‘Stray’ by BlueTwelve Studios was the purrfect game at the purrfect time. People were still tiptoeing around and reluctant to go outside due to the wind-down of Covid and it slotted in perfectly as a comfy snuggle-up and game experience.
Now, thankfully, it is yours to own on the Nintendo Switch.
For a fully comprehensive review of Stray, we can direct you to the following link as this review will solely compare the differences to the Nintendo Switch version.
LINK: Stray (Playstation 5) – Review | MKAU Gaming
The first thing I expected to see was a total abomination graphically. With the PlayStation 5 running at such a high fidelity, there were definite concerns that this game would be a chunky, ugly mess like many other previous ports I have reviewed. While it’s not as near as perfect as the Playstation 5 version in the overall look and cutscenes, aesthetically, it wasn’t immersion-breaking or distracting in appearance.
Where it does get ugly is in the shading and lighting areas. Lighting washes out the environments and shadows are very blotchy. Anything off in the foreground doesn’t scrub up too well, but that is nothing unordinary for a port.
The already straightforward controls map over in, once again, such a user-friendly manner. You can easily manoeuvre your cat through alleyways and across roofs using the joy cons in handheld mode as much as you can be docked on a T.V. with a controller. I still prefer the latter though, with there rarely being an instance I prefer the Joycons over a pro controller.
The game runs pretty well, On rare occasions the frames drop a little when my little microbic friends appear in large numbers causing jagged edges and tears in movement But thankfully this doesn’t happen often.
Overall, Stray on the Nintendo Switch still has all the nuances that we love about Stray on next gen console just with some lower elements in graphics and stability as you would expect from running on a Nintendo Switch.
While a decent port over, I would still recommend playing it on next-gen or PC over the Nintendo Switch but if that is all you have at your disposal this is one cute little title you must add to your collection.
The Good
- Fulfilling story
- Sound graphics for a console port
- Well-mapped controls to joy-cons and controller
- Meowing and purring
- Knocking things off
- Easy to pick up and play
- Not difficult but has enough to keep you interested
The Bad
- Cat seems out of play at times
- Music doesn't make scenes very impactful
- Ugly lighting and shadows
- Small frame dropping