8. Stray
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If there’s a game that has taken 2022 by storm, it’s Stray.
As the name suggests, you hop into the shoes (or should that be paws?) of an unnamed stray cat in a post-human world. After stumbling and falling into the sewers of a walled-garden city inhabited by robots, it’s the cat-agonist’s job to find a way out – and find out what really happened in the run-down city.
The kitty character is as charming as you’d imagine, with signature feline characteristics like on-demand meowing, scratching surfaces to stretch and even knocking glasses/plates/whatever else off surfaces as you explore. Though there’s very little spoken dialogue outside of the main cutscenes, the game does a great job of conveying the stories and emotions of the city’s AI-powered residents, and through optional memories you discover, you’ll gain a better understanding of the post-human world you find yourself in.
The open-world environment is a joy to explore as a feline, with areas and paths usually out of reach of human protagonists. Filled with areas where you can cause a bit of mischief (and plenty of side quests and collectables) it’s a game that you won’t want to rush through – especially if you want all the trophies available. That’s even more true as, once you leave an area, you can’t return on the same run, so you’ll want to be 100% sure you’ve explored every nook and cranny before you move on.
It works well, though with the caveat that it’s not always clear when you’re progressing onto the next area, and that could leave 100 percenters a little frustrated.
Still, if you’re a fan of cats, robots and post-apocalyptic worlds, Stray offers something intriguing and a little bit different to most games in 2022.
