Stray (PS5)

Those who have seen the initial PS5 reveal may remember an announcement for a game called Stray, in which you play as a stray cat. Of the announcements at the reveal, this was one that instantly caught my attention, though I opted not to look at anything else related to it until it came out, and even then, I patiently waited for a physical release first. Although I didn’t have any expectations going in, my patience paid off and I found the short experience worth it.

A group of stray cats explore an abandoned dam-like structure, with the player controlling an orange tabby. As they explore, the orange cat is separated from the group after a miscalculated jump and passes out after landing in an underground garbage pile. After the cat comes to, a mysterious helper guides it through an abandoned city to their location. Once the cat reaches them, they turn out to be a digitized consciousness, taking on the name B-12 after the ID on the robotic shell they are housed in due to having lost their memories.

A stray cat finds itself in an abandoned city.

What starts off as a simple goal of getting back to the surface ends up being much more, as the cat and B-12 recover the latter’s memories and discover the truth behind how the world as seen in the game came to be. Though short, the story is told in a rather compelling way that makes you want to learn as much as you can about the setting, with much of it being told organically through dialogue.

While the level design is linear, there are some more open sections of a very manageable size containing a minimal amount of optional sidequests, with hints worked into the environment about where to go next to advance the story. The controls for traversing and interacting with the world are simple, making them easier to grasp. The opening sequence also serves as an effective tutorial, one that is executed more subtly and also serves the narrative.

Many of the game’s mechanics mimic normal cat behavior, even giving you room to just act like a cat, however some of these also become important to gameplay at various points in clever ways. For instance, Circle allows you to meow at any time, which becomes important later when you can use it to attract enemies to your location in order to get around them, and early on you can also use it to affect electrical devices when making your way to B-12. You can also carry objects in your mouth (max. 1), though carrying objects this way disables the ability to meow.

Another mechanic introduced in the late game in the ability to jump inside boxes, which initially seems like a side activity until you realize how important it later becomes for stealth-based gameplay. Triangle is a context-sensitive button in this regard, which includes additional actions such as scratching surfaces, lapping up water and interacting with objects/NPCs, the last of which ranges from talking to someone else to rubbing against their leg or even sleeping, complete with localized rumble (you can even feel purring in some instances). Scratching surfaces makes use of L2 and R2 to control each of the cat’s front legs, with the PS5 version providing haptic feedback that allows you to feel the surface’s resistance as well as the unsheathing and retracting of the cat’s claws.

You can scratch up some surfaces like carpets to your heart's content.

Among other things, object interactions also include wearing a bag on your head, which temporarily reverses the movement controls to replicate the cat’s disorientation; and pushing objects like a cat playing with a toy. If you want to, you can also simply walk around and knock stuff around and off of surfaces, or even trip up robots walking around. though the slightly wonky physics made it so that, at least once, I was somehow able to knock an object through an environmental seam and out of existence. Similarly, there was an instance I ran into in a club where a walking robot became stuck on a stationary one, likely due to some sort of pathfinding error, akin to an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object.

Of the other game’s mechanics, Cross enables you to jump, but only at ledges when able, though holding the button down lets you jump across multiple gaps in succession. Holding R2 lets you run, which can be useful for quick traversal as well as outrunning Zurks. Holding L2 enables you to zoom and focus on parts of the environment, which can be a useful feature, however there isn’t any real situation where it is explicitly required, so I often forgot I could even do that.

Meeting B-12 unlocks additional mechanics that make use of the d-pad. One very useful feature is an inventory system that’s accessed by pressing up (up on the left stick during conversations), which also allows you to keep track of B-12’s memories. Pressing left toggles a torchlight (aka flashlight) to see in dark spaces, plus you can press down if you need a reminder on your current objective for whatever reason, such as taking a break between play sessions. Lastly, B-12 can also translate certain signs and other written words, giving a better understanding of the world and setting.

Although the game adopts a more realistic art direction, it feels just stylized enough to avoid the uncanny valley and allow it to potentially stand the test of time better. That said, the attention to detail really makes the world come alive, with environments feeling like they were truly lived in and often telling a small story of their own. Robot dialogue is portrayed through subtitles in dialogue boxes, making it potentially easier to localize, though this also makes perfect sense for the story since it helps sell the feline perspective and the robots are established in-game to have developed an entire language of their own, its written form appearing very loosely based on Japanese or Korean in places.

The robots' written language vaguely resembles a mix of Japanese and Korean at times.

Though the environments have an amazing sense of realism that I appreciated, one thing I appreciated even more was the amount of detail in the cat’s animations, showing that the team seemed to have extensively studied cat behavior and body language. This also ties into the context of your actions, with the cat crouching in preparation to jump when you are about to make a big enough leap, as well as automatically sitting on ledges if the option to jump is unavailable. Idle animations perfectly mimic cat behavior as well, which can even include scratching and licking/grooming itself. This even extends to smaller details, such as accurate meowing and startled animations. Additionally, a very subtle breathing animation can be seen at all times, which is more easily seen when stationary, plus you can even see the cat’s shoulder blades move as part of its walk cycle.

Adding to the evident research into cats are the realistic cat noises, complete with a wide variety of meows and other vocalizations that make the limits of the cat’s dialogue pool far less noticeable, even when spamming the meow button. The cat will even meow if it leaps a great enough distance, or even in response to some dialogue, the former adding to the realism and the latter giving the indication that the cat is starting to understand the robots’ language. In addition to the TV speakers, the cat’s vocalizations, as well as some Zurk noises, can be heard from the controller speakers, increasing the immersion, though not without an echoing effect as a result.

If you’re looking for a short, yet interesting indie experience told from a unique perspective, Stray is well worth giving a look. The integration of the DualSense’s rumble and haptic feedback additionally make the PS5 version worth considering for those who own one.