Stray and The Animal Protagonist
Claire Brownstone, DVM, Contributing Editor
Animals have co-evolved with humans for the past 30,000 years or more. So, it’s no surprise that there have been many attempts at engaging with animals in video games and that many people seek out games that have animal companions or animal protagonists. What’s been readily apparent is that it’s difficult to create believable animal characters with a compelling story, while drawing in a large audience. Stray, created by B12 Studios and published by Annapurna Interactive, became an instant sensation, despite having a relatively short play time and a mute animal protagonist. What has made this game stand out against other AAA titles this year? It is the only game I’ve played that manages to be both an engaging and well designed animal simulator, with an engaging mystery based in a post-apocalyptic setting that would intrigue any would-be feline detractors.
There are several games that have animal companions as an important part of their gameplay mechanics. The Red Dead Redemption series has been touted as the most accurate horse simulator ever released. The Fallout series has multiple canine companions by the name of Dogmeat that can accompany the main character on adventures. The Zelda and the Skyrim series have horses that are important for traversal and laden with lore. Other games such as Assassin’s Creed allow you to interact with random animals that can be found around the world, because who wouldn’t try to pet the cute cat they saw on a grand adventure?
Screenshot from Okami.
Yet having animal companions isn’t enough for some. Humans have been trying for centuries to understand what it’s like to be an animal, and video games are in a unique position to show us. No other medium has the ability to challenge how we perceive the world, by altering how we see, hear, or interact with the environment. But the challenge remains to release a game that has enough story, gameplay elements, and/or humor to keep players engaged. Developers have tried a few different routes to this end. There are games that have decided to give animal protagonists or party members supernatural abilities. This is most obvious in games such as Okami, in which the main character Ameterasu is in the form of a wolf. However, she’s also technically a god. In Persona 3, there is a party member called Koromaru who is at first glance a standard Shiba Inu (a well-loved Japanese hunting dog). However, at some point Koromaru gains the power to summon a Persona and fights like the rest of your human party. Developers can’t resist making animals more than just animals.
The last route is to have a controllable animal, but give them realistic powers and animal instincts. This is best displayed in Untitled Goose Game and the Shelter series. However, these games often end up lacking in narrative depth. While it’s entertaining to run around and antagonize humans as a goose, there isn’t much of a story to keep players engaged for the long haul. The Shelter games were criticized for not having enough story to make for an entertaining gaming experience. The Ecco the Dolphin series might be an exception. These games pushed the boundaries on what a normal dolphin may be able to do, but overall kept true to the plausibility of a real dolphin. The series unfortunately struggled with mass appeal due to the difficulty and poor level design.
With its impressive graphics, I began playing Stray under the assumption that the developers were going the route of focusing on accurately portraying how it feels to be a cat, with minimal emphasis on story. During the first hour, you start off playing as an orange tabby cat, living in a small colony of cats. The first thing I noticed was how incredibly accurate the cats’ animations are. From the cats’ minute ear-flick reactions to the detailed jump animations while navigating abandoned ruins, it is clear that the animators spent countless hours studying and copying natural animal movement in designing this game. Quadrupeds are notoriously difficult to animate, and most renditions of animals do not accurately portray the fluidity of their movement. With the help of several real life cats and motion capture technology, Stray has finally delivered a satisfying feline experience that perfectly captures feline grace.
However, after the first hour it quickly becomes apparent that this isn’t a simple animal simulation. After the orange tabby cat falls into the dark depths of the city ruins, the game becomes a cyberpunk action adventure/puzzle game. You’re suddenly running for your life from flesh eating monsters called Zurks, until you find safety in a small neighborhood filled with sentient robots.
Despite the futuristic turn the game takes, the game designers really do stick with the same basic design of cat capability. There’s nothing that you do that is outside of a cats’ normal abilities. There is no RPG level system where you get more powerful. The only thing that really changes is you get a backpack with a talking robot companion named B12. And the point at which the cat is first introduced to the harness makes every cat lover smile, as the cat struggles to walk, falls over, and acts like the backpack is truly weighing him down. For as anyone who’s attempted to clothe or harness train their cat knows, they pretty much act like it's the end of the world. And yes, the robot does get a weapon that you use for a short amount of time. However, one could make the argument that at that point you’re controlling the robot, not the cat.
While the game does have action sequences, the vast majority of the game is exploration of the Dead City, trying to uncover the mystery of the human disappearance and recover the memories of your robot companion, B12. And while doing this, the developers make sure to allow you to fulfill every cat fantasy you could possibly ever think of. It goes beyond just “Press O to Meow,” allowing you to knock objects off walls and shelves, play with toys, sleep in nooks, get your head stuck in paper bags, or even cause absolute mayhem to a game of Mahjong. They even turn cats’ fascination with boxes into a mechanic in the stealth sections of the game. If you’re fortunate enough to have the PS5 version of the game, the work they put into the haptic feedback on the controller is masterful. You feel the delicate vibration of lapping up water, the vibration of scratching up wood, the peaceful frequency of a cats’ purr while they curl up on a robot’s lap. One detail I particularly appreciated was near the beginning of the game. After the immense fall, you appear to have a significantly injured leg. You black out, wake up, lick your leg a few times, and appear to be no worse for wear. While many people might argue that that is unrealistic, from a veterinary perspective, it’s actually not that far off. As a veterinarian, I’m continually impressed by cats’ impressive healing abilities. Injuries that would absolutely debilitate us do not seem to bother felines in the same way. There is a joke in veterinary medicine that fractured bones in cats will heal as long as the two ends are in the same room. There’s research into why cats seem to heal better than many other species. Some of it suggests this capacity may be due to the frequency of their purr stimulating healing. Regardless, it is very exciting to see a reference to this in a video game. In terms of immersion into an animal experience, no game has done it better to date.
Also, this game confirms what every cat lover already knows - cats will absolutely survive over humans in an apocalypse.
