Stray, formerly known as HK_Project, is a third-person adventure game developed by BlueTwelve Studio and published by Annapurna Interactive, made using Unreal Engine 4. This game was released for Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 4, and the PlayStation 5, on July 19, 2022. A Nintendo Switch version of the game will be released around the 2024 Holiday.
Official description[]
Lost, alone and separated from family, a stray cat must untangle an ancient mystery to escape a long-forgotten city.
Stray is a third-person cat adventure game set amidst the detailed, neon-lit alleys of a decaying cybercity and the murky environments of its seedy underbelly. Roam surroundings high and low, defend against unforeseen threats and solve the mysteries of this unwelcoming place inhabited by curious droids and dangerous creatures.
See the world through the eyes of a cat and interact with the environment in playful ways. Be stealthy, nimble, silly, and sometimes as annoying as possible with the strange inhabitants of this mysterious world.
Along the way, the cat befriends a small flying drone, known only as B-12. With the help of this newfound companion, the duo must find a way out.
Stray is developed by BlueTwelve Studio, a small team from the south of France mostly made up of cats and a handful of humans.
Chapters[]
Stray is divided into twelve chapters[1]:
- Chapter 1: Inside The Wall
- Chapter 2: Dead City
- Chapter 3: The Flat
- Chapter 4: The Slums
- Chapter 5: Rooftops
- Chapter 6: The Slums - Part 2
- Chapter 7: Dead End
- Chapter 8: The Sewers
- Chapter 9: Antvillage
- Chapter 10: Midtown
- Chapter 11: Jail
- Chapter 12: Control Room
Awards[]
- Eurogamer Recommended[2]
- RPS Bestest Best[3]
- Golden Joystick Awards 2022: PlayStation Game of the Year [4]
- The Game Awards 2022: Best Independent Game, Best Debut Indie Game[5][6]
- Indie Live Expo Awards 2022: Best New Characters, Trailer of the Year[7][8]
- Hardcore Gamer's Best of 2022: Best Action Adventure Game[9]
- Steam Awards 2022: Most Innovative Gameplay[10]
- Clio Entertainment 2022: silver winner: Game Play Trailer[11]
- Pegases 2023: Best First Game, Best Indie Game[12][13]
- Game Audio Network Guild Awards 2023: Best Sound Design for an Indie Game[14]
- Gayming Awards 2023: Gayming Magazine Readers’ Award[15]
- The Webby Awards 2023: Best Art Direction, Best User Experience, Technical Achievement [16]
- Game Developers Choice Awards 2023: Best Debut[17]
Media[]
Videos[]
Official screenshots[]
These screenshots were published before Stray was released, so they may differ from what is shown in the game.
Screenshots[]
Soundtracks[]
The soundtrack for Stray is an original video game soundtrack composed by Yann van der Cruyssen. It was released on July 19, 2022 and is available on different streaming platforms like Youtube, Spotify, Apple Music and more.
See Soundtrack for more info.
Parental advisory[]
Stray is rated 10+ for violence and fantasy blood. There are scenes in the game that can be too unpleasant, sad or scary for some players (spoiler-free list):
- The cat can die because of Zurks or Sentinels, but the player can revive him in a couple of seconds. You can disable the display of the cat's death in the game settings.
- Zurks look ugly, and can eat the cat. They chase the cat in many scenes. During their death, they explode, spraying some blood-like liquid around. There are many unpleasant moments with them in Chapter 8, including giant living eyes on the walls in the dark sewers among an strange flesh-like substance. Chapters 2, 3, 5, 7 and 8.
- Sentinels can shoot a cat with a taser. They chase the cat in many scenes. Chapters 10 and 11.
- In some cutscenes, the cat falls and damages his paw, but quickly gets up, licks himself and goes on. Inside the city, cat can slip, but almost never falls down.
- Lots of dead robots, sometimes without limbs: mostly Chapters 2 and 8.
- Siren sound: the very beginning of Chapter 4. You can temporarily turn it off in the game settings (just turn off the "Effects Volume").
- Scene with a character tied to a chair with ropes: end of Chapter 10.
- Flashing lights in the Nightclub: end of Chapter 10.
- Robot electro-torture scene: beginning of Chapter 11. To avoid a scene, turn off the sound and after the exit of the room where the title of the chapter appears, immediately turn left and jump on the air conditioners near the door which you came from, and go away.
- Unfair arrest of characters by the police in Сhapters 10 and 11. Jail in Chapter 11.
- Sounds of plaintive meowing: if you die and in some cutscenes. You can turn off the "Effects Volume" too.
- Robots use alcohol and drugs that are different from human ones.
- The cat often passes through holes, pipes and bottlenecks.
- Sometimes there are spider webs, but spiders are not shown. There is a file with a rat in the game files, but it does not appear in the game.
- "Damn" used 3 times, "that ******* Transceiver" (yes, "*******", without actual cursing) - 1 time.
- Extremely sad ending.
Game updates log[18][]
Hotfix 1, July 21, 2022[]
- "Fall through the world" bugs fixed.
Hotfix 2, July 23, 2022[]
- Adds additional fullscreen options including proper exclusive fullscreen support
- Engine fix for some users who are unable to boot due to GPU driver issues
- Additional checks to prevent VR headsets from interfering with the game client
- Collision fixes to prevent going out of world
- Uncapped framerate option is now on the right instead of the left
- Localization fixes for German
- Fix for scratch trophy for keyboard and mouse players
Patch 2, August 4, 2022[]
- Various fixes for falling through the world
- Additional fixes for GPU crash on boot issues
- Fix for the cat going out of bounds when jumping on gutters
- Fix for the cat going out of bounds when landing on barrells
- Improve low FPS camera controls w/ keyboard and mouse
- Fix getting stuck on giving Seamus the tracker
- Fix being able to talk to mahjong players during the breakdown
- Fix multiple issues around VR headset render context issues
- Fix various Polish typos
- Fix various French typos
Patch 4, August 10, 2023[]
- Fixed localization issues across multiple languages
- Added accessibility options for players who have difficulty with rapid tapping: Toggle run, Toggle defluxor, Toggle to shake Zurks
- Added an option to hide cat death
- A large number of crash fixes across many situations
- Fixes for audio decompression errors and stuttering on certain configurations
- Collision and navmesh fixes throughout the game
Steam[]
Steam trading cards
On Steam, all Achievements will be available to you, except for "All Done", as well as trading cards, for collecting which you will be given badges:
- Outsiders: Level 1, 100 XP
- Music: Level 2, 200 XP
- Love: Level 3, 300 XP
- Neco: Level 4, 400 XP
- Star: Level 5, 500 XP
There are 5 trading cards in total, and their design is repeated at each level:
- "I will cat-ch you!": Come on, fly just a bit lower. I want to tell you a secret.
- "Who dey?": Is that your processor making that purring sound?
- "Curiosity killed who?": Why not try to jump on ancient, rusted, and poorly fixed gutters? I mean what is the worst that could happen?
- "Have you seen Clementine?": It looks like a lot of people are looking for her.
- "Everytime is naptime": Life threatening bio hazards should not be an excuse to skip your 21h hours of sleep a day.
For points in the Points Shop you can buy 5 backgrounds for your profile and 5 emoticons. You will also receive them along with each badge.
Sources[]
- ↑ Pushsquare article
- ↑ https://www.eurogamer.net/stray-review-fantastic-cat-exploration-through-a-dystopian-cybercity
- ↑ https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/stray-review
- ↑ https://www.gamesradar.com/golden-joystick-awards-2022-winners/
- ↑ https://www.thegameawards.com/nominees/best-indie
- ↑ https://www.thegameawards.com/nominees/best-debut-game
- ↑ https://twitter.com/indieliveexpoen/status/1599331171149975552
- ↑ https://twitter.com/indieliveexpoen/status/1599364892490076160
- ↑ https://hardcoregamer.com/features/best-of-2022-day-four-action-rpg-shooter-action-adventure/434959/
- ↑ https://store.steampowered.com/steamawards
- ↑ https://clios.com/entertainment/winner/games-audio-visual/annapurna-interactive/stray-release-date-trailer-126858
- ↑ https://twitter.com/AcademieJV/status/1633933514872700929
- ↑ https://twitter.com/AcademieJV/status/1633910450206265365
- ↑ https://www.audiogang.org/awards/archive/
- ↑ https://gaymingmag.com/2023/04/gayming-awards-2023-winners-revealed/
- ↑ https://winners.webbyawards.com/2023/games/features/best-art-direction/241587/stray
- ↑ https://gamechoiceawards.com/recipients
- ↑ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1332010/Stray/