devs have created is so cool. It’s like some sort of cyberpunk version of Kowloon Walled City.
This game is not Elden Ring. But for an afternoon, it’s absolutely worth your time. I can’t recommend it enough. Especially if you are finding yourself burned out by the usual types of games. I hope the devs follow up with something else adjacent to this game!
Eh, I found it decent. For $30 bucks, it didnt give me nearly enough play time to make it worth it for me. For $60 there are games that gave me 300+ hours worth of play time. There wasnt any replayability. However, I did find it a cute concept and the cat was absolutely adorable. And it upsetted me whenever the cat took any damage, so I did grow an attachment to the cat. But over all, it just wasnt for me
I understand the argument, but for some people, a game that is short and sweet has more value than hundreds of hours that feel like filler sometimes. I have an hour or two of free time each day, and found myself not wanting to start any game above 40 hours or so.
I guess it depends how heavily you weigh the value of a game on time invested vs creativity, gameplay, innovation etc.
Yup. Unfortunetly im at a point where I just like to sink lots of time into my games. Especially now that $70 seems to be the price standard. Replayability is proably one of my biggest factors when deciding on a single-player game. I originally bought the game for my wife, but I bought it, went to work a 10 hour shift, came back, and she was already done! So then I played it and finished it in almost the same amount of time. $30 for that just seemed… sorta like a rip off. Granted, I know its an indie game and it wasnt advertised as some huge game. But those are just my thoughts on the game
Nah I hear you. Value gets confusing when games like TOTK exist, or Hades. I guess if a game’s length is unsatisfying it doesn’t leave a nice taste. Especially so if you’ve spent a few quid on it in today’s financial climate.
Man, for $5 I got 150 hours out of Dungeons of the Endless, or for $2 I got 200 hours out of Dungeon Defenders.
I almost never get games at launch. My system is that I will pay $1 for ever hour of play time a game provides. Therefore, the only game I’ve bought at launch in recent years is Elden Ring. (225 hours)
I really loved Stray. It was short but I didn’t feel cheated, I just felt like they could have done more. There were some sections I felt they could have expanded on and I was always hoping there would be DLC or another story or something set in the same world.
I dunno, I felt like it didn’t overstay it’s welcome. As I’ve gotten older and gained more commitments I do enjoy games that I can actually complete.
I don’t disagree. I really hope they make some sort of a second one!
I’ve been thinking about picking it up in the current Steam sale. Roughly how many hours do yo think it takes to complete at a pretty slow/casual pace? Mainly wondering if it’s worth $22.50 as I’ve read it’s a somewhat short game. Was going to wait for it to come down closer to $15 but I’m ready for a new casual/cute game now so I could be convinced to get it sooner rather than later lol
I’ve never quite understood the “dollar to hour” ratio people seem to crave. Games are the only media that people apply this “rule” to. I’ve never heard of someone talk about the Dollar to Time ratio of a book, or a movie, or tv series. They mostly just talk about how it’s a good or bad series. Maybe I’m off base, but I just find it weird.
My guess is people probably find it easier to gauge the worth of a game considering most games have a higher price point than those you mentioned. You could look at it the same way for a subscription service like Netflix. If you’re spending $10 a month over the course of a year and have invested $120 into the service but have only watched a couple of movies or barely use it, it may not seem like its worth it. I don’t think this sentiment is really expressed with things outside of gaming.
Stray is a great example for me of a game that was pretty short but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and felt satisfied when I finished it.
I don’t use it as a pure metric that I base all my game buying decisions on, just one of many factors. If a game only lasts 10 hours but each hour was extremely memorable and enjoyable, that metric doesn’t hold as much weight. In the instance of Stray, the “dollar to hour” ratio might not be the greatest but I’m confident enough that I’ll thoroughly enjoy the play through so I’m going to buy it at its current price. I would’ve only paused more if the play through only lasted an hour or two though.
Value is pretty universally important. In games it just happens to be super easy to measure value as hours played and it’s a common metric exposed by game platforms now, so it’s commonly talked about.
People definitely look for dollars per oz, for example, since that’s a commonly shown metric in stores and online.
I’m also weird, but the pattern I use for books and movies is kinda indirectly dollars/hr.
Basically if I think I’ll watch it more than twice, I’ll buy it. Otherwise it’s a rental/stream.
If it’s a book, I’ll either just go to the library or maybe buy the paperback. If I think I’ll read it more than twice I might get a hardcover.
5-6 hours if you are a seasoned gamer, 10ish if its a newer realm for you.
At a slow pace, maybe 10 hours? I really do think it’s worth it though.
Not sure of the exact hours, but I finished it over the course of three evenings after work. I think it’s worth that price, though: the gameplay is unqiue, the visuals are beautiful, and it’s an immersive and emotional story.
I’m only a little bit into now but I already feel like it was worth the money. Thanks for the feedback, looking forward to the rest of it
Awesome, so glad to hear you’re enjoying it! :)
Have fun, real heart-warming story. Especially relaxing after a long day of work!
I completed it over a weekend . It’s pretty short but also an enjoyable experience if you’re into walking sim kind of games. Theres some light platforming and puzzling but it’s mostly just about looking around the environment and interacting with stuff. The game will take longer to complete if you really take your time and look around more. I think you could probably blast through the game in a few hours if you wanted to.
I am in the same boat. Looks cool but I will wait for a deeper cut (if there is ever one).
I played it just as a fairly competent gamer. I didn’t 100% all the things (but there are only a few like that IIRC) and it took me 6.5 hours.
I’d say it’s worth $22.50
I’m going to consider myself a below-average gamer because it took me several afternoons to finish the game. I got lost. I failed a lot at certain high-action sequences.
Aside from all that, absolutely wonderful, poignant yet hopeful game. I bought it and don’t regret it at all.
No worries, it’s not a race to finish it, especially one like this. Getting lost in the city is kinda cool in its own way!
It’s available on PC and there’s a sale on Steam too, 25% off, biggest discount so far. Been looking to pick it up.
That’s the version I played and I strongly recommend the game in whatever form you can get ahold of. It’s so wonderful
Agreed! If you like Stray, here are some other imaginative and short games worth playing, though:
A Short Hike Inside Gorogoa Abzu Night in the Woods
Thanks for the recommendation!
Seriously! I absolutely loved it. It was so nice just getting to explore and puzzle things out. A good balance of that plus a few intense moments. Just an awesome experience!
I’m rather new to Playstation. What do you mean with ‘it’s going away soon’? If I have a Playstation subscription and ‘buy’ it (for free, as part of the subscription) can I keep playing it? Or do I need to complete it before a cut of date?
As long as you download it now, then you can keep the game as long as you’re a member of PS+. So if you even think you might play it in the future, download it now. Once it rotates off the subscription, then it won’t be available for download anymore (but people who already downloaded it can keep it).
That’s unfortunately only true for the essential tier (the three or four games every month). As this is a game in the extra tier, it will not be available for ‘free’ after 18th of July.
Slightly off topic but do you find PS+ worth it? I’m toying with getting it at the moment
I do the middle tier, and find it worth it. Almost all my recent PS5 games are on PS+, and I find myself waiting because even the very popular titles com up on it. Horizon: Forbidden West was on there recently (haven’t checked to see if it still is), the Spider Man games are both in there, plus a crapton of great AA games.
You have 2 choices really:
PS+ Extra or PS+ Premium
Essential isn’t worth it IMO as it’s like 2-3 games for free (that you keep forever) while you can pay a couple extra bucks for Extra and get an ENTIRE catalog of amazing AAA and indie games.
The main, and the most impactful difference between Extra and Premium is the ability to stream, which consequently allows you to play older games (ps3, ps2, ps1, PSP, etc). Game trials are basically short ass demos which I have only used once (for TLOU:R) and haven’t touched since. I forget what other options premium comes with since I barely use the other options apart from ps3 game streaming.
To answer your question : look at the catalog and if there are 5+ games that you probably think you would like them, then I would say yes you would enjoy PS+ since it introduces you to a crazy big catalog with hidden gems that I guarantee you would not have bought otherwise.
If you have more questions I’ll be happy to answer !
This is only a thing for the monthly essential games and for the, now debunked, PlayStation game collection, which was for ps5 users and allowed them to keep like 10-15 games forever if you continued to have a ps+ subscription.
PS+ is like Netflix: they get “licenses” for the game for a certain duration, allowing us the download and play the game, but once the agreement has reached its deadline, then the game is gone. Hope that clears this up.
The OP’s reply didn’t completely explain it, so: you need the PS+ “Extra” subscription in order to get the game “for free”. Even then though, you don’t really get the game forever - the PS+ Extra tier subscription has a few dozens of games available on its catalog that are swapped every few months, a-la Netflix content. Once the game gets removed from the Extra catalog, you’ll get an error message if you still have it installed and try to play it, and then you actually have to buy it if you want to keep playing.
If you’ve got the “base” subscription (the “Essentials” tier) you can’t get the game for free at all. On the other hand, you get 3 assorted games for free every month, and in this case they remain yours forever once you claim them in the month they’re made available on the Essentials catalog, but only for as long as you’re subscriber on PS+. Those 3 free monthly games are also available for the higher tiers.
I wish more games had a similar atmosphere.
I also wish you got some more closure at the end.
spoiler for the game’s ending
spoiler
at least there is closure that the cat got reunited with their other cat friends https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEOEczZQHbo
I’m still not sure if I finished it or not
Can’t recommend playing it on Steam Deck enough. Amazing pick-up-and-play game that looks incredible on the screen!
I agree, it’s great on the Steam Deck. I played for a bit on my laptop and it was fine there but it was a much better experience on the Deck.
It’s a good game worth playing, but it fails to avoid pitfalls of AAA games that make you “go there, listen to exposition dump, do generic puzzle, watch cutscene, repeat”. I wouldn’t call it innovative or a breath of fresh air unless you only play realistic story-driven open world AAA games.
The level design is great but the game as a whole was not designed around the fact that you’re a cat. Once you get to B-12 the story only progresses because you somehow understand the robots’ language and can interact with keypads and carry giant items in your magic backpack. I just felt like it was a missed opportunity, it could’ve been a whole game with no text at all, completely driven by environmental storytelling and contextual clues like the first hour is.
It was a short game but it did more in 8 hours than I’ve seen some games cover in 60 and I’ve never felt that invested in wanting to make sure the protagonist is okay
I didn’t think it was short, I think it was almost the perfect length. I want more digestible experiences, a 2hr game that’s got a well told narrative is worth so much more to me than a 100hr grind fest.
I agree with everything else you said, I was deeply moved by it and even teared up at times
100hr grind fest
I’ll never stop moaning about Divinity: Original Sin. 80-100 hours, tough combat, lots of it; just a slog all the way through. I finished it (sunk cost fallacy), but I’m sure never picking anything by Larian ever again.
Agreed. And 2-4 hours is short, but Stray is more like 15-20 iirc. It felt like the right length to me.
I took my time exploring and ended up at ~10 hours if my Steam time played count is accurate.
It would be a bit more had I planned better and did more of the achievements on the first playthrough. It’s been long enough now I think I can play it again without instantly remembering where everything is.
it was 7 for me. I’m not a completionist but I did spend a good amount of time exploring and doing some side objectives
It’s also on PC via Steam (at least) and current 25% off.
Plays pretty impressively on the steam deck, too. And definitely a lot of fun.
this is how my partner played as well. such a cute game!
Such a good game! My cat was also particularly invested in the story as well.
I really hope they make a sequel because I would love to see more of the world and all our robot friends again.
Same! It was such a cute game and really fun. I feel like there’s more than enough room for a sequel by the way the game ended.