Stray Review

The cat is the whole product and the cat is perfect. Weight shifts on landing, the tentative paw before a jump, the shoulder roll through a gap, the head that turns toward noise: the animation team clearly watched an enormous amount of reference and the result is that simply moving around is satisfying before any objective appears. The walled city is superbly art directed, neon reflecting off wet concrete, robots wearing scavenged clothes, verticality that makes a small space read as vast.

What is missing is friction. Jumping is contextual, so platforming is a prompt rather than a skill, puzzles are one-step fetches, and the Zurk chase sequences substitute a sprint button for tension. B-12's story lands its ending honestly and the final sequence earns its emotion. Around five hours long and priced accordingly, it works better as a mood piece than a game, and it is one of the best-looking small productions of the decade.