PSA: Flashlight Combat Is Still Combat

thegamer.com:

Over the years, developers wanting to avoid the mechanical crutch of combat have turned to another tool instead of guns or swords: the flashlight. The humble torch has been the tool of choice in games like Alan Wake and Blair Witch, aiding their protagonists in fending off ghouls in the darkness. But, when a flashlight showed up in BlueTwelve Studio's cat platformer Stray, I realized I had finally had enough.

The flashlight is just a weapon like any other, and I'm tired of pretending it's not. It may be a more thematically appropriate weapon, it's true. Alan Wake is a writer. Ellis Lynch, the protagonist of Blair Witch, is a former cop with PTSD who is joining in a search for a missing person when the game begins. These aren't characters who would be packing heat. But, the presence of the flashlight in Stray feels like a poor fit for a game about being a cat. The game does a smart job of incorporating elements of feline life into the game in other ways. When you encounter a rug or couch post, you can press the left and right triggers to scratch them up with your claws. You can fit through narrow spaces, and cause trouble by knocking precariously perched pots off of shelves. Though the game isn't aiming for Untitled Goose Game's level of chaos-causing, your cat can be a cuddly agent of mayhem at times.

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All of this feels well-considered, which makes it puzzling that the game includes the flashlight at all. When I think of ‘cyberpunk cat game’, I expect the cyberpunk elements to add to the experience of being a cat. Jet boots that allow your cat to jump higher, an enhanced sense of smell or more acute hearing. If the game needed a weapon, it could