Stray Cat Crossing is an intriguing indie game that uses mostly old school style 8 bit graphics in order to portray a PT style horror story. It’s only on Steam but it is also only like 3 dollars so it is a pretty good deal. Overall the game is very good, maybe even great but I do have some hang ups on it. The game primarily uses Resident Evil style puzzles where you interact with a series of colorful monsters but unlike Resident Evil they never really attack you. The one exception to this rule is a scene early on where you are chased briefly but nothing like this happens again. I would also like to point out that the chase portion is completely unforgiving. The slightest mistake or pause will completely screw you. I basically had to memorize the fastest path and kept trying until I made it. For a game made entirely of puzzles I never really felt challenged. One puzzle involving water jugs was surprisingly innovative but everything else was exceptionally easy; just taking extra time to go through the process again. There was one portion in a maze where I had to find a password and it quickly became frustrating because none of the clues helped whatsoever. I simply tried every possible thing I could until I put in the right answer almost more on a fluke.
The story was interesting and while it ended the way I assumed it would there was an extra twist I did not expect that put more things into context. I enjoyed the story of the camera boy myself although I did think he was a she until the end. Some of the characters were still left in the lurch, like the sheeple, but the game does account for them as well if you repeat certain sections enough. Otherwise, while short it does offer a far more interesting story of family and loss than I have seen in a long time. The game will probably only take a normal person two hours to complete if they don’t run into any problems, for a three dollar indie game though this is far more than acceptable. The 8 bit graphics really work for this game and give it a personality that many games with expensive graphics tend to lack. Much of the landscape repeats within levels but the creative and diverse appearance of the characters is really the best part. I can’t help but feel that a lot of it was inspired by Alice and other similar works though. The music is what impressed me the most because you rarely see an indie game with this depth of musical talent. I hope I am correct and that the music is not just pulled from somewhere else because the wide variety of instruments and styles of music in this game are really something. I wish there was another song with vocals at the end but all well.
Otherwise it is a great game and I suggest everyone get it. If you want to watch a little first or need some help on a section I have included my own play through below.
