# Anybody playing "Stray"? (Cat game) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** video-games-e-games\ **Created:** [July 21, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353 "2022-07-21T23:17:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/1 "2022-07-21T23:17:35Z")
I’m not a huge gamer but this game looks too interesting to pass up. Is anyone playing? ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/2 "2022-07-22T01:44:13Z")
I’m planning to play it when my current game(Shin Megami Tensei V) is done. It does look like fun. Only about 5-7 hours long, too. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/3 "2022-07-22T02:09:36Z")
I have played it for just under an hour so far. Basically, you are an adorable cat who falls down a pit into an underground cyberpunk robot city and are trying to find your way home. The mechanics, so far, anyway, could be described as principally “platformer”: e.g. you might climb through a hole in a fence, jump on top of a garbage Dumpster, then onto an air conditioner unit, to the fire escape, across a drainpipe, to the adjacent rooftop via a board, through an open window into an abandoned apartment, etc. There is some kind of story (e.g., where are all the humans?? Who is the mysterious drone buddy you encounter?), but I have not played long enough to figure it out yet. Though, if you think about it, you are a cat—do cats really care about any of that stuff? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/4 "2022-07-22T02:16:14Z")
Yeah, I’ve played it a bit on PC. Having some strange crash-to-desktop bugs, though, which kick me out after around 15 minutes of playtime. Annoying. Can’t tell yet if it’s just me, but my system is reliable in every other respect. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/5 "2022-07-22T02:26:16Z")
I have not noticed anything like that, but I have not played that much yet. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/6 "2022-07-22T02:46:54Z")
One super-weird symptom: every time it crashes, it resets my audio output to my VR headset. I’m wondering if that’s interfering somehow. I’m not using the headset here, but maybe it’s somehow trying to steal the audio device and causing issues. Gonna try unplugging it and trying again tonight. Cute game otherwise. I like how when you get the drone vest, you slink around and roll on the floor trying to remove it. Anyone that’s put a harness on a real cat knows the struggle… ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/7 "2022-07-22T12:28:13Z")
I’ve just got into it tonight. It’s pretty nice in my opinion. The gist is that you’re a cat trying to make your way home (the “outside”) and possibly help some others get home as well, but that’s just conjecture at this point. There are some quite cute and funny cat moments such as when you stick your head into a paper bag and the controls get reversed so you can’t control the cat properly and keep banging into things. It’s kind of a platformer but not really, there’s no skill involved in reaching places other than recognising that a path exists. You can either make a jump (button prompt appears) or you can’t. It’s more of a puzzle game if anything. Edit: The concept works really well with a cat protagonist because as you wander around the place looking for clues and so on you end up doing very cat-like things, like ending up standing on an aircon unit on the side of a wall for no other reason than you were exploring to see where you can get to, or scratching on a door to get let in somewhere only to turn around and scratch to be let out again. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/8 "2022-07-22T12:57:34Z")
There is also the computer terminal you find displaying messages like “Is anybody there? Can you help me?” If you walk across the keyboard, you can enter messages like “agggffffffffffffffffffffff” ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/9 "2022-07-22T12:59:07Z")
Do you have Realtek Audio? That driver often causes a lot of weird issues. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/10 "2022-07-22T15:22:44Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > I’m not a huge gamer but this game looks too interesting to pass up. > > Is anyone playing? Are you me? I could have written this OP word for word, and thought about doing so earlier this week. I’m planning on getting the game (you can press a button to “meow”!) ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/11 "2022-07-22T15:31:20Z")
What’s the control scheme like on a PC? I’d like to try this game, but my console is an Xbox. I’m just wondering if I’m likely to hate the controls on PC. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/12 "2022-07-22T15:34:46Z")
Your Xbox controller will work with your PC. If it’s wired you can just plug it in, it’s plug and play. If it’s wireless I think you can just connect it with a USB cable, or you can get the wireless adapter. You might be able to connect it using Bluetooth. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/13 "2022-07-22T15:49:32Z")
I have a gamepad, but the basic controls are something like WASD to move, space to jump, left-Alt to meow, left-shift to run, Q to interact with objects, plus there are a few keys to control the drone, like Tab to open up the inventory, etc. But you can change the controls to anything you want… ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/14 "2022-07-22T17:43:14Z")
I also noticed you can climb onto tables and shelves and knock things over; fragile objects will break when they hit the floor 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/15 "2022-07-22T19:43:02Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Do you have Realtek Audio? That driver often causes a lot of weird issues It turned out to be what I guessed–the VR headset I had plugged in was causing problems. Not sure why, since it’s not a VR game and I had VR disabled in Steam, but after unplugging I was able to play for hours with no issue. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/16 "2022-07-22T19:46:10Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > What’s the control scheme like on a PC? Like **DCnDC** said, an Xbox controller works fine plugged in via USB; that’s what I’m using. The game says that a controller is recommended. Normally I prefer WASD controls, but a controller seemed a better fit with the analogness of walking around. ---
**Author:** ![Raza](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raza/32/213_2.png) [@Raza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raza)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/17 "2022-07-22T20:59:26Z")
Not much to add, about 40 minutes in (just past the paint cans). It really feels cool, like I’m very clunky with the controller but the cat’s movements are very cat-like. “Free” on PlayStation Plus Extra tier or above. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/18 "2022-07-22T22:53:12Z")
After seeing all the Reddit videos of people’s pets being very interested in this game, I have gotten curious. ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/19 "2022-07-22T23:17:12Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > Like **DCnDC** said, an Xbox controller works fine plugged in via USB Well, it’s a good news/bad news type situation. I figured out how to connect one of my old Xbox One controllers to my laptop. I then found out my laptop can’t run the game… ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2022, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353/20 "2022-07-22T23:22:25Z")
Hmm, really? It’s not too graphically demanding. I guess some truly ancient Intel integrated chips might have problems. Do you know what chipset you have? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-playing-stray-cat-game/968353.md?page=2)