Stray

Zero-Cool

Out today on PS4/5 and PC, 30 euro or 'free' on PS Plus Extra. Play as a cat in a robot apocalypse setting. I'm only 1 minute in and can't help but have a big stupid grin on my face :)

KilOit

Was planning on getting this for the deck but heard it has minor stutters with texture loading. Looks amazing so will probably wait for a update since the smooth gameplay of a cat would be ruined with any stutters

Zero-Cool

It's super smooth on playstation, absolute joy traversing the environment as a cat and i get know why cats knock things over, oddly satisfying.

Retr0gamer

Rcommended from Eurogamer. Metro gamecentral less enthused but still gave it a respectable 7/10 and it sounds like if you are a fan of cats then you'll love it despite the slight issues.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119357733#Comment_119357733

The Steam Deck has shader pre-caching - one of the unique features of the device - which should, in theory anyway, alleviate the stuttering issues that are present on PC otherwise. However, might be worth waiting for some impressions first to make sure that's the case.

Nodferatu

An anyone help me with this, It's €30 to buy. I can buy it on PS Plus OR pay €17.99 for PS Plus UPGRADE for the remaining 160 days of the year and it'll be free with that.

But if I were to upgrade PS subscription and get the game free will it be locked I'd I don't resubscribe to the premium PS Plus when it runs out.

My question really is if I get a free game on PS Premium does it get locked if you go back down a tier to PS Plysus standard subscription? Are all games locked to their tiers?

KilOit

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119357822#Comment_119357822

From what I read, Stray has so many new textures that the deck is constantly loading new shaders

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119357870#Comment_119357870

Ah that's a shame. I know the shader tech Valve uses is one of the reasons Elden Ring was so smooth on Deck compared to standard PCs, but I think in that case Valve themselves might have gotten in and tinkered around to ensure a smooth experience. Hopefully that's the case here with an update down the line!

Retr0gamer

The Stutter is really just lazy coding. I've heard Direct X11 carried out all shader compilation and was very efficient at it. Direct X12 on the other hand allows you to code much closer to the metal which means have to code your own shader compilation code or pre caching. The games with stutter just use off the shelf code or Unreal's built in code which is more a stop gap measure and really shouldn't be implemented in a finished game.

FlubberJones

Ahaaa... I'm a cat person and had seen this advertised, will have a look later on and pick it up, a welcome distraction from my miserable efforts on Elden Ring

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119357850#Comment_119357850

Yes, once your ps plus sub expires, this game will become locked and you'll have to buy it for 30 euro or subscribe to ps plus extra again. Definitely worth upgrading to premium for 18 euro for the rest of the year.

seraphimvc

aye came here to say i am glad this is getting good reviews (even from reviewers who dont like cats ha).

Polished but short (like 5 hours), that seems to be the general consensus. I was expecting short too so i am glad it is not like 2-3 hours ha. Will wait for reduced price on steam (good for wait abit for them to iron out any small issues anyway).

Grumpypants

It's very limited at the start anyway. (I'm just leaving the apartment). It's very close to being one long quick time event.

For example. You can jump, but only at the precise point in the map that the developer has set to be a jumping point, with a preset ledge you can jump to.

If you want to just jump for the fun of it, or hop onto on a small box to try get somewhere, but the Devs have not set it as something you can jump on to, then you can't get off the ground.

There is no platforming either. Jump on a beam you have to cross. Don't worry you can't fall off, you walk up to it and press X, hold the left stick until you cross and then you will stop at the edge of the beam until you press X to hop down.

Same with puzzles. You just spend your time looking at everything until you get a button prompt.

But it is still kind of nice. It looks great in places and the concept is good.

Being free gives it a lot of grace. If I'd paid €30 for it I'd be pretty annoyed.

But still it's early days, not even an hour in. Will see how it grows.

johnny_ultimate

Played the first 45 minutes during lunch (thanks thunderstorm) and technically it's a bit of a triumph. A definite must-play for anyone interested in environmental design - honestly I'm more impressed by linear games as lusciously, extravagantly detailed as this than I am with sprawling open worlds. Extraordinary detail in how the world has been realised, and how convincing the world-building is.

Very simple gameplay-wise so far but haven't gotten to any of the more open areas yet.

Not much to add so far other than it plays super smooth on PS5 and looks great with HDR.

Grumpypants

Finished the rooftop area in the small town. Felt much better and the limitations did fade a little as you can jump on much more of the ledges. So it is less noticeable that the gameplay is so restricted, or I'm just getting used to it.

At the end of this area, there were a few parts where you had to quickly combine a very basic puzzle with some jumping to escape danger and that got a little exciting.

Steam says this is similar to Outer Wilds and Subnautica. Any truth to that?

corcaigh07

Loving the art direction of this.

Zero-Cool

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119360923#Comment_119360923

Outer Wilds is my 2nd favourite game of all time, Subnautica is my 3rd. I'm only an hour into this and loving it but it's no OW or Sub. More of a Gone Home, exploring an environment figuring out the story with hand holdy platforming thrown into the mix and meowing. I'd lower expectations from those 2 games.

SuperBowserWorld

Everybody wants to be a cat 😂

https://youtu.be/_I1_5mSXinQ

Potential-Monke

Have a good few hours played, just after entering the

Spoiler Warning

sewers

so not sure how far along. Going by collectables, about half way I reckon. It's a nice little game. The restriction on where you can go/jump to Zero mentions above isn't as bad as I initially thought. Yeah, it's annoying you can't go anywhere you want, but it doesn't detract that much from it. Aside from a few chase scenes, it's pure relaxing, and the chases aren't hard. Apparantly you can die (and there appears to be a trophy related to the act) but I haven't yet. Once the screen got pretty red during a chase but I never felt like I was about to lose.

Good looking game, but Rift Apart did fur better, so slightly disappointed by that. I said ages back that graphics alone will no longer cut it, that this gen will be defined by the small things, such as footprints, which Stray does not have. Again, not game breaking but I'm noticing these things in games lately. I know I'm sounding a bit negative about it, but I'm not trying to be. It's just that so far, it's ok. Nothing ground breaking, but does what it does well. I'm invested in the story, so looking forward to see where it goes. I'll give them credit for creating a unique-ish world. It just feels like the game is missing something...

Oh, and I was disappoint at the start and it was raining and I didn't feel it like I do in Returnal... I need to feel rain now in games! I don't think I would have been happy if I spent €30 on it, but for free it's good. Saying that, I'm still not finished so maybe it will be worth the asking price by the time it's over. Still, it is fun to be a cat.

I also noticed there's a trophy for beating the game in under

Spoiler Warning

2 hours!!

so don't think I'll be going for the Plat!

johnny_ultimate

Played through the slums area last night, and in-game counter suggests I'm just under halfway through now (presumably one more open area alongside a few more linear levels).

If I was to compare it to any recent games, it would be the likes of Ghost of a Tale or Eastshade: relatively relaxed adventure games with light puzzle elements and exploration. There are hints of other games there too, like walking sims and even some Naughty Dog stuff, but more involved than the former and less so than the latter. I will say small, focused open world areas you can explore at your leisure make for comfort food gaming for me personally, so enjoying it a lot in that sense. The linear sections are short and don't overstay their welcome, too.

I've rarely seen a game from a tiny team look as polished as this does. Truly stunning art design throughout - especially the way lighting is deployed, and the ramshackle detail of the world. There are a few apartments you go into in the slums area and they elegantly tell their own little story through sheer depth of detail. Keeping things from the perspective of the cat helps: makes everything seem that bit more epic. Also love how they use neon not just as shallow decoration, but as a guide towards places of interest. It's a rich world built with purpose.

Definitely a few quirks and shortcomings here and there. Hit a glitch at one point when I couldn't get back onto the floor of an apartment and was stuck in one spot, so had to reset. It also takes lots and lots of liberties in terms of what a cat would do and understand. I know that seems like a very silly complaint, but given the cat takes on a key role in the story - entirely reliant on understanding what's happening and comprehending what the other characters are telling it - it feels like a big leap that (so far anyway) isn't convincingly resolved. The one bit of leeway the story has in that regard - a helper robot who 'translates' things - is stretched beyond its limits.

Mostly though it's an admirably relaxed game that's just pleasant to play and is punching well, well above its weight in terms of presentation. Neon White is still the best Annapurna release this year (and the best in quite a while, honestly!) but this is well worth a go for anyone who wants a small, focused 3D adventure game.

Sonics2k

Reviews on this for PC are looking okay, apparently some frame rate and stuttering issues. I have a 1070 so not entirely sure how well it will play, but I'll look into it around pay day.

Been following the game closely since it's announcement and it looks like a lot of fun, almost relaxing to play.

johnny_ultimate

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119363411#Comment_119363411

You should be fine - other than the stuttering it's apparently a very well optimised game. Recommended GPU is only a GTX 780.

Seems to have been a monster hit on Steam already. Over 10,000 reviews and 60,000+ peak concurrent player count already. Great to see a game of its size performing so well. I mean, Neon White seems to have been a big hit and that has fewer than 5,000 reviews so far. Can only imagine it's doing huge numbers on PS as well, especially with PS Plus Extra.

Retr0gamer

It was well on top of Steam for pre-orders before release

martyos121

Just after finishing the rooftops section now and I’m enjoying it for what it is, will come back to finish it another day though as I’m a little bored of it for now.

It does a lot of things very well, especially little things unique to this game. When you go for a nap for example, the Dualsense actually purrs and it feels very realistic.

As far as games go, it’s pretty good. But it really shines as a cat simulator, if that’s your thing.

Zero-Cool

They went a bit too far with adding a button just to lick your own hole.

martyos121

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119365508#Comment_119365508

Strangely, that’s a post I’ve always expected to read in this forum, but I always imagined it’d be in relation to a Kojima game.

Grumpypants

Switched over to my steam deck for tonight. It's really suited to the handheld (which I tend to find is a more intimate experience). Makes it far more enjoyable. The slower pace and controls are more suited to the small device.

Very enjoyable time with it, still looks great, just heading down into the sewers.

If the deck is an option for you I'd recommend giving it a go.

The Chiaki app will let you remote play from your ps5 if you have both. Save you double dipping.

CiDeRmAn

I played it last night for a while and, I don't know, maybe style over substance?

There is a real Little Nightmares vibe to it, as well as strong Limbo/Inside flavours.

While there is some freedom it is, so far, as linear as it comes, with your actions restricted to where the dev wants you to do and where the story demands you must go.

The use of the environment is hampered that you can only go where they say.

So, it is a push forward and press X kind of game.

Maybe things get more interesting later, not so sure.

I'm not loving the cat design either, the animation isn't as smooth as I thought it would be and the fur texture seems non-existent, and I am playing it on my PS5.

I guess, as far as animals are concerned, I was spoiled by The Last Guardian's Trico.

Grumpypants

It does get better once you get to the little slum town as there are multiple ways to get around (on the ground or across rooftops).

But it is still locked into where the devs have preset as a "jumping ledge". There are just more of them, and I do feel like you get more used to it.

I assume they did playtest a scenario where you could go wherever you wanted, and likely the cat just kept falling off edges, which is very un cat-like.

The puzzles are all like old point-and-click adventure games. Where you would have to go to the shop and distract the shopkeeper to steal bread, and then you go to the beach and give the bread to the seagull so he would drop the keys, and then go to the house with the keys to get in......

It's a very basic game, but that's not a bad thing either.

Potential-Monke

Yeah, got a couple more hours in last night, I'm taking my time with it and it is nice to explore, but at the same time linear. I feel like I'm very near the end. But it still feels like the start of the game, if that makes sense? Maybe it's just the way some games have give massive open worlds after 4-6 hours of gameplay, but I feel like I'm waiting to walk into that massive open world shortly, but I know it'll be ending. Which also isn't a bad thing. They have, so far, set up a great world to build on, but it will need some more work.

And I agree re the fur, I expected that to be one of the best done parts, but I am a little disappointed by it, especially when everything else looks pretty good, the robots in particular.