Stray caught cat-fancying gamers’ attentions from the moment developers BlueTwelve Studio first teased it way back in 2015 — at the time as a proof-of-concept called “HK_Project”. Each glimpse of the nameless feline hero exploring a strange, seemingly post-apocalyptic environment — heavily inspired by Kowloon Walled City — was met with delight and curiosity in equal measure.

Fast forward to 2022 and the much-promised game has finally arrived, retitled Stray, and with a layer of polish that belies its indie roots. The post-apocalyptic setting holds true, with the ginger protagonist starting off in a clowder exploring the lush ruins of a fallen city, before a mis-timed jump sends him plummeting into the depths, awakening alone in long-forgotten slums populated only by robots. With humanity little more than a memory, the automatons have stepped up in our place, evolving from mimicking human behaviour to living out full lives with relationships, emotions, and professions.

Despite its sci-fi trappings — the stray is soon partnered with an AI drone named B-12 that lives in a cat harness, serving primarily as a way to ‘hack’ the occasional door and to translate the robots’ speech and text as you try to find a way back to the surface — Stray impresses by sticking to its feline hero being just a cat. There’s no attempt to anthropomorphise him — from animation to navigation and behaviour, he’s 100% pure kitty.

The way he struts around this gorgeous but ruined world will be familiar to anyone who has ever had a cat companion, while exploration makes full use of his small size, speed, and agility. Every jump is a precise leap to or from safe platforms – the cat’s lithe acrobatics turning the unlikeliest of objects into stepping stones to reach distant or elevated locations. When not exploring, the ability to scratch at posts or rugs, nuzzle against robots’ legs, or curl up on soft beds for a nap – purring away while the camera slowly pans out to show the scale and detail of BlueTwelve’s world – fully endears the tiny hero to players. There’s even a dedicated button to meow.

PS5 players will feel even more connected, particularly during those catnaps, as soothing purrs emanate from the DualSense speaker, matching a gentle rumble from the haptics. The attention to feline detail is phenomenal, making the occasional moments of threat — usually zooming through abandoned areas, chased by the mysterious Zurks that seem to have something to do with the state of the world — all the more heightened. You will never feel as protective of a video game protagonist as you will Stray’s four-legged friend.

However, there’s not a great deal of variety to the game, alternating as it does between exploration and mild relationship-building in safe robot enclaves, and largely linear ‘dungeon’ areas that balance puzzle solving with avoiding threats such as Zurks. There’s some greater, and sometimes riskier, exploration to be had in tracking down memories for B-12, whose own backstory ties into the history of the world, or in completing optional requests for various robots you’ll meet, but this is a tight, story-focused game at heart.

As a single player game, though, it also doesn’t overstay its welcome, and its digestible nature will still leave players with plenty to think about when they’re done. Stray has an air of loneliness throughout, and serves as much as an ecological warning and class commentary as it does an adventure of a cute cat and his robot pals. It’s unexpectedly deep and often thought-provoking as a result — plus, it does have a very cute cat, which makes everything better. It’s been a long seven years since Stray was first teased, but it’s been worth the wait to welcome this furball home.