Stray – Escape From Robot Dystopia

Finally, I have picked up this adorable game that I pre-purchased in a heartbeat due to the discount! I should have played it sooner, but I am a patient gamer, as you know. On the other hand, I am instantly drawn to games that feature cats in any way and this is the best cat game I’ve ever played!

So, with that being said, here come my thoughts on this journey full of cuteness, humour, and all the feels.

Stray is about a cat who is separated from his family of fellow stray cats as he falls into an underground city. It’s dark and isolated, devoid of humans, and there is no sky above, just a dark ceiling with lights. As he makes his way through the place, he meets a small drone named B-12 who offers to help him find his way home. B-12 is a cute little drone that provides the cat with a backpack and helps them with other tech-savvy tasks while the cat can focus on what cats do best!

The area is divided into the slums and the upper midtown and is populated by humanoid robots called Companions that have built their own society. They’re all quite friendly and some of them belong to a group called the Outsiders who are working together to find a way to open the city as it seems to be strictly forbidden to go outside. But there are also hostiles in place too. The slums and sewers are populated with strange bug-like creatures called Zurks and midtown is heavily enforced by floating Sentinels and robots that follow them.

Regarding gameplay, I’m a cat so like I said, I do what cats do. I can meow, jump on things, scratch, bat at stuff, run really fast, rub against friendly Companions, and even take a nice nap in a cozy spot. All of these things can help with solving puzzles and outsmarting/eluding enemies. Sometimes I even just do cat things just because I’m a cat! I even walk in the way of other roaming Companions so they trip over me since my cats do the same thing to me all the time!

B-12 can be used to activate switches, translate what Companions say, and provide inventory usage and directions, though the latter tends to be subtle so I have to rely on visual cues, like where Momo’s apartment was, for instance. Along the way, I found some collectable badges that I got from hidden areas or helping Companions and there are also memories to unlock that reveal more of B-12’s past.

There are also times when gameplay changes based on any situation. For example, in the lower area such as the industrial part of the slums, there are lots of Zurks, so in the beginning I had to find ways to outrun them, trap them, or crush them by walking inside a rolling oil drum. Later on, B-12 gets a device called the Defluxor that can destroy them when they walk into the purple light.

Then upon reaching Midtown, the Sentinels come into play and they are mainly dealt with by using stealth or luring them into enclosed spaces where they can’t pursue me. I actually found the former to be a lot easier. I hated the Zurks more than the Sentinels.

Before, I go onto the next section, let me just say that I love how many Easter Eggs I found in this game, such as lines from Skyrim, the fact that the Sentinels remind me of the Sentinels from Halo, and that they have the same lights as the machines in Horizon based on what mode activates in them. Play enough video games and you will notice these things more.

There isn’t a huge number of characters in this game, but let me tell you something. The cat doesn’t have a name in this game but I have been calling him Luke because I used to have a ginger tabby of that name and he went to Rainbow Bridge on December 23rd, 2021. So I imagine that the cat in this game is Luke on an adventure through a world with robots!

Apparently, there are some mods to make the cat look like yours but I haven’t bothered with this. However, I can see why some players might want to do that.

B-12 is such a cute little drone, and as I played through the game, I could see the bond growing between them and the cat. As I found B-12’s memories, I learned that they were once a human scientist who tried to upload their consciousness into a robot body. Oh that sounds familiar, what do think Dr. Hayden?

The Companions are all charming when I talk to them. I enjoyed each of the four Outsiders. I liked Momo for his determination and his rainbow-coloured screen, and Doc’s reunion with his son Seamus. Zbaltazar was an interesting figure and my meeting with him was very brief, while Clementine was the one I felt closest to. I love the hat she wears and the emotional moment when she and I were separated after escaping jail as she promised to hold off the Sentinels, leaving me to continue to take the subway to the control room. A pity Blazer betrayed her, he seemed trustworthy, but even I can be fooled.

Alright, onto my favourite parts of this game.

I really enjoyed the moments between each mission in the slums where I would return and feel free to explore at my own leisure. I found this area to be much larger than the midtown later in the game. There are also little side quests like finding all the music sheets for this Companion named Morusque. One sheet was hard to find as it turns out I needed to find each vending machine in the town to get three energy drinks and trade them to a merchant. I like how there’s the option to nestle next to Morusque while they play.

The sewers are the kind of part that I have a love-hate relationship with because I did not enjoy dealing with the Zurks in this game. Not in there, and not in that tower either. But what’s interesting is that what seems to grow around them in the places they dwell. The sewers are infested with Zurks and it felt good to use the Defluxor to defend myself from them. I also saw that wherever they lived, a strange substance was growing on the wall, including these big red eyes, watching my every move. Some of them were so large that I had to save B-12 from their intense gaze.

None of this is given in deep detail as to why it grows and how, but I can’t help but be curious. It reminds me a lot of what the Flood like to call home.

The midtown area of this game did have a lot of exciting moments, and ones that made me laugh too like the time I put on some loud music to distract the owner of the clothing shop. I also enjoyed helping Clementine when we had to escape jail. That part was also challenging where it combined eluding the Sentinels and also luring them into places to trap them so that Clementine could safely get through to the next room.

I remember it took me a while on my first playthrough of this game to locate her apartment and Blazer soon afterward. I wandered for a bit as this game doesn’t have things called navpoints and B-12 can only give you vague hints where to go.

The game’s conclusion made me cry. After parting ways with Clementine so that I could continue on to the control room. B-12 by now, remembered everything that not only were they once a human scientist, but the city had been sealed off because of a great plague of some kind that eradicated humanity. Although the Companions built their own society, security was strictly enforced and no one was allowed to go outside the underground city.

So in a way, the antagonists of this game are the Sentinels as they enforce the rules within the city. The Zurks are also an enemy too as they are like a disease spreading within the slums. I wish the origin of both of them were explained in further detail.

The Outsiders ensured I would make it this far and when it came time to finally open the door, B-12 sacrificed themselves to make it so. I’ve seen very dramatic scenes like this in games and movies but this one just really made me cry over how B-12 knew how damaging it was but carried on and told me I had been a good friend to them. More tears came as the little drone dropped to the floor, inanimate. The cat nuzzled it and lay by its side for as long as desired before going outside as promised.

What a wonderful game full of emotions, humour, and adventure that made me laugh and cry until the end.

👽Emily