Review | Video game Stray, set in Hong Kong’s former Kowloon Walled City, in which you play a cat dodging danger, is a cyberpunk delight

You play a small ginger cat in a semi-deserted dystopian Kowloon Walled City, and learn to miaow, cat nap and move around with the necessary feline grace

The developers have clearly taken delight in creating their cat, and the storyline, which takes 5 to 8 hours, requires plenty of cat-like speed and stealth

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A scene from the video game Stray, in which you play a ginger cat exploring Hong Kong’s former Kowloon Walled City. Seven years in the making, the game is highly engaging. Photo: Annapurna Interactive

Published: 4:15am, 21 Jul 2022Updated: 1:05pm, 21 Jul 2022

The first thing that you should know about video game Stray is that you will need every one of your cat’s nine lives, and the rest. The cat can die.

Taking on the role of a small ginger cat in a dystopian version of Hong Kong’s former Kowloon Walled City is not all that safe, and there are many dangers along the way as you seek to unravel the mystery behind its semi-desertion.

This is not an open world game, it is linear and finite. That is a good choice in a real world where many gamers are getting tired of the former, but that is not to say that you are that confined by the linearity of Stray.

The real run time is essentially as long as you want to play, though the storyline can be navigated in leisurely fashion in five to eight hours.

There is a PlayStation trophy for doing it in less than two hours and the game seems primed for the speed runners of social media.