(CNN) This week, two of the most passionate online communities – gamers and cat lovers – collided with the release of a new video game that lets you play as an adorable orange tabby cat.
“Stray”, created by French indie game company BlueTwelve Studio and published by Annapurna Interactive, was released on Tuesday for PlayStation 4 and 5, and PC. It is quickly becoming an online phenomenon, captivating humans and cats alike.
We had to know: Was it really the cat’s meow? So we tried it ourselves, paying $30 to download it for PlayStation 5. It quickly became clear why “Stray” appeals to gamers (who like cats), people who like cats, and real cats. It’s beautifully animated and offers a break from the often noisy and action-packed video games. Also, playing as a cat is unusual and funny. You might even call it a-meow-zing.
While the game’s dystopia – which mostly takes place in a crumbling city – can have a mournful, lonely feel, the adventure (and choice of protagonist) was a welcome distraction from some of the the dystopian headlines we have in them. our own world: As we played, wildfires and heat waves were raging on multiple continents, but for a while we were just gingerbread cats wandering around a strange city.
Yes, there’s a “meow” button
The game begins in a lovely, peaceful, leafy space that looks like the remains of urban infrastructure. You control the main character, who is quickly separated from his feline family, falling into a seemingly deserted city far below.
From there, “Stray” gets a little confusing. It’s clear that some kind of major disruptive event has occurred in this city, and the game focuses on solving the mystery of what happened and returning home. On the same subject : Prime Day 2022: The Best First Video Game Market Available Now. As you soon realize, the city is not completely deserted: There are no humans, but there is a small drone robot called B-12 that helps you read signs and give what’s going on in your new surroundings together; humanoid robots with heads shaped like old-school desktop computers; and tick-like creatures called “Zurks” who will occasionally attack and try to kill you.
Apart from periodic excitement, most of your time is spent exploring much like a cat: discovering what surfaces you can jump on, what items you can pick up or knock over, and what kinds of cat behaviors you can engage in in them There is, of course, a dedicated “meow” button.
What struck us about the game is the balance between having specific tasks or objectives and allowing users to explore freely. One of us doesn’t play video games at all, while the other is a bit more familiar, yet “Stray” catered to our interests and skill levels. Overall, it was fun to figure out although it took some time to, uh, purrfect our gameplay.
“The intention was to have it very small, but to make sure that everything necessary is there to ensure that the game is still accessible,” said BlueTwelve’s producer, Swann-Martin Raget, in an interview with CNN Business. “You understand naturally without thinking too much and without necessarily being part of a quest … or a list of challenges.”
Laine Nooney, an assistant professor at New York University who studies media and video games, attributed the sudden popularity of “Stray” to several qualities: It has an endearing story, it’s well-crafted, it’s pleasant to play , and features the internet “unofficial mascot”.
“Playing like an animal allows us to put our human brains ‘to rest’ in a sense,” said Nooney. “Even though we’re trying to get this cat through a scary world, the stakes are small and manageable – a welcome relief from an increasingly chaotic news cycle.”
Fortunately, we did, in fact, feel a little more relaxed while playing the game. In part, that’s because of his speed, which only goes as fast as a cat can meander through a deserted cityscape, stopping from time to time to lap up some water or take a catnap. It was also the result of small, thoughtful details in the game: repeatedly hitting the “meow” button on the handheld controller, scratching the bark of a tree, or confusing other cats was calming.
The real cat behind “Stray”
Why make the main character of the game a cat, specifically? According to Raget, the decision was driven by several factors. On the same subject : The 10 best video games in all black and white.
The first was the nature of the universe in which the game takes place. The dystopian city in “Stray” is inspired by the Kowloon Walled City, a settlement in Hong Kong that was considered the most populated place on Earth before it was demolished over two. decades ago.
And yet, even though people were living in Kowloon Walled City, the two co-founders of BlueTwelve, both artists, “started to realize that it really was a perfect playground for cats – how many little pieces, the new perspectives it was put on the world they are. is building,” says Raget.
Perhaps more importantly, the BlueTwelve team is obsessed with cats. The studio’s office in the south of France has two full-time feline executives (“Sometimes they turn off our computers when we’re about to save our work,” says Raget) and most of the studio’s employees own on cats and loves cats. .
In fact, the main character of “Stray” is largely based on Murtaugh, a stray cat the co-founders of BlueTwelve found and adopted several years ago.
Humans aren’t the only fans
BlueTwelve’s passion for felines is echoed by consumers, who have taken to “Stray” like catnip. Read also : New Art Walks App Offers Tours of Artworks Around Columbus. It’s among the most popular games on Steam, one of two platforms where it’s available – almost 50,000 people played it on Thursday, just two days after its launch, and over 21,000 of those who bought the game left Steam reviews “Overwhelmingly Positive” .
“If you want to be a cat, playing Stray is the next best thing,” read one review.
Sony’s PlayStation, the other platform where “Stray” is available (and the one where we bought and played it), did not respond to a question about how many copies of the game it has sold so far, and BlueTwelve refused to share sales data. (When asked about sales through its platform, Steam told CNN Business to contact the game’s publisher, Annapurna Interactive; Annapurna Interactive declined to comment.)
BlueTwelve, which was formed just over five years ago with the specific purpose of creating this game, has not yet thought about what its next project could be.
Right now, Raget said, they are “overwhelmed” by the response to “Stray.”
Humans are not the only fans of the game. Since “Stray” launched earlier this week, social media has been abuzz with pet cats fascinated by their orange on-screen counterpart. (No word yet on whether any of them hit the paw button.)
BlueTwelve realized early on that “Stray” could have that effect, thanks to its inner cats, Miko and Jun.
“When the cats in the office started reacting to what was happening on our screens, I think we felt we were going in a good direction,” said Raget.
