I had been avoiding playing Stray, the game that centers around an orange tabby, for a while. As a cat lover, I don’t do well with animal death and I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to get through the game. My husband didn’t know that and ended up buying me a copy of Stray with my new PS5. Since my husband bought it, I wanted to at least give the game a chance. Stray was one of the best video games I have ever played and I’m glad that I played it.

As a side note, I did want to bring up a slight spoiler right away. The cat does not die in the story. Yes, there might be a time when the cat dies during an action sequence, but in the actual story, the cat lives. There are two moments where the cat is seen limping due to an injury. I’m not going to lie, I did start tearing up at the first one. However, these moments are short-lived. I would recommend looking up the story before playing Stray to make sure the game is for you, but that was my experience playing Stray.

Stray centers around an unnamed orange tabby cat. The orange cat is walking along with its friends when a pipe breaks and it drops to the street below. After crawling to safety, the cat enters a city that seems abandoned and desolate. As the cat is forced to flee from Zurks (orange, blood-sucking leeches), the cat meets a robot named B-12. The cat frees B-12 and is hooked to a harness where B-12 becomes the cat’s companion. The cat and B-12 work together to open the city up to the sunlight after a plague forces the city to quarantine.

Playing as a cat is amusing. I kept pressing the circle button to allow the kitty to meow and it was entertaining. Maneuvering the kitty throughout the game was easy. There would be an X notification that would prompt the player to have the kitty hop up on a banister, pipe, or table. I liked the trophies. One trophy included meowing 100 times, or another trophy could be unlocked by jumping onto a table and ruining a game that the robots were playing. The trophy list was chaotic which I think was fitting for playing a cat.

The aesthetic of the game is haunting. The city feels creepy and lonely. There’s an aura of darkness throughout the levels which I think added to the experience of playing Stray. I don’t normally pay attention to the music or the soundtrack in a game, but I loved the accompanying music. There were moments when a certain change in music would play and I’d be like “Uh oh… now what.”

As mentioned earlier, this game pulls at the heartstrings. Towards the end of the game, I was SOBBING. The type of crying where I just couldn’t stop. My husband came downstairs and had to ask me if I was okay and I couldn’t even get the words out. I don’t recall ever playing a video game where I was this emotional. I have no regrets because it was such a great game but be warned.

Stray was one of the best games I have ever played. The only downside is I can’t find any Stray merch. I want an orange kitty / B-12 figure to place on my desk at work, but I can’t find one anywhere. I did bookmark a few Stray magnets that I found on Redbubble to purchase for later. If anyone knows where I can find some Stray merch, let me know in the comments below.