It can go that fast. The red domestic cat is just roaming happily with three hairy companions through its territory, which nature apparently reclaimed from humans a long time ago, when a rusty pipe suddenly tears it down into another world. No more glaring sunlight and gentle breezes – when the cat regains its paws, it’s in the middle of a stinking underground garbage dump. There isn’t a ray of sunshine behind the next door either, but at least colorful flashing lights: A cyberpunk world à la Blade Runner opens up. It is populated by rustic robots that emulate humans or have been programmed by them to emulate, that remains to be seen.
But where are the people? Robot kids sprayed “RIP Humans” on the walls. As the game progresses, the little cat will find out whether the species is actually extinct, and soon she will no longer be alone. In her search for a way back to the surface, she brings to life a small drone that has lost its memory or has corrupted its memory. The cute little machine introduces itself as the B-12, an allusion to the French development studio Blue Twelve Studio, which presents its first game with “Stray”.
Granny robot knits cable ponchos
Since the first scenes from the dystopian cat adventure were shown almost two years ago at the official launch of the new Play Station 5 games console, the anticipation has remained constant – before its release on July 19, it was officially the most popular title on the Steam games platform. That was certainly also due to the look, but mostly due to the hero to be controlled. Why are there so few games from the perspective of animals? The young German studio Mooneye sent a wolf into the race in “Lost Ember” in 2019, also in search of a lost civilization; “Maneater”, in which you go foraging as a great white shark, achieved a certain cult status in 2020. Then it gets thin.
Maybe “Stray” will change that, because exploring the city on cat’s paws is so much fun in a calming way that the actual plot quickly becomes secondary. The developers from Montpellier, whose cat Murtaugh was the main inspiration for the game, must have been aware of this, because they avoided overly complex gameplay or excessive dialogue in “Stray”.
Almost always, players can proceed at their own pace, climbing the city’s rooftops, solving small puzzles, or doing tasks for robots with their all-too-human needs. One is a bit chilly, he needs a cable poncho, knitted by granny robot. Another wants to play the guitar but has no sheet music. No problem for the cat, who can communicate with the townspeople using B-12.
Annapurna Interactive
A little breather on the pool table in the robot pub
The perfect beginner game
The overarching goal, however, remains the route to the surface, where the upper class of the population once lived and from there forwarded their waste to the lower classes. Organisms that are supposed to devour the waste have now mutated into dangerous, hedgehog-sized tormentors that have to be shaken off with clever maneuvers from time to time. A little gaming expertise is required at these points, but in general “Stray” will not overwhelm people who have never held a controller in their hands.
In good feline fashion, the little hero can’t fall, and most of the time players just have to press a single button – unless they want to meow loudly in between, brush around the legs of robots or scratch their claws on old sofas. Despite the literally low fall height, there is no boredom, also because the developers, supported by the appropriate accompaniment on the sound level, create a meditative atmosphere right from the start, in which cautious curiosity determines what is happening, only very sporadically interrupted by action episodes. Just how you imagine a cat’s life to be.
On the new Sony console, the adventure runs smoothly and without loading times, so little stands in the way of immersion in feline existence. After two long game nights, even the most thorough gamers should have seen and done everything. “Stray” ends when it’s at its most beautiful.
Rating: 4 out of 5 points
Stray for Play Station 4 and 5 and PC, 30 euros