Has anyone played the new cat game Stray?

[CloudCastle]

I'm interested in trying this game but two things are concerning me: 1) the reports that it's hard to play using a keyboard and mouse and 2) potential motion sickness issues.

For example, in this play through video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RVqVVIotTY

The camera angle keeps changing sideways. is the player doing that or is that something the game is doing that I can't control? The kind of camera movement is prime motion sickness fodder for me.

[WeirdJedi]

I'm not going to deny that I had a lot of issues with Stray. There are some stuttering reports on the PC Version. I also did not like the keyboard & mouse setup. I did get motion sickness, but adding the option of the tiny dot in the middle did help. It looks like the user is causing those massive jumps in the video. The problem occurs when the camera has to include something important. If you are jumping on a ledge really high-up, somewhere tight in a corner, underneath a desk, or across a path that triggers a cutscene, the camera is not subtle in changing perspective. There's also the "big" topic on whether or not 5 hours of gameplay is worth the price of admission.

Despite all that, I did enjoy the game. It surprisingly runs well on an older computer and has some graphical prowess on better machines. The cat itself is... I'm going to say realistic. There's plenty of fun cat interactions you can do within the environment. There's a whole subreddit of catswatchingstray with animals getting interested. The setting is definitely interesting if you take things slow. Only being able to jump when prompted takes some getting used to but seems to be a much better way of smoothing out the gameplay (you can chain jumps and turn off the prompt if you want). If you do use a controller, the vibration you'd normally expect is much softer to other games I've played.

[CloudCastle]

I'm not going to deny that I had a lot of issues with Stray. There are some stuttering reports on the PC Version. I also did not like the keyboard & mouse setup. I did get motion sickness, but adding the option of the tiny dot in the middle did help. It looks like the user is causing those massive jumps in the video. The problem occurs when the camera has to include something important. If you are jumping on a ledge really high-up, somewhere tight in a corner, underneath a desk, or across a path that triggers a cutscene, the camera is not subtle in changing perspective. There's also the "big" topic on whether or not 5 hours of gameplay is worth the price of admission.

Despite all that, I did enjoy the game. It surprisingly runs well on an older computer and has some graphical prowess on better machines. The cat itself is... I'm going to say realistic. There's plenty of fun cat interactions you can do within the environment. There's a whole subreddit of catswatchingstray with animals getting interested. The setting is definitely interesting if you take things slow. Only being able to jump when prompted takes some getting used to but seems to be a much better way of smoothing out the gameplay (you can chain jumps and turn off the prompt if you want). If you do use a controller, the vibration you'd normally expect is much softer to other games I've played.

Thanks for the info. I'm seeing reviews from PC users saying they had to redo keybinds in order to make the game playable so maybe I can do that until it's more like what I'm used to.

So, in the video it shows the cat running around but the POV will suddenly shift from behind the cat to along side the cat, and sometimes even spin around - you think that part was player controlled? I can probably handle shifts when there are cut scenes, but I need the camera to stay locked looking forward when running around. I tried to play Mass Effect once and it made me so sick I had to stop. Character movement was controlled by one hand and the camera view by the other, and trying to manually keep the two synced up was nearly impossible (my brain could tell when it wasn't quite right no matter how hard I tried) and that just drove my stomach bonkers after only 5 minutes.

I'm considering taking dramamine just to be able to play, so the short game time of Stray is actually a bonus there. If I only have to dramamine my way through 5-6 hours that's way better than 50-100 hours.

[Echoweaver]

We just started playing last night on the PS4. I can't comment on the PC keybindings, but the game is lovely and the story intriguing.

The 5 hr estimate makes it a short game, but I find those estimates are crazy short anyway -- not for tourists like me who want to drink in the mood. Also there are some collecting achievements that intrigue me.

[WeirdJedi]

So, in the video it shows the cat running around but the POV will suddenly shirt from behind the cat to along side the cat, and sometimes even spin around - you think that part was player controlled?

One reason I did not like the keyboard and mouse setup is because looking around with your mouse seemed a bit... unnatural to me. It was as if I generally wanted to click on what or where I wanted to go, but instead the mouse was merely there to look around. It was also very sensitive. They try their best to hide how easy it is to spin the camera around in the video. I'd assume if you played around with the look sensitivity or perhaps become more accustom to the control scheme, it might do a decent job.

However, I found using the analog stick on the gamepad to be much more... controlled? I'm not sure why, but the amount it panned seemed more appropriate the instant I switched to it. I also found myself always with my finger on the camera. This made it so I was in control of where I wanted to look at any given moment, removing the ability for the game to decide how to pan the camera. This made my experience ten times better as it felt more immersive.

[Brinswith]

We got it for free on the PS5 with our PS+ sub. The game is absolutely beautiful. Our cat took an interest too when we started meowing.

[Cordovan]

Played and finished the main game recently. Yeah, if you are prone to motion sickness I could see it being an issue here. Some of the movement on the camera is a transition to a cut scene, but you are hunting around the environment for things, so expect lots of camera movement. Played on PS5 so dunno about mouse and keyboard but I'd prefer a controller for it anyway.

[CloudCastle]

I appreciate hearing everyone's thoughts on the game.

The 5 hr estimate makes it a short game, but I find those estimates are crazy short anyway -- not for tourists like me who want to drink in the mood. Also there are some collecting achievements that intrigue me.

I find that if someone says it'll take x amount of hours or minutes to do something in a game, then it'll usually take me about double that!

One reason I did not like the keyboard and mouse setup is because looking around with your mouse seemed a bit... unnatural to me. It was as if I generally wanted to click on what or where I wanted to go, but instead the mouse was merely there to look around. It was also very sensitive. They try their best to hide how easy it is to spin the camera around in the video. I'd assume if you played around with the look sensitivity or perhaps become more accustom to the control scheme, it might do a decent job.

However, I found using the analog stick on the gamepad to be much more... controlled? I'm not sure why, but the amount it panned seemed more appropriate the instant I switched to it. I also found myself always with my finger on the camera. This made it so I was in control of where I wanted to look at any given moment, removing the ability for the game to decide how to pan the camera. This made my experience ten times better as it felt more immersive.

How do you look around with the mouse? Do you have to hold down a right or left click? I hope the camera isn't attached to your cursor in such a way that it spins without you even clicking on anything, because I think I'd have a hard time with that!

We got it for free on the PS5 with our PS+ sub. The game is absolutely beautiful. Our cat took an interest too when we started meowing.

I've already seen some videos of people's cats watching the gameplay with interest!

Played and finished the main game recently. Yeah, if you are prone to motion sickness I could see it being an issue here. Some of the movement on the camera is a transition to a cut scene, but you are hunting around the environment for things, so expect lots of camera movement. Played on PS5 so dunno about mouse and keyboard but I'd prefer a controller for it anyway.

I don't have access to a controller, so hopefully I can make it work without one! I may try the game tonight, but I plan to break out the anti motion sick meds if necessary. I'll let you guys know how it goes!

[WeirdJedi]

How do you look around with the mouse? Do you have to hold down a right or left click? I hope the camera isn't attached to your cursor in such a way that it spins without you even clicking on anything, because I think I'd have a hard time with that!

It is attached to your cursor. By default, you can do a 360 spin by pulling your mouse about the length of two keyboard buttons. Left click activates your light. Right click zooms in. You press shift to run and space to jump. As for the gamepad, by default, it takes you approximately 4 seconds to do a 360 spin with the stick pressed all the way in any specific direction. The advantage here is that there is a wide-range of pace options depending on how far you push the stick. Cutting the sensitivity down from the default 50% to about 25% will obviously double those numbers.

[CloudCastle]

It is attached to your cursor. By default, you can do a 360 spin by pulling your mouse about the length of two keyboard buttons. Left click activates your light. Right click zooms in. You press shift to run and space to jump. As for the gamepad, by default, it takes you approximately 4 seconds to do a 360 spin with the stick pressed all the way in any specific direction. The advantage here is that there is a wide-range of pace options depending on how far you push the stick. Cutting the sensitivity down from the default 50% to about 25% will obviously double those numbers.

Ok, I think this sounds exactly like how the Mass Effect controls worked, which unfortunately made me sick pretty quickly. Is there any way to lock the camera so that it automatically follows the direction your character is facing, like we have here in lotro?

[CloudCastle]

So, an update if anyone is curious. Game story is a lot of fun, visuals are beautiful and the cat is adorable. However, even using motion sickness meds I still struggle and can only play for about an hour at a time before I need to take a break due to stomach issues and a headache. Even bigger though is the issue of using the PC controls. I rebound them immediately, but have had to sometimes switch things up just to get through different scenes. You sometimes need to press so many keys at once that I found my hand can't reach all of them simultaneously, and a rebind was in order just to figure out how to physically accomplish what I needed to do. I also found that at least half my deaths occurred due to glitches. Your cat can't jump without a visual prompt appearing first, and many times the prompt would just fail to appear. I would have to move around, back up and re-approach the object several times until it did appear. Now try doing this while running from enemies who can kill you in seconds and you've got a recipe for some serious frustration!

As an MMO player, I also am finding it difficult to get used to the concept of controlling my character with one hand while "steering" the camera view with the other.

If anyone has any tips to how they bound their keys I'd be curious if there is a better set up.