Future Classic
Moderng games You'll be playing in Years to come
BlueTwelve Studio achieved darn near purrfection in this inquisitive platformer that proves a realistic world isn’t needed to authentically role play as a feline. Whiskers at the ready, it’s time to scratch away at the surface of Stray
Words by Aaron Potter
» System: PS5, PS4, PC
» Year: 2022
» Publisher: Annapurna Interactive
» Developer: BlueTwelve Studio
» Key People: Koola, Viv, Hugo Dunas-Wald, Yann van der Cruyssen, Swann Martin-Raget, Steven Lerner
» The style and design of Stray’s subterranean world was heavily influenced by Kowloon Walled City in the British Hong Kong region of China. It was seen as the perfect cat playground.
» Though unnamed in the game, the ginger cat at the centre of Stray was based on the cats of BlueTwelve’s two founders, Murtaugh and Riggs.
» [PS5] The city of Stray is made up of a mixture of metropolis sights and neon lights, yet feels like another world thanks to inclusions like an indecipherable language.
STRAY
THE BACKGROUND
If curiosity really did kill the cat, then there’s absolutely no hope left for the inquisitive ginger feline at the heart of BlueTwelve Studio’s debut cyberpunk adventure. That a first-time studio could come out swinging with a game as confident and cohesive as this (in a world as equally realised) is still impressive just a year on from its initial release, especially when you consider that Stray was made by a team of just 28 people.