I am not saying the demo looks terrible, but it's also not something that makes me excited for the full game. It just feels like a reskin of Anno 1800, with a downgraded clunky UI that is hard to get a hold of and next to no immersion effect. It is very hard to feel like I am in some Roman territory. Especially since I can't get close to anything resembling typical Roman cities within the demo's time limit.
As far as demos go, I'd say this one could have been done better. The time limit of one hour per run is quite harsh and means that we don't get to see much of the game. I might have been able to get a bit farther in a second run if I went into it with the mindset of a speedrunner, but for me personally there is no fun in that. They should have just left the cap at Tier 2 without the time limit.
From what I have managed to see within the time limit, the game just seemed like a downgraded vanilla of Anno 1800. It also once again seems too bare bones without the DLCs that will no doubt come in later years as well. I might be wrong and the game could be great in a later stage of a campaign, but I probably won't get to see that since this has not convinced me to buy the full game. At least not just yet.

To put it simply, this game is a masterpiece. I cannot think of anything Stray might lack.
The graphics are amazing, especially for a pretty simple short game like this. The soundtrack does a great job of putting the finishing touches on the atmosphere. The story feels unique even if the premise sounds familiar. The characters are memorable. Figuring out the small puzzles was probably the most enjoyable part of the experience for me. I love the occasional subtle references.
It's great how much playing this game for just a few minutes makes you feel like a cat, doing all the typical cat things like satisfying the need to throw cans of paint off the edge of a building, destroying whatever possible and just overall being a little agent of chaos. It's funny to see that in this post-apocalyptic future, apparently millions of years in the future, cats are still pretty much the same creatures.

The start of the game does a good job of teaching the player the basic mechanics. For me, it is also very important how natural it feels to control my character's movements and this game gets it right.
The difficulty is manageable for anyone whilst also providing an extra level of difficulty through some of the achievements. My first playthrough lasted almost 8 hours and over an hour of that was just spent on restarting the first Zurk pursuit again and again until I finally got the "Can't Cat-ch Me" achievement.

Some people might argue that the game is too short, but I think that actually works in its favor. It might not be as enjoyable if it was longer and I appreciate I was able to finish an amazing game within two days.

I was really struggling to decide what to say to Steam's question "Would you recommend this game?". I really wish there was some sort of neutral answer rather than just a negative or a positive option.
The previous event pack DLC, Friends & Foes, left the worst impression it could have as the first CK3 Event Pack DLC and made me expect all future event packs to come with the same level of disappointment. And while I still stand by my opinion that an "event pack" is a terrible idea for a DLC format, at least this time it felt somewhat less terrible.

On the one hand, this DLC exceeded my expectations (although that is hardly a compliment, since my expectations were non-existent to begin with).
With this DLC, I at least notice that there are some new events added by it. Playing as a child is certainly a bit more interesting with this DLC. I like having a bit more control over my children's personalities and I appreciate being able to actively work to improve my own education trait. Initially, I was especially excited about the new hostage system (and why the excitement didn't last, you can read below).

On the other hand, the events and new features don't have the impact I'd like, they have quite a few bugs and feel unfinished.
My best heirs at birth still turn out mostly terrible, no matter how much I try to control their upbringing. And even if one of them actually turns out well, they end up drowning as per usual, no change there.
The events are often a hindrance as wards become best friends with their guardians too easily and when the guardians die they pick up several negative stress traits and sometimes the amount of stress even kills them.
The new addition to the travel system, where characters travel to foreign courts for education, seems full of bugs where children begin their journey when they are not actually supposed to travel anywhere.

And then there is the hostage system...I was so excited about it, but it's pretty disappointing.
First of all, I don't understand why the game keeps trying to convince me to send my children, imperial princes and princesses, as hostages to neighbouring count-level rulers who are not even important enough for me to know they exist.
I also haven't really seen the AI utilise this mechanic in a meaningful way. It seems absurd to see French kings sending their heirs as hostages to German counts who pose no threat and have nothing to offer them.
The events could also use some work. I've experienced something like this more than once: the prince of a neighbouring kingdom who had been my hostage for the past 12 years came of age, walked into my court room, awkwardly called me his father, I adopted him into my house, and as he was leaving the room, he apparently suddenly remembered that he was allegedly treated horribly during his stay, became my rival, left my realm, began plotting my murder, and eventually met his end on the battlefield in a duel against one of my actual sons. While it makes for an interesting story if it happens once, it's just absurd if it happens multiple times.
Also, hostages are supposed to be hostages. They shouldn't be allowed to just turn back halfway to my court just because they have been suddenly landed by their father, or because they have been married off and the hostage situation is apparently suddenly cancelled because of that. It feels like the hostages are just going to my court for a vacation and think that they can just go home whenever they feel like it.

Overall, as in many other cases when it comes to Paradox, there were some great ideas here, but they were poorly executed. The hostage mechanic could have been something great that actually changes gameplay. Instead, it is just something that exists and sometimes even works and it could have been so much more. My hope is that modders make use of the mechanic's bare foundations and create something great out of it.
As for why I said I would recommend this DLC, it is because I believe the game is slightly more interesting with it than without it. I am not sure if it is actually worth the 4,99€ price tag (probably not), but I got it as part of the Chapter II collection which also includes the Tours and Tournaments expansion, which is actually good and makes me feel like it was money well spent just because of that.

TL;DR: I barely noticed I was playing with this DLC active. Hardly worth the minute of my time I had to spend pulling out my credit card, let alone the money.

Well...so I ended up buying this DLC since I found a half price deal (and just between us I don´t think I would be writing this review if I hadn't had a few drinks before that to cloud my judgement). Now, after playing through several campaigns, each lasting between 150 and 250 years, I don't feel like I got a deal at all.
Across all the campaigns I've seen maybe 3 or 4 new different types of events that I haven't encountered while playing without the DLC. And while they're certainly a nice addition to the game, I barely noticed their presence and can't believe that Paradox really wants people to pay €5 for this. The idea of an Event Pack as a DLC format in itself is just a terrible, and on top of that, it is very poorly executed. It should cost €1 max if I'm being generous. The truth is, it shouldn't be a paid DLC at all.

Now...my following opinions are by no means unique and most of the negative as well as a lot of the positive reviews here will tell you the exact same thing, but I really need to get this out there.

I'm a big fan of Paradox. I own most of their games and have spent hundreds of hours playing some of them. So you'd think I'd be used to their disgusting DLC policy by now. Well, you would be wrong. I'm sick and tired of it.
I pre-ordered the CK3 Royal Edition on the first day of pre-orders, which is the only time I've ever done that to this day, and you could count the games I've ever pre-ordered on the fingers of one hand. That's how hyped I was. And to my surprise, I felt like I got my money's worth. While it's common for the base Paradox game to be just a bare skeleton at release waiting for DLCs to turn it into a living creature over the next few years, I was happy with how the game looked when it came out. More surprisingly, I was also happy with all the DLC I got as part of the Royal Edition. They were mostly well done and added something new and interesting to the game.

Then came the news that the prices of all future DLC as well as those already released would essentially be doubled. Like everyone else, I was furious. But even though I don't think the price tag is reasonable, I'd probably still end up buying the DLCs at full price if I believed I'd get at least the same quality as I got from the first 3 DLCs.
And after that, this Event Pack was announced, and I wanted to believe that it would end up being free, as a kind of optional content, because not everyone might want to play with these new events, and that would be fine. When it came out with a 5€ price tag, I didn't know whether to laugh, cry or scream.
Now that I've seen that Paradox doesn't seem to have a problem asking for money for something that any average modder could do just as well for free even in the case of this game, I'm beginning to have doubts that they'll even try to make the future DLCs worth the new disgustingly high price tag.