i actually had the same reservations, but as i thought about it more, i think stray actually makes more sense as a movie. that way you can give the cat more personality and drive, rather than trying to capitalize on people’s desires to be a cat and do cat things. the game really shoehorns in the narrative, especially past the first half. it would have worked better with a more personified creature imo, since the game really ends up being driven by the narrative rather than the whimsy of the player (which is what i would have expected from a game whose focus was on doing cat things)
i think there’s probably some good points in here. however, the presentation you’ve chosen here makes it difficult understand what those points are (i thought these critiques were about the same game / genre of games at first, but i’m thinking they’re now probably separate critiques about different styles of storytelling); especially since each point probably deserves its own post, along with named examples of games where you’ve encountered this
but i think there are some critiques in here worth mentioning, things like “it’s difficult to find games where your actions have a lasting impact and don’t just resolve the obstacle in front of you; while still having compelling gameplay”. or “sequels commonly don’t understand what made the original popular”. these are good, compelling critiques of things that happen in video games. this also allow people to recommend games that maybe address those complaints or maybe don’t
unfortunately, it’s hard to have that discussion right now because it currently boils down to “stories in games are dogshit”. and i mean, i can empathize, even if i don’t necessarily agree. maybe you just needed to get it off your chest, which is cool. hopefully this feedback helps you if you want to have a more in-depth, nuanced discussion about this later
on its 50th anniversary, let’s all remember that microsoft has been profiting massively off the genocide in palestine and has recently been targeted by BDS: https://noescapevg.com/xbox-has-been-added-to-the-bds-list-so-what-now/