Stray is on the way next week, in case you needed something to look forward to in the near future.
The marketing on BlueTwelve Studio’s very first game has been great. The studio has stayed as mysterious as it can on what the game entails, while also providing the core info to make people give a shit.
I mean, telling people outright that they can play as a cat in a world full of robots is already enough to pull many people in. But there seems to be something under the surface.
While that remains unclear for now, PlayStation (who have been huge cheerleaders for the game) have released their ‘spoiler-free introduction‘ to Stray to get us even more excited.
This intro has relayed a bit more information about what’s in store in the game, so let’s talk about what we know about it so far.
The main features of Stray
Cat
You. It’s you. You are the cat. You play as the cat, and are notably ‘nameless, injured and alone’. Your objective is to find your way back home through a dim world of weird robots.
As we’ve mentioned prior, in order to platinum Stray you must truly become a cat. You do cat things like scratch up furniture, push things off ledges, meow, explore, and sleep. All of these actions have their own unique responses via the Dualsense controllers haptic feedback.
B-12
B-12, who is possibly named after the developer themselves, is a little drone that joins the little cat on its adventure. The introduction states, “It’s not immediately clear why B-12 is helping, but it’s worth knowing that the little companion drone has its own motivations and is an important character in the story.” Ominous.
B-12 basically provides all the necessities that just being a cat cannot. It translates the robots for you, acts as your inventory, helps you fight yucky monsters, and lights the way. Beep boop!
Da freakin’ robots
As we already know, the cat seems to be the last organic lifeform in Stray. The rest of the city is made up of robots. These robots can sometimes be nice, and sometimes not. You can talk to them, nuzzle up against them, and learn from them.
They all seem to be drippy as fuck from the pictures we’ve seen so far. Their designs are also very Chappie-esque.
Zurks
The Zurks are the weird little freaks pictured above. They’re tick-like creatures that want to bring you nothing but pain and sorrow. They are disgusting. I hate looking at them.
What inspired the world of Stray
The BlueTwelve Studio cofounders Koola and Viv say that the city of Stray is inspired by Kowloon Walled City.
The Kowloon Walled City was an ungoverned and densely populated Chinese enclave within Kowloon City, British Hong Kong. It was originally a Chinese military fort, but became an enclave when the New Territories were leased to the UK by China in 1898. It was demolished in 1993.
Using the concentration of buildings, the world of Stray is also a vertical wonderland making it the perfect place for a cat to fuck around and perhaps find out.
The neon signs and string lights also give Stray its cyberpunk-like feel, but it looks to be a mixture of overgrown wasteland and cybercity.
Stray‘s gameplay and game length
Stray looks like it’s going to be a mixture of exploration and puzzle-solving, as well as collecting things such as ‘memories’ for B-12 to learn more about the city. As mentioned prior, you do all the things a cat would do such as meowing and knocking stuff over. As pictured, you can also ride in bucket zip-lines.
According to Annapurna Interactive, the gameplay is roughly 8 hours for the story, and a little more for completionists. Honestly, I’m fine with this. I love the idea of playing a game as a cat, but you can only be a cat for so long.
They also mention that Stray is ‘the adventure of this particular cat’, so no customisation will be available. This means you cannot make the main cat-racter (sorry, not my best) look like your cat. Considering one of the trophies is literally ‘Die 9 times’, it’s probably for the best to avoid full-throttle heartbreak.
Release date and platforms
Stray will be released on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC on July 20th 2022 at 01:00 a.m. AEST. The game will also be available to play for free for PlayStation Plus Extra and Deluxe members from day one.
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