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The unnamed star of
Stray
poses in its strange, new world of mysteries and puzzles. (credit: Annapurna Interactive / BlueTwelve Studio)
The indie gaming genre of "silly animal exploration" has produced a bunch of fun and unique experiences. We've loved pantomiming as the following:
hellraising goats
,
car-driving bears
, and (if you'll allow it into the genre)
bendy, walking slices of bread
.
But three years ago,
Untitled Goose Game
propelled the genre to its zenith
. Its production values, accessibility, and uniquely dry sense of humor were a noticeable step up from the genre's typical "glitching barnyard animal" gimmick, and the result was a breakout hit. At that point, I quietly wondered: Where else can video games featuring unexpected animal heroes go?
The answer, delivered by this week's
Stray
, is quite compelling. This brief yet memorable adventure is a refined take on the concept, as if it were made by an arthouse film studio. It lands somewhere between the eerie, atmospheric exploration of the first
Half-Life
and the childlike whimsy of a classic Studio Ghibli film. And it stars a cat: not an unrealistic talking cat with bulging eyes and Acme-brand hammers, but a puzzle-solving, nap-taking, tiny-hole-exploring cat who scurries on four paws and pretty much always lands on its feet.