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The issues I had controlling it weren’t nearly enough to dampen the incredible experience I had playing STAY, though.  In fact, because it features multiple endings, it made me do something I’ve done (maybe) twice in my life — I immediately started playing it again after the credits rolled. I didn’t necessarily want another ending, but I desperately wanted to know more about Quinn, more context to his life, and to learn more about how he got to this point. For a videogame, the ability to engender such curiosity is pretty damned rare, and a true achievement worth celebrating. 

STAY is a really fun and immersive indie game about trust, bonding, depression, and anxiety. If you’re like me, as soon as you hit ‘connect’ on the main menu, you won’t want to leave Quinn alone for a second without you there to watch over him. However, if you do leave the game via any means other than ‘rest mode’, try not to stay away too long or Quinn may get a little upset. The majority of the game revolves around visual novel style gameplay with a hint of Telltale in the conclusion screens, with the rest of the gameplay consisting of rather tricky puzzles to complete. These puzzles aren’t the usual mindlessly easy ones either, some of them will really make you think in order to work out the solutions. 

Stay is a gorgeous game that deals with some powerful emotions that really allows you the immerse into the story. Its a game where everything you say and do has consequences even turning the game off!.

Pues bien, esto es STAY, un juego un poco fuera de lo común, que está muy bien, fresco e interesante. El final te deja pensando… bueno, los finales. Queda en cada uno interpretar los finales como te parezcan. Quiero advertir que el juego no es para todos, sin embargo, si buscas algo nuevo que probar, esta es una opción aceptable.

Stay provides a clever way to guilt the player into staying and help Quinn escape his own personal hell. Although the pixel-art graphics didn’t work out for me personally, the game’s overall atmosphere, which is made creepier by the fantastic soundtrack delivers a nail-biting experience, which is pretty much a new experience in the Nintendo Switch. 

STAY no es un videojuego para todos. Pone sobre la mesa unos temas serios que nuestra sociedad tapa a menudo. Es una clara demostración de que el videojuego también es cultura.

STAY es sin duda una aventura conversacional de nueva generación, donde de forma muy simple y usando mecánicas de la vieja escuela, ofrece una experiencia donde nos vemos inmersos en una situación poco común, pero que nos llega a calar tan hondo que no sabemos cuando es el momento de parar. Quizás la dificultad de algunos puzles pueda llevarnos a tirar la toalla, pero como en todo juego siempre descubriremos como salir exitoso, sobre todo si pensamos en la cantidad de finales, habitaciones y objetos que podemos llegar a descubrir.

Stay isn’t going to be for everyone. This is less of a traditional game and more of an interactive dialogue-heavy experience with a theme that largely revolves around motivation, self-esteem, will-power and anxiety. Stay’s clever “the clock is always ticking” mechanic holds up really well, as does the main character’s mood system. Though, issues with delayed input and the, at times, irritating pace, holds it back slightly.

STAY is a game that requires dedication, both to its digital protagonist and its puzzle solving, and features the kind of narrative that’s best digested via discussion with others who’ve played it. Eccentricities aside, it provides the kind of fodder that transcends the superficial and is recommended for anybody willing to face a slice of real-world drama.

Stay no es un juego para todos los públicos. La mayor parte del tiempo estaremos leyendo y una pequeña parte tomando decisiones ocasionales y resolviendo puzles. Sin embargo es un juego que atrapa y que transmite esa sensación de aislamiento y desasosiego como pocos. Es difícil no recomendar probar la experiencia que ofrece Stay, porque a poco que empaticemos con Quinn o nos metamos en su historia estaremos atrapados y querremos saber más y más hasta completarlo. De nuevo un gran trabajo que refuerza la realidad palpable del buen estado que atraviesa el desarrollo de videojuegos español.

An emotional rollercoaster from the perspective of someone plagued with self loathing and doubt. A worrier who wonders not only why he is in this place but what he could have done to avoid it. Don’t dwell on the past, look to a better future and seek out the help you need. The world may seem big and scary sometimes but it’s what’s in our own heads that can be most terrifying.

Stay’s compelling lead character and gripping dialogue ensures you’ll want to see Quinn’s journey through to the end. It’s just a shame it spends a bit too much time testing your patience with irksome puzzles and some needless waffling.

All in all, we enjoyed our time with Quinn. It was a deep and meaningful story that made us think, and we considered our actions and our words carefully. The main part of the action is well-crafted, and the fact Quinn makes mistakes and corrects himself is a neat touch. He's a loveable and well-designed character, who is witty and charming, which makes it all the more disappointing that the controls during the puzzles, and the difficulty of them, detracted somewhat from our experience. It's a very different game, that will give you lots to think about, but truth be told it felt like a mouse would have worked better than a controller. With a better controller layout, the score would have been higher.

STAY is completely different to anything out there at the moment, in a good way, and so it’s definitely worth checking out. Just remember that there are people that can help with those darn puzzles!

STAY is a very unusual experience. Its unique approach to tracking time and using it as an influential factor on a character’s well-being makes it the kind of game you really need to try, but it’s one that comes with enough caveats that might make it less appealing to certain Switch owners. However, with some well-written dialogue, a mysterious house that keeps getting stranger and all manner of narrative paths, items, rooms and endings to unlock, there’s plenty here to warrant repeated plays. Just don’t nod off while you’re playing, or wander out of the house. Poor old Quinn...

STAY has an interesting storyline that is very relatable and can teach individuals about emotional intelligence, human psychology and mental health. The puzzles are quite frustrating at times but this can be simply overlooked once completed and you continue with the original storyline. The soundtrack of the game leaves areas for improvement and the pixel art could have been created at a better quality however this is my personal preference as I set the bar quite high due to the other pixel artists. The developers are actively on hand to assist with issues and if you hit a wall (no pun intended) with any of the puzzles. I’m excited to see how the developers Appnormal will improve and release another unique pixel art game. 

Mystery, puzzles and a protagonist as creepy as his situation make STAY worth checking out. Choose your adventure enthusiasts on Xbox One will dig this title.

Eso sí, al final de la aventura nos acordaremos de todas las horas que hemos dejado solo a Quinn, de las distintas conversaciones que hemos tenido con él y como ha llegado hasta aquí, construyendo una historia, que nos iba alejando de ese secuestro y encierro para terminar pareciendo un capítulo de pesadilla dentro de la mente de un psicólogo que ha visto pasar por su sillón demasiados casos.

It’s just a shame that my enthusiasm and interest was eventually fully deflated by obtuse puzzles that offer no guidance and ultimately feel superfluous to the game. Get rid of them altogether and you’ve got a gripping interactive story that’s dying to be told. But with the puzzles as they are, STAY is reduced to feeling more like a badly-designed old-school adventure game. I’m gutted. For me, and for Quinn. I truly cared about what was happening to him. I’m sorry I couldn’t help you, Quinn.

And so with Stay, what you ultimately have is a flawed, missed opportunity. Its premise does a great job of hooking you in and engaging you from the off. You care for Quinn, you want to help him and learn about his past. And then you’ll come up against a ridiculous puzzle and you might want to throw in the towel. Or if not then you’ll probably die repeatedly, and have to re-read the same text multiple times until you pick the correct response. Had there been a way to skip text you’d already read before, and just gotten rid of the puzzles altogether, this would have been a much more complete experience. And had you been given more guidance at the beginning, and more of a story reveal at the end, it would have book-ended an experience that would be truly memorable. As it is there are too many sticking points to make this a solid recommendation, even though this title made me feel things few games have for a long time.

STAY starts as an nail-biting adventure that's hard to let go of - literally and figuratively. Soon enough, however, it will become an exercise in frustration, partly because of the slow pace of it all, but mainly due to some bad design choices, with the aggravatingly cryptic, and speed-bumpy puzzles taking the biscuit.

In the end, most of Stay‘s story is worth seeing and the originality of the premise definitely deserves praise but the puzzles and pacing of the game really let it down and mean that the game doesn’t really do justice to the idea.  We want to like the game more than we do but we probably like it more than it deserves.