Stray Cat: A Cat with a Computer on Its Back

The most recent thing that caught my attention

Today, I am trying to cut down on video games, as it is too much of the same thing since I was 4 years old. Though I doubt that I will ever quit gaming, I hope to play less as I find less and less interest in video games. But that’s probably not going to happen now since the next thing that caught my attention is a game that goes by the name of Stray.

As the name may or may not suggest, you play as a stray animal in this game, a stray cat, to be specific. But what I’m trying to figure out is whether or not this game is AAA or not. The developers are known for making indie titles, but this game, in particular, seems to have a bigger scope and probably also a larger budget. Regardless, I’ll be sure to play it when it comes out.

But what is the game about exactly? Aside from a cat that crosses streets and enters bars filled with robots, I’m not sure what the overarching plot is. The game seems to be an adventure game of sorts that has both puzzle-solving and platform challenges. The classic formula that made up a lot of the games in the early 2000s, except here you play as an animal that doesn’t talk. Speaking of which…

So how does narrative work if you’re playing as a cat?

Usually, one would be led to believe that the player would go about the entire game without knowing what the hell happened because you play as a street critter who only knows the language of hissing and purring (and probably some other stupid sound cat’s make). The way cats communicate with each other doesn’t exactly provide for obvious context, especially since they’re kind of jerks to one another. Of course, that was only my first response towards the first half of the trailer that I saw. The answer to that question was answered immediately.

So later in the game, the cat acquires a computer of sorts that’s strapped to its back. It didn’t come across to me whether the computer interprets the cat’s behaviour or a separate AI that thinks for itself. Regardless, it seems to compute everything in English, even though neither it nor any of the robots in the game (or any other character, frankly) speak it audibly.

Although this isn’t a gameplay problem, I want to pay attention to the worldbuilding aspect and how it could be made into an interesting gameplay mechanic. Of course, this will never happen in the game right now, but let’s say that this game’s based on the principle that you can only communicate via computers and that you’re limited if you have the wrong language modules installed.

So it goes like this…

Forget about Stray for a moment. There’s this game that you can only communicate via computers, but I said that already. But the catch is that you can only communicate in the language if you have it installed on the communication device utilised by the protagonist. So if you don’t have Spanish installed on it, you probably have nothing to do in Mexico since the game will probably take place in America. Alternatively, If you don’t have French installed, you probably won’t have anything to do in Quebec (I assume that the game is a road trip of sorts).

So you got the language mods installed, but it turns out that it’s not up to date because 68% of the vocabulary is absent, so you have to get it updated. Basically, the shtick is that the protagonist needs to overcome recurring language barriers. I think it would be interesting in that it will give a perspective of how one perceives a language they don’t understand in real life through the experience of a video game. Of course, people do it all the time outside of the game, so why would they need it like this? They probably won’t.

But regarding Stray, I think it would be interesting to see if the game can simulate how a cat perceives the world around it. I don’t know if that task can be accomplished since humans can only ever understand their surroundings from a human’s perspective. Any attempt to experience the world from another creatures standpoint is only based on what they interpret as humans (that’s some metaphysical shit right there). But all the robots speak English, so there’s clearly no complicated language feature or something similar in the game.

I would make a PETA joke, but it’s a game

I don’t think they would bother even if it weren’t. The cat isn’t hurt in any way, and one that has a thingy strapped would make for an invasive Reddit meme.

Anyways, if you have any ideas regarding how a language-based game would work, like the one I shared just now, then go ahead and share it too. This article was less about a problem and more about just brainstorming. It can’t always be about problems.

Other than that, if you have thoughts about the game in general, that too is welcome. I have nothing else to say in this section.

In Conclusion…

So the game looks really neat; it’s a change of pace from the usual games I play that, if I had to be creative with my description, are “all-around RPG trope melting pot” that utilise the braindead badass war veteran archetype as a player-character (i.e. you do nothing but shoot stuff). Also, to some extent, it’s a bit nostalgic since I remember that most games were about whimsical animal characters in the old days (ps2 specifically). But this one has you playing as a real cat, so it’s a bit different.

The whole language ordeal is clearly not a feature in the game. You want the robots to speak Spanish; you just go to the options menu and change it. There’s more focus on what’s happening around the cat than its communication with the robots (the robots being the NPCs of the game). I don’t think that the “playing through a cat’s perspective” will happen either since, apart from not being part of the game, if practically impossible for a human to understand how a cat thinks (but some people won’t stop trying).

But, regarding that one idea that I discussed in relation to the game, it would be nice to have a game based on language barriers.