I played The Cat Game and loved it. Not exactly a surprise, really. It's a project I've followed with anticipation since it was quietly announced as "HK Project" years ago, at which point the only promise it made was "there's a cat in the game". That alone was enough to make me wait eagerly for 7 years to play it.
So I ask myself: would I have loved Stray if it had not been The Cat Game? What is the cat was a robot? Or an animal that appeals less to me personally, like a scorpion? Or a featureless box?
And I answer myself: yeah, actually, I probably would. Not quite as much perhaps, but still. For as authentic and lovable as the titular stray is, how amazing its perfectly cat-like personality comes across in its body language and meows and mrrs and chirps, the cat aspect is mostly flavour that makes the rest of the game's already stellar design and themes shine brighter. A narrative edge that sharpens the already strong narrative into something more relatable and affecting.
Stray isn't really a game about cats or robots, but about humans - specifically, what legacy humans will leave after we're gone. Cats serve as a link to humanity that anchors us into this unfamiliar world after our demise, same as the game's robots are a reflection of our mistakes and achievements.
Seeing the world from a cat's perspective allows for both distance and closeness to the world. You're always slightly removed, slightly different from those around you. But you're also smaller, more flexible, able to hide and explore and see what others can't. Everything seems so big on the ground floor, but so endlessly small from the rooftops.
This idea that humanity is both not the be-all-end-all of the planet and civilisation, while also having such a powerfully positive and destructive effect on it, is woven into every fiber of Stray. It shows a mirror of all our mistakes and reminisces about our successes. Refreshingly, it does this not with tepid both-sides:ing or sentimentality, but with a real bite to its commentary. It also taught me how to say ACAB in cat.
So, cat or no cat, Stray would have most likely resonated with me and I would still have enjoyed the gorgeously detailed worlds it allowed me to traverse. But not as much, and the ending might not have had the same bittersweet sting. It just goes to show that anything is made ever so slightly better if you just add a cat.
So I ask myself: would I have loved Stray if it had not been The Cat Game? What is the cat was a robot? Or an animal that appeals less to me personally, like a scorpion? Or a featureless box?
And I answer myself: yeah, actually, I probably would. Not quite as much perhaps, but still. For as authentic and lovable as the titular stray is, how amazing its perfectly cat-like personality comes across in its body language and meows and mrrs and chirps, the cat aspect is mostly flavour that makes the rest of the game's already stellar design and themes shine brighter. A narrative edge that sharpens the already strong narrative into something more relatable and affecting.
Stray isn't really a game about cats or robots, but about humans - specifically, what legacy humans will leave after we're gone. Cats serve as a link to humanity that anchors us into this unfamiliar world after our demise, same as the game's robots are a reflection of our mistakes and achievements.
Seeing the world from a cat's perspective allows for both distance and closeness to the world. You're always slightly removed, slightly different from those around you. But you're also smaller, more flexible, able to hide and explore and see what others can't. Everything seems so big on the ground floor, but so endlessly small from the rooftops.
This idea that humanity is both not the be-all-end-all of the planet and civilisation, while also having such a powerfully positive and destructive effect on it, is woven into every fiber of Stray. It shows a mirror of all our mistakes and reminisces about our successes. Refreshingly, it does this not with tepid both-sides:ing or sentimentality, but with a real bite to its commentary. It also taught me how to say ACAB in cat.
So, cat or no cat, Stray would have most likely resonated with me and I would still have enjoyed the gorgeously detailed worlds it allowed me to traverse. But not as much, and the ending might not have had the same bittersweet sting. It just goes to show that anything is made ever so slightly better if you just add a cat.