Stay: Your Forever Pet!

This is one of those moments in a Steam game review I wish there was a button inbetween thumbs up and dumbs down as that would be best for this game as I find it to be just sort of okay. Once you introduced to the game loop, that's all you do every in game day. Wake up. Ember will want three things. Be pet somewhere (ears, body, neck etc), make some kind of food based on what Ember is in the mood for, then go on expedition. The main area and the expedition areas have this purple vine growth that you have to use Ember's magic to play magic tennis with every single time. Make sure you don't ignore Ember on Expeditions, otherwise their mood will sour quickly and Ember won't listen to you. Ember only has so much energy and confidence that if you hit zero, you'll go back home and lose stuff you found. When you come back from expedition, you play fetch with Ember, cook again and then Ember will be ready for sleep. You take care of Ember and you collection materials in the main area and expedition areas to make food and items and that's really it. It's like a decent 6/10 just okay game that is kind of just gets stale quickly.

Stay: Your Forever Pet! takes the familiar virtual-pet concept and turns it into a gentle adventure centered on companionship, exploration, and everyday interaction. Developed and published by Windup Minds, the game places Ember, a magical fox-like creature, at the heart of nearly everything you do. Instead of presenting her as another follower controlled through menus, the game emphasizes believable animation and spontaneous behavior. Ember reacts to her surroundings, expresses her needs, gets curious about things, and occasionally requires the player to guide her away from trouble. The result is a cozy simulation where building a connection with the pet is more important than chasing complicated statistics. Daily life follows a comfortable rhythm. Time at home is spent caring for Ember, preparing her for activities, playing together, and enjoying quieter moments before heading into the Shimmershift. This routine gives the game structure without making it feel like a demanding schedule simulator. There is little pressure to optimize every action, which suits the relaxing atmosphere particularly well. The design encourages players to observe Ember and respond naturally rather than constantly worrying about meters, deadlines, or harsh penalties. Exploration adds some welcome variety to the pet-care side of the experience. Expeditions into the Shimmershift send Ember and the player through a whimsical wilderness where resources can be gathered and unusual creatures called Mosslings can appear. Thorn-covered obstacles and other hazards provide light challenges, while Ember's magical abilities help overcome certain barriers. Players must also pay attention to her energy and behavior, calling her back when necessary and helping her through dangerous situations. These mechanics make expeditions feel cooperative rather than simply turning Ember into an automated tool. Resources collected during these trips feed directly into the game's customization systems. Materials can be traded for treats, toys, clothing, decorations, and other rewards. There are dozens of clothing and toy options, allowing Ember's appearance and surroundings to gradually reflect the player's preferences. The shared yard can also be customized, giving collected resources a purpose beyond simple accumulation. This creates a pleasant gameplay loop where exploration provides rewards that improve the quieter home experience, which in turn makes spending time with Ember more personal. Ember herself remains the game's greatest strength. A virtual pet succeeds or fails based on whether the creature feels worth caring about, and considerable effort has clearly gone into making her expressive. Small reactions, movement, curiosity, and playful behavior give her more personality than a conventional NPC companion. The game works best when the player stops treating every interaction as an objective and simply watches what Ember does. That emphasis on companionship gives the experience its identity and separates it from more mechanical life simulators. The low-stress approach will not appeal equally to everyone. Players looking for difficult combat, deep survival systems, complicated crafting, or constant progression may find the experience deliberately lightweight. The Shimmershift provides adventure, but it exists primarily to complement the relationship with Ember rather than transform the game into an action title. Repetition could also become noticeable during longer sessions because the basic cycle revolves around caring, exploring, gathering, trading, and customizing. It is better suited to relaxed sessions than prolonged grinding. It is also important to remember that the game remains in Early Access. The core systems for pet care, exploration, foraging, trading, and customization are already present, but the experience is still being expanded and refined. Plans include deeper storytelling, additional lore, improved progression, further polishing, and continue…

I do not recommend this game in its current state. It is beautiful and profound and Ember is one of the best NPC companions I've ever had the fortune of playing with. But the game's core loop isn't that of a pet sim. It's a roguelike/lite, and the biggest challenge it offers are random traps Ember runs straight into without much capacity to stop her (which is the only thing that ended any of my runs. That and the arbitrary limitation of how much magic she has.) The recurring levels are frankly boring, the few surprises they offer growing stale quickly. It would be fine in early alpha, but the roadmap reads to me as bonus features and polish as opposed to core content and levels. I don't want to negatively affect the studio's reviews, there is clearly a lot of heart poured into the game and I wish them the absolute best, but I felt it needed to be said.