What do you get if you combine a postapocalyptic cyberpunk city, a super-intelligent AI, and a stray orange cat? There you have Stray, a third-person adventure videogame set in the neon-lit alleys of a town that recalls Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong. And, of course, you’ll be controlling a cute little kitty!

A small kitty in a big, eerie, dystopian world

Early in the game, Stray almost seems more cozy than adventurous. The player, in the role of an orange cat, does pretty basic cat stuff. Meowing, climbing, “making biscuit”, sleeping curled into a ball. You cuddle up with your cat friends and explore what appears to be an abandoned industrial park reclaimed by nature.

But then you get separated from the rest of the colony. Now, you are a stray, lost and alone in an eerie, neon-lit city. The only other “life forms” are super-intelligent robots and strange creatures that kill anything that crosses their path.

Eventually, you’ll make friends along the way. A little flying robot, B-12, will accompany you throughout the whole journey up to the top of the city. Piece by piece, you’ll discover the secrets and mysteries behind Walled City 99.

How a cat-loving French duo went Global

Stray was developed by BlueTwelve Studio, a small team of developers based in Montpellier, France. Now the crew has considerably grown, but at the beginning it was made up mostly of cats rather than humans.

Stray began as a project by the studio’s two founders, Koola and Viv. The former HK Project rapidly gained popularity thanks to Stray Devblog. Here, Koola and Viv posted frequent updates about the game. The captivating GIFs and videos showing the entire creation process resonated with the public.

It was actually thanks to this blog that Annapurna Interactive discovered the game. The American video game publisher expressed interest in Koola and Viv’s work and reached out. Finally, on July 19th, 2022, it was officially released as Stray for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and 5. Later on, it appeared on more platforms, such as Xbox and macOS, and finally Nintendo Switch on November 19, 2024.

A super-intelligent AI

Stray touches on some controversial topics, one of the main ones likely being AI. In a world where humans are nowhere to be found, the robots have taken over. Built by humans, the Companions were initially designed as simple helpers with basic AI. But since then, they evolved, mimicking human behaviours, cultivating distinct personalities, hopes, and dreams. They created their own society and culture. Also, they produce art, music, poetry, and writing. They even have their own language based on English and French.

The idea of AI becoming more human than humans is not uncommon in video games. Detroit: Become Human, for example, depicts a futuristic world in which androids gradually gain awareness of their roles, realizing that there’s more to life than being servants.

The Companions in Stray, however, didn’t mimic just the positive traits: humanity’s dark side, with its class division, police brutality, crime, and violence, is present throughout the whole game. 

For instance, the player walks through the slums of Walled City 99, where poverty is omnipresent. Going up, the city becomes more “accommodating,” with a wide range of amenities and services. To keep this clear division and the status quo, Peacemakers and Sentinels control the city through fear. Those who disobey face jail and torture. 

More than just a cat game

While the game gained popularity primarily for its furry orange protagonist, it also addresses deep themes. Beyond the social factors already mentioned, environmentalism is also pervasive across the entire game.

The first thing one notices in the slums of Walled City 99 is that everything is submerged in waste. Humanity had produced so much waste that a company, Neco Corporation, had to create a trash-eating bacterium to reduce it. Ironically, the same company is probably also responsible for transforming the city into a dump.

The human-caused waste situation recalls that of many other modern multimedia dystopian worlds. We see something similar in the Disney-Pixar film WALL-E and in the TV show Fallout. But in Stray, the theme is taken one step further. In fact, in Walled City 99, the level of waste appears to have caused the spread of an unknown plague. This led to humanity being wiped out altogether from the city.

And while the city rots, the Outside world is often described as uninhabitable. That is why both humans and Companions have sealed themselves off in Walled Cities. No proof or explanation is ever provided for what happened, yet this belief has been maintained for years, even by the more advanced and intelligent Companions trapped in the city.

Inspirations and easter eggs in Stray

When creating Walled City 99, Kowloon was the first main inspiration, but not the only one. As Koola and Viv recalled during their interview for Unreal Engine

I think the movie Blade Runner is a very strong inspiration for us that really shows in our art, but the movie Blood Sport with Jean-Claude Van Damme that was shot inside Kowloon was also a helpful reference for us.

The game is also filled with Easter eggs, which the player must catch. From the most obvious ones, such as Back to the Future references, to the more niche ones, such as Nier: Automata quotations.

These are scattered throughout the game, keeping the player busy with side quests and encouraging exploration. And, of course, this exploration primarily centers on typical cat activities; cats are, after all, the core inspiration. Scratching furniture, knocking things off shelves, and finding cozy spots to nap. The rewards for these actions, like collecting specific badges, ground the fantastical setting in a relatable, charming cat experience, reinforcing the central theme of a small, organic creature navigating a massive, angular, mechanical world.

Everybody loves cats: the massive success of Stray

Since its 2022 debut, Stray has been generally well-received by critics and the public. It seems that its cute, furry protagonist has captured everyone’s hearts.

As shown on PlayStation.Blog, Stray was the second most downloaded game in Europe in July 2022, and the first in the US and Canada. The launch on PlayStation and Microsoft Windows was a major success, prompting demand for release on other platforms. Every one of them was eagerly awaited.

On Metacritic, it earned a metascore of 83 and a user score of 8.3 for the PlayStation 5 version, with minor differences on other platforms. It was nominated for 18 awards (including BAFTA) and won a total of 5. At the 2022 Game Awards, it won both Best Debut Indie and Best Indie.