Our Verdict
Stray is a gorgeous open-world platformer that works fantastically on the Switch, despite some understandable graphical limitations. It features a wealth of exploration and verticality only fitting for a sure-footed feline protagonist, as well as a sense of coziness despite the harsh, robotic dystopia.
Right from the perfectly placed jump, it’s evident that Stray is absolutely the type of game that flourishes on the Switch. It’s a stripped-back explorative adventure, with no clunky HUD taking up half the screen and no elongated cutscenes that have you mashing the ‘A’ button to try and skip them so you can leap back into the fray.
The game immediately pulls you into the life of an adorable orange cat with no name, just another four-legged feline traipsing around the outskirts of a futuristic yet totally abandoned city. It’s a little spooky and unnerving, considering most games open up with dialogue or an explanation, however brief, of the world you’re about to explore for many, many hours.
Stray peels everything back, so the unnamed orange cat that acts as your protagonist is surprisingly easy to connect with. With no backstory, speech, or really any information at all, it acts as a perfect vessel to insert yourself into the weird, cyberpunk dystopia of a crumbling civilization. This is displayed perfectly in the opening act, where despite only spending a short time hopping from a broken pipe to a disused air conditioning vent and learning how to meow, you’re instantly invested in the little orange cat that could. Especially when a devastating fall splits you from your little squad of kitties and leaves you with an injured leg in the cold and shadowed sewers below.
However, you do always land on your feet, as once you start to explore the underbelly of the city, movement becomes an absolute pleasure. As it should, because although the majority of us have played several futuristic and fantastical open-world games, when you’re controlling a cat it opens up so many avenues of exploration. You can jump higher, squeeze through tiny gaps, and navigate obstacles that a humanoid protagonist could only dream of. You can also bat paint cans off ledges and tear a dusty old rug to shreds. As is your right. It plays perfectly on the Nintendo Switch, with intuitive, chained jumps and a camera that moves with you.
In fact, simply embodying a cat is where Stray offers the most fun. The puzzles are engaging but not too frustrating, there’s no combat or gauges that measure your health and stamina, and the main aim of the game is exploration. It’s a testament to French developer BlueTwelve Studio, because it really does feel like you’re playing as a cat. Not a human controlling a cat, you become the cat, you are the cat. It’s an absolute joy, and for anyone who loves furry felines, it really does feel like a love letter to the chaos and coziness that they bring to the world. Whether that’s in your own front room, or in the rundown city filled with robots.
There are no humans to speak of in the world of Stray, and honestly, it’s quite refreshing. The robots you come across all have different personalities and roles, and the noticeable lack of humanity is weirdly comforting. You’re safe in the knowledge that you won’t have to deal with a band of mercenaries, a force-fed hierarchy, or guns, weapons, and battles. Instead, you can choose to curl up on a lumpy pillow next to a robot with a gasoline-can guitar, and listen to him play as you add your own purrs to the top line of the song. We wouldn’t necessarily call it a cozy game, but there’s an undeniable comfort and serenity to Stray that you can’t help but fall in love with.
Especially on the Nintendo Switch, where you can equally curl up on your couch and do the same. It’s wonderful to play on a handheld console, because it doesn’t offer the stress of high-octane gameplay, but it does provide a gorgeous, neon-lit environment that can be explored vertically at will. The story isn’t the main focal point of Stray, but it is an integral part of the adventure, and it’s a fine balance that a sure-footed kitty is perfect for. When you find a buddy in B-12, an adorable little drone that starts to offer a sprinkling of backstory about the ruined city and the fall of humanity, it doesn’t immediately change the pace or vibe of the game. You’re just there for the ride.
Of course, the graphic capabilities of such a beautiful game are limited on the Nintendo Switch. Even playing it on the most recent OLED console, there‘s a noticeable fuzziness around the edges that you wouldn’t get on the likes of a PS5 or a high-end PC. But once you look past that – and it isn’t difficult to – it’s still just as gorgeous as the developer intended. If anything, the slight graininess adds to the overall Orwellian atmosphere. Maybe it’s not quite as futuristic as you thought. It makes Stray feel timeless, like the world is in stasis, and you’re just a cat, so who cares, right?
And really, that’s where Stray shines. It’s perhaps the most authentic cat game out there, in our humble opinion, because yes, the movement and verticality of it make sense for a four-legged feline. But it’s finding joy in the simple things, in the button you can mash to meow at will, the soft purrs that can be heard whenever you lay down for a cat nap – which you can do whenever you please, providing you find a comfy enough spot – and the way you can sharpen your claws on the edge of a sofa. It’s a near-perfect eye into a cat’s world, but wrapped up in a beautiful cyberpunk-style environment and complimented with a gorgeous soundtrack and an interesting, curious narrative. It’s a cat’s life, and boy, did we have fun living in it.