Topic: 🍁 PUSH SQUARE GAME CLUB 🍁 | November | The Plucky Squire ⚔️

I'm probably the minority here, but I'm in the reverse situation of what's being talked about above. As I don't have a PS Plus subscription at all, Stray is a no go for me. However, Toy Story 2 is very cheap on the PS store. I'll happily get it and join in if that's the popular choice in this vote.

Yeah, I have purchased a few games in the past for Game Club and don’t mind doing so from time to time. Looking back, the majority of games have been available through PS+ but a handful I purchased for relatively cheap. I think the most I’ve spent was for RE2 Remake, which I was more than happy to spend the money for as it became an all time favorite and it was already heavily discounted by then. I also remember going out to find a cheap copy of Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night when we played that, which was another very fond memory. We didn’t have PS+ Extra back then, but I’d still do the same if the group voted on something that I was curious enough about and could get it for a low price.

I would probably not have purchased games like Slay the Spire or Subnautica but since they were on Plus I participated and tried them out. I didn’t quite get along with either, but for every ‘swing-and-a-miss’ with Game Club I’ve had a home-run also. I might have never even tried the RE franchise or other great games like Little Nightmares, Tchia, and Doom otherwise.

Edit: For me, the larger factor is the game’s length. I appreciate how @AgentCooper has included game length into the info about the proposed games. Ideally the club games would be less than 20 hours since most of us have larger main games on the side. Of course I’m open to consider longer games if they happen to be high on mg backlog list, but I’m much more apt to join for a random curiosity if the game is not only cheap or “free”, but also short. 😄

Yeah, the breaking news about Stray does change things. I might just play it regardless anyways.
…Ah shucks, the downside of a subscription service. 🤷🏻‍♂️

@Kidfried Well, you coming off the fence does swing it in Stray’s favour 👍

@AgentCooper Yeah, consider me an official vote for Stray as well.

I hate that the yanking of the game from the service is forcing my hand to pounce on it (bam-dum-tshhh… 🥁) earlier than I may have otherwise. But seeing as I was already on the fence [drops mic 🎤] about playing it this month, this has pushed me over the edge. I should be able to find 6-8 hours over the next 3 weeks.

Good day to one and all, I hope you're all feline good on this drizzly Saturday? This post is a little later than I would have liked but I've been pushed for time this week. So, the announcement that Stray would be leaving the plus service brought some fence sitters into the vote and swung it in the game's favour. Unfortunately the game will be leaving the service sometime around 18th July but this hopefully should be plenty of time to tackle this brilliant title as it is quite short. So make a start as and when you feel and please as always share your thoughts and feelings, I really thought Tchia instigated some fantastic discussion last month. Enjoy!

A little information about the game courtesy of HLTB 👍

Stray is a third-person cat adventure game set amidst the detailed neon-lit alleys of a decaying cyber city and the murky environments of its seedy underbelly. See the world through the eyes of a stray and interact with the environment in playful ways.

Main story: 5 Hrs
Main + Sides: 6 1/2 Hrs
Completionist: 9 1/2 Hrs

One love 👍

@Pizzamorg @Mr_B021 @QualityGeezer @KilloWertz @Th3solution @Ryne-Gaia @crimsontadpoles @RogerRoger @Hallowmoonshadow @R1spam @CaptD @Th3solution @ralphdibny @LobsterJohnson @SillyBoyJudas

As always, if your name isn’t here and you want to be added, please let me know! Happy Gaming!

I went ahead and started up the game today and played about an hour or so. I’m on the third chapter. It’s a nice game so far. I must preface my first impressions with the disclaimer that I’m one of those monsters who doesn’t really like cats. 😬 I know, I know… I’m a heartless wretch.

So after the initial recoil and annoyance of the meowing, purring, and growling, I am enjoying running through a post-apocalyptic setting as a cat. What I have really appreciated so far is the level design and layout. It’s well engineered as being linear but also feels slightly open because you can just jump around and all over and onto things that are completely unnecessary to your required course. In fact, there’s quite a lot of attention to detail in the world that you don’t really have to see or interact with, so far. It seems well-made, especially for a smaller AA type title.

So far, I’m really liking it.

I'm playing FFXVI but Stray would be great for a mixture for taking a break. I'm glad the story is short. I am going to aim to Platinum the game. Had a slight interest in it but now I can dive in.

I hope y'all enjoy Stray as much as I did. A good palate cleanser of a game if there ever was one.

Played like an hour just to give it a go, was honestly surprised by how strong of an impression it left on me straight away. I'm not much of a cat person, but I am an animal person in general, and so I really loved all the little details they captured for the cat. The way it moved, the little cat activities you can do, the dedicated meow button and I especially enjoyed all the micro mischief it would let you do, like knocking things off of shelves and stuff.

I'm sure if you're looking for a dedicated platformer this'll be quite disappointing, the platforming is basically automated, but this is fine by me as I am rubbish at platformers. The objective is more about figuring the way forward, this is almost like a mini puzzle in itself and then you'll also have some light puzzle elements included on top of that. Then you just sorta press x to cat and the cat will then basically do all the traversal with you automatically once you've figured out the golden path. A cat always lands on their feet I guess, hence this automation.

It has this quite dense sadness to it, but I actually quite liked the vibes overall anyway. It has really strong atmosphere and art direction, even if it looks a little rough and unpolished at times (had to check to make sure I'd actually downloaded the ps5 version).

I hope everyone enjoys stray, it's a breezy game with fantastic atmosphere. The grimey, dense Hong Kong vibe of the spaces you explore are excellent.

I played Stray back in February. Great atmosphere, visuals, and interesting story and characters. I liked it so much I went for the platinum. I got everything except for the speedrun trophy. I might go back and attempt it before it leaves PS Plus!

So had the credits roll on Stray last night & I have to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised.
I thought this was going to be a cat simulation walking sim, but it had so much more to offer.
Thought some of the puzzles were pretty neat. Not too challenging & never felt the need to look something up.

I actually died a few times as well & managed to see most of the game. Some of those ‘action sequences’ were pretty cool as well. Collected all the music sheets, got 21/27 memories in just under 5 1/2 hours.
The game almost changed genres at one point. It became a bit of a horror game for like an hour, which was a bit odd. Also it is a surprisingly good looking game.
I agree with the others about the atmosphere- they really nailed it, which makes the ending pay off even more so (even though it left me wanting more).
Not going for the platinum as I don’t bother with speed run trophies, but really enjoyed the game overall.
7.5/10.
Hope everyone else enjoys it too. A real surprise. As a dog person, I went in expecting to hate it😅.

@Fight_Teza_Fight Glad you enjoyed it also, you have similar thoughts to me on the game. It definitely exceeded my expectations.

Glad to see many positive reactions to Stray. I’m looking forward to jumping back in. In just that short play session I did for an hour or two it shows that I’m already 25% through, so I slowed down a little and went back to complete Tchia. I’m late (3 days) to the finish line but I’m really happy to have played it. I don’t think I have anything novel to say about it that we haven’t already said, but its my early vote to win best music for 2023.

I already beat Stray last year, so will be continuing my playthrough of Tchia instead.

So far having alot of fun, though right before I left for a 4-5 day Missouri vacation my game's power was cut randomly.

Fingers crossed my save data was not corrupted.

@Kidfried It’s a strange movement mechanic, certainly. Apparently the limited and restrictive button-prompt jump gameplay was supposedly a conscious change from a traditional jump button with free flowing platforming. I think I read when they play tested letting the player jump on their own and have the freedom to line up (and potentially miss) traversals, they found it was actually distracting from the flow of the game and when the player missed a jump or fell that the movement and animations came across awkward and very “un-catlike”. So they actually changed course during development to make it this way where the animations are guaranteed to be smooth and have the affiliated grace and lightness of a cat.

The gameplay threw me off as well, at first, but when I thought about it from the standpoint of numerous potential missed jumps, I think I can see why.

I’m liking the game but I haven’t gone back so am only 30% or so.

I finished off Stray today.

Overall I found it to be a wonderful experience. It’s very polished and well made for a AA level game. There’s some very gorgeous visuals and art design.

The gameplay is decent, and personally I liked the platforming. I did have a number of times when the jump icon prompt wasn’t appearing very intuitively and it created some mild frustration, but nothing too bad. The puzzles are well done and usually strike a good balance of challenge and simplicity.

The story was better than expected. Before playing the game I knew there was some basic futuristic setting, but I really didn’t know much more than that. I really enjoyed the world and the lore involved. I even grew attached to some of the characters, including the protagonist, which is saying quite a lot in a game with no real voice acting and very limited social interactions.

I’m not going for the platinum, but I believe the only trophies I lack are the speedrun, the sleeping for an hour, and the first pursuit without being caught. I haven’t the patience for any of those. 😅. But I did get all the memories and scratches.

So, another win for GameClub, as far as I’m concerned. Really glad I played this. Comparing this and Tchia, I’d probably call it a draw — Tchia has much better music and probably more enjoyable pure gameplay, but Stray is more current-gen and visually detailed and has a little better narrative. Both are solid games from smaller studios.

I also just recently finished Stray.
For the first few chapters I really wasn't feeling this game, I think it was mostly down to the initial enemy as it just plain annoying plus I found the first main dwelling area fairly confusing with the objectives a bit vague. Perhaps I'm just a bit too old but it was very much "ain't nobody got time for this".
However once I left that area I felt the game started to get an identity and tasks were less ambiguous.

On the positive side, the games looks great and the levels were pretty well designed, I certainly recommend the game if you have more patience than myself.
As for trophies, I failed the chase trophy and the speed run one pretty much meant that it was off the table for me, as I say a lack of patience.

As previously commented another top pick.

I finished Stray when it released. I liked it for what it was; an AA release in a different enough setting to make it interesting. I love games like this, or Tchia and Concrete Genie. I play them between bigger releases to mix up the setting and gameplay. It’s refreshing to play something where you are not shooting or stabbing other players or NPC’s.. It feels like we had more of them in the PS3 era. Even when the gameplay or story have a problem or two, a runtime between 5-10 hours makes me want to finish them no matter what. A great pick from Game Club. Can’t wait to see what’s next.