![]() ![]() You will never fluff a jump in Stray you are always certain to land on (all four of) your feet.īy foregoing failure for theoretically more seamless roleplaying - Stray is part of a lineage of cinematic games such as Uncharted. This is a streamlined, accessible approach to platforming, less reliant on timing and dexterity than that found in the Mario or Tomb Raider franchises, but which intends to make you “feel” more like a cat. As you approach a suitable ledge, a button prompt flashes, allowing you to jump gracefully toward it. A swivel of the left analogue stick dictates direction while the right controls the camera. With more than a hint of 2012 survival game Tokyo Jungle, a cult hit that imagined animals running wild in an abandoned Tokyo, you traipse through a derelict moss-covered city with your feline friends. The game’s opening moments reinforce this central juxtaposition of nature and technology, all while teaching you how to move with an agility befitting your furry form. For all its apparent hostility, Walled City 99 is a playground, one which sees you bounding from neon sign to gutter pipe and corrugated iron roof - moving like a cat and, in Stray’s most effective moments, thinking like one, too. This, of course, turns out to be your strength, allowing you to move with a freedom that your mechanized counterparts otherwise lack. As a biological creature, your body is at odds with this cybercity and the robotic inhabitants that call it home. You play as a feline protagonist - nimble, curious, playful - transposed in a moment of bad luck to the labyrinthine, futuristic streets of Walled City 99. ![]() This is the tantalizing premise of Stray, the debut video game by Montpellier-based BlueTwelve Studio, published by Annapurna Interactive. But have you ever seen it through the eyes of a cat? The former Hong Kong enclave, with its densely packed buildings, narrow walkways, and gangland self-governance evidently inspired Blade Runner, the slum called the Narrows in Batman Begins, and the claustrophobic streets of Golem City in 2016 video game Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The specter of Kowloon Walled City looms large in the pop culture imagination. Photo: Annapurna Interactive and BlueTwelve Studio ![]()
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