Stray- The popular video game that is taking the internet by surprise
Ever since its release on July 19th, 2022, Stray has become a topic of discussion among major gaming communities. Many considered the game to be an amazing one and have since become the highest-rated game on Steam surpassing God of War. It has also surpassed Annapurna’s record, hitting a peak of 62,000 current players on Steam. Some have alleged that the game is overhyped like among us and that its hype would soon die out, but still, it has not stopped the game from receiving overwhelming love from gamers, critics, and Video-game journalists alike.
But what makes this game so loved by the gaming community, what makes it so special and popular among cat lovers and gamers alike? This article is a peek into that.
During the first few hours of my first walkthrough of the game, I was blown away by the sheer spectacular environment; everything from lightning to texture details was absolutely stunning. I would compare its lightning to that of Mafia Definitive edition, or Saint-Denis in Red Dead Redemption during the night. The graphical quality and the design were also one of the elements that the critics praised. In addition, the limited HUD elements and the limiting tutorials are also what made this game more immersive and believable.
Figure 1: The Unreal Engine 4 was the Engine used by BlueTwelve studio for the development of Stray. The Atmosphere especially the lightning was well polished which received acclaim from the Critics.
Secondly, the game is refreshing and unique in terms of whom you play with as a protagonist. There are only a few numbers of games and mods that let you play as an animal. However, these games have long since died out and a very few of the masses have heard of them, and more or less very few people have played them. The only popular release of a game of this type was Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey which was released in Aug 2020.
Third, the game picked up that social media trend that always happens when a unique game comes forth. It happened with among us and the player unknown’s battleground too. Within days after its release, social media especially Twitter was bombarded with posts of players recording their cats transfixed on the screen while playing Stray. The cats loved it! And so did the players. This viral trend not only helped in the game’s post-marketing phase but also helped it to spread across gaming communities of different companies.
Even I did get to know about the game after scrolling endlessly on Facebook and watching one of these posts!
Fourth, let’s admit the fact that all of us love cats, don’t we? At least the majority of us. Even though the game is straightforward and linear and can be completed within five-six hours, still it was a new and refreshing experience simply because the game lets you play as a cat.
Stray is out now and is available to play on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Microsoft Windows.
The writer is a university student, who despite being in love with Computers and Tech, loves to read and write on certain topics too.
