Published , by Lucas White
Published , by Lucas White
Annapurna and BlueTwelveStudio’s Stray, or as many referred to it online, “The Cat Game,” was a big deal the moment it was revealed during a PlayStation event. Cyberpunk visual design inspired by Kowloon Walled City paired with visible effort to accurately depict the movements and mannerisms of real cats was a winning combination. The internet loves cats, as we all know. Stray was almost universally well-received, with praise often citing the visuals and thoughtful gameplay mechanics while criticism was pointed at stealth sections and a rather clumsy use of techno-orientalist tropes. After a successful launch on PC and PlayStation, Stray made its way to Xbox platforms, and finally the Nintendo Switch.
We’re getting to the end of the Switch’s life cycle, but ports to and from Nintendo’s odd, little handheld hybrid remain fascinating. Seeing major console games like One Piece Odyssey made to run smoothly on much weaker hardware is fun, because it’s been made clear over the years that it’s no easy task. On the flip side, games that started as Switch exclusives getting rockets strapped to their backs, like Shin Megami Tensei V, are exciting for a different reason. Stray is of course the former, and considering how much of its identity and gameplay is built with its visual direction and fidelity as foundation, the prospect of a Switch version worth purchasing seems ambitious. It’s pretty good, though!
Right at the start, you’ll encounter one of Stray’s biggest issues on Switch, load times. They aren’t terrible, nor are they very frequent. But they are noticeably long, and make dying in certain parts when you’re dealing with Zurks more stressful than they probably should be. The second biggest issue is frame rate drops, but there’s good news on this front. The drops are also rare, and don’t usually show up unless something really specific is happening in the game, such as riding a bucket zipline across a sort of environmental transition. When you get back to the moment to moment gameplay, Stray runs smoothly albeit at 30 frames per second. The only other issue I noticed is the hero cat model sometimes losing texture detail and looking a bit washed-out in color.
Where Stray on Switch really shines is in visual clarity. The neon lights illuminating the city, signage in strange languages, and architectural detail are all crucial to how you find your way around. I was most concerned about this part, as many Switch games make sacrifices in resolution or draw distance that make smaller details harder to parse. But I had no problems here, able to look in the distance for landmarks, read important text, and comfortably determine platforming paths as I scanned my surroundings. The dialogue text you read when interacting with B-12 or other robots throughout the story is also clear and easily legible on default settings. While I’m sure Stray is brighter, busier, more vibrant, and more detailed on other platforms, I never felt like I was playing a compromised version of what this game is.
If you missed Stray the first time around and are curious about the new Nintendo Switch version, I don’t think there’s much to worry about. Load times and minor performance dips are the biggest problems, and are so infrequent they hardly impact the experience. Meanwhile, the visual depth and clarity that fuel Stray’s identity and gameplay are solid, with no obvious compromises that would make this version feel inferior while you’re playing it. While no side-to-side comparison will favor the Switch by any measure, Stray’s port gets the job done comfortably, offering Nintendo fans a viable opportunity to check out one of the more widely-lauded indie games of 2022.
Stray is available on November 19, 2024 for Nintendo Switch. It’s also available now on PC, PlayStation 4 and 5, and Xbox One and Series X|S. A code for the Nintendo Switch version was provided by the publisher for this article.