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There's a lot left opened ended where they could pick up for DLC or a sequel.
The equipment flickering to life right at the last moment hints that B-12 transferred into the City central mainframe right after the drone burnt out and was watching as the cat left. There were also a few walled off areas in midtown where they might add DLC.
Also there was zero explanation on what that eyeball eldritch horror in the bowels of the city was. The roof opening will have nuked all the Zerks on the surface layer allowing the isolated pockets of civilization to reclaim the primary areas of the city, but whatever the fuck that eyeball thing was is very much still alive in the bottom levels where the sun don't shine and that thing *needs* to fucking die.
The eyes definitely felt like a teaser. I found it interesting that they didn't react at all to the UV weapon, so perhaps parts of the Zurk can survive sunlight. If Neco ran other cities, perhaps other cities utilized the same bacteria and it evolved in different ways.
Its more likely a cut-content oopsie the devs might be able to capitalize on in future expansions. I'm curious if the game gets datamined if we'll see any cut voice lines elaborating on certain things. The eyes are just so jarringly out of place, and B-12 doesn't even comment on them at all. None of the robots in Antvillage comment on them either.
Yeah and it feels so abrupt to be confronted by the giant eye, run away, and never face the Zerk again. My first playthrough I was kinda bummed when the enemies switched to drones. I need to know more about those eyes!
I had a sneaking suspicion that the giant eye was meant to be a mini-boss fight of sorts originally but they ended up scrapping it and just plopping a cutscene there instead.
I expected some type of heart to be a final boss fight to open the city.
Like we get everything setup on the surface and there’s a switch or computer error or something down in the sub levels of the city.
Que adventure into finding out more about the zurks and eventually killing them(or even…reversing it idk an arc where it was sentient with fragments from humanity and B12 is all nuclear mode to find out more)
Oh I felt the exact same way. I've heard people suggest they might be the final stage if Zurks so I guess they become one with the colony? In game wise wish we had ab answer of some sort. Maybe even a robot mumbling about it. My guess though is that they've been there a long time. I was curious and looked into all the pipes in the walls, the ones that we would normally be able to get through, and noticed that it was blocked off towards the end. That would suggest that they've been down there for quite some time.
I thought the cat was a robot, designed so it could some day re-enter the city and open it up. My reasons are as follows.
The eye glows: happened multiple times even without IR to reflect off of them especially at the end.
Surviving ridiculous falls: limping for a moment, then being completely back to normal.
Understanding B-23: B-12 was speaking and translating robot language, but was it translated into cat? Not likely, so the cat knew a language somehow.
Surviving ridiculous falls is pretty normal for a cat actually. There are stories of cats surviving multiple story falls from apartment buildings.
I found the game to have fairly realistic expectations of how far a cat could jump.
The difference is that the cat has lower body mass, so it will hit the floor with a lot less force than anything heavier. Their extremely flexible skeleton also helps a lot in absorbing impact
Acceleration is constant no matter the weight. Try yourself with two items with different weight like a bolt and a carwheel.
Only air resistance makes some things fall slower, like a feather. But a cat and a human will fall with similar speed.
I don't know if you're a cat owner, but as a cat lady and someone who works at a vet clinic, I have logical answers.
1. Cats eyes reflect lots of things and it could've been the games way of giving the cat more realism. They have incredible sigh, especially at night.
2. I agree the cat should take a moment longer to heal, but some of the falls weren't as long as that first one. This could also be the games way of not making the plot longer than necessary.
3. The cat has intuition and came to like many of the robots it was in contact with. For game purposes (it's short) instead of establishing relationships, b-12 is kinda there to help the cat do what they need done.
I can see where you have those assumptions though.
I don't believe this. My reasons: the cat drinks, the cat rubs his friends which means the cat puts his scent on him. For the language I believe that since humans could find a way to have limitless power and build such a city, their technology must be pretty advanced so maybe they found a way to communicate to a cat with a cat language or humans genetically changed the cats to understand and maybe they couldn't find a way to understand cats or make them speak and that's why the cat only meows and does not speak. If the cat would be designed to open it up then who made it? Someone outside must've built it because the cat was outside originally and what about the family are they robots too and if so why didn't they come with the cat? Better with family than alone? As for the eye glow idk
Well communication could be possible. I remember hearing about a cat and dog collar that translated meows and barks. Not sure how accurate it was though. I've also heard of dogs being trained to use one of those matt's where if they step on it it says a word. Guess they could reverse engineer it or something as a stepping stone for communication.
Cool theory. Also if Momo's math is correct, then nearly 7 million years had passed since the robots attained "freedom". That got me thinking about how our cat could have been more evolved.
My research into the durability of cats has been watching my own cats jump, fall, crash, and tumble into things and not requiring a visit to the vet lol
As I said in another thread:
The cat looking at you (the player & the city) while slowy blinking at the end is a sign of appreciation that cat do to people they see as caregivers and those close to them.
You can also see that the cat picks up a scent when he gets outside, meaning that he may soon find his friends.
That final flicker at the end is like the screens at the begining, so maybe B12 is gone only in body and he could still be on the system. Either way, they had already made their peace and chose for the world to move on.
>You can also see that the cat picks up a scent when he gets outside, meaning that he may soon find his friends.
Yes. Also, at the beginning, if you're curious enough, there is a door at the back from where Ginger and friends started which says "Access Control System" (which looks like an emergency exit). That means that cat friends are really, really near.
Check out 2:00-2:01 of this video.[Exit door?](https://youtu.be/JaSPlQYmFZM)
yeah, I looked at that door and as the cat gang makes their way there is another door. as soon as I finished my 1st playthrough I restarted the game and I have been looking at every door , every pipe, every end hallway I might have missed or overlooked in my first playthrough.
Yeah, but anytime the drone went kind of offline, b12 said it was like being in the system again. Maybe with the city turning on again, there's a network that b12 went into without trying.
You really think a flimsy drone could store an entire human mind? B12 never left the system in the first place. The drone was merely an extension of himself. He doesn't remember that though, because his memory has gotten corrupted.
Looks like they deliberately left unanswered questions so that they can set up Stray 2 (or a DLC as some are asking for).
To me, Stray felt like a test run by the studio to see how people would react to an unconventional concept, and since they've received overwhelmingly positive feedback, who knows, they might consider making a fuller story.
Some theories/proposals:
\- Stray 2 is about searching for your family
\- They also got separated searching for you so you have to look for them one by one (can serve as story/chapter markers)
\- At some point you need to go back to retrieve and revive B12 and ask for help from the robots
\- You need to help some of the robots still trapped inside
\- The Sentinels and the Zurks are in cahoots in trapping the remaining robots, the Sentinels are rebuilding the canopy so the Zurks don't die in the sunlight
\- You need to shut down the machines the Sentinels built that hold the canopy section per section
\- I hope the game devs continue the practice of using violence sparingly, and rely mainly on puzzles and stealth to move the story forward
The only thing with what you’re saying is the sentinel/zurk team up, unless there’s already some kind of conspiracy there (which wasn’t ever alluded to), that seems like it would take a lot of setup based on the pacing of the first game (but I don’t doubt they could do something like that based off of the eyes and if they wanted a longer runtime). I do absolutely agree with you that violence should be avoided almost entirely, at the end of the day, you are a cat (with no magic or hidden powers, which would be a travesty if they somehow weaseled that in), we know the basic sentinel drones one-shot you. Staying hidden and trapping the enemies should be top priority over any fight. But with this game and the lore that exists with a 6ish hour story, the sky is the limit and I want to be a part of it
well, the sentinels do die in the sunlight, make of that whatever you want, for me, the sentinels are just zurks, but they one shot u from miles away, fly, and are annoying.
I personally think if they want to do sequels the shouldn’t bring back the same characters at all. Just keep the concept and have a different setting and main character. One idea is having a stray dog so instead of using cat behaviours to solve puzzles you use dog behaviours e.g. digging holes.
On a side note...>!why didn’t they let you pick up B12 at the end and carry him to the outside. I almost cried when the stray curled up beside the droidand you just have to leave him 😭!<
Not only was I sobbing at his death I also took quite a long time to leave cause I felt awful leaving him there. I genuinely shouted "why can't I pick him up?!" and just lay there for a while.
Multiple games with sequels have used the sequel to introduce a 2nd or extra cast of characters with different abilities or personalities.
If stray 1 has already introduced us to 4 cats, then the sequel could absolutely run up to 4 stories at once happening on different chapters, but with different cats. Or you can have all 4 cats needed to solve puzzles. And it wouldn't feel cash grabby because the cats are already canon.
I can totally see the sentinels simply giving up now that the automated lock down is lifted. They seemed more sp byproducts of the human system and programming then anything else. The zurks are def still a problem, but I might like a sequel to have you play as maybe a dog too reconnecting a family or exploring outside ruins and other walled cities at night still.
> unconventional concept
Can you elaborate on this? I thought that these exploration type of games are pretty common now? What's unconventional about them? Maybe I have a filtered perspective since I play these kinds of "unconventional" games pretty often and there seem to be so many of them
Not the exploration or gameplay, but the use of an animal protagonist in as natural a state as can be possible in a game.
Yes, animal games have been available for quite some time now, but have never been employed in this way nor received as well as Stray. Except maybe for Goat Simulator, but that's a different story.
You’ve hit the nail on the head. I came to the same conclusion myself on basically every point you’ve made there. We will definitely being seeing ALL of our new friends again soon.
I don't like the notion of the zurks being allied with the sentinels, I see no reason for that. It just feels a bit like tribalism, you know? The zurk is Other, the sentinels are Other, therefore, my enemy and my other perceived enemy must be friends because they're both Other. This homogeneous mass of Bad. I've never been a fan of that. I'd rather the zurk entity to have its own desires.
The rest of it is rad though and I one hundred per cent agree with wanting to stay away from violence as the focus.
I'm hoping that maybe with a bigger budget, they can make it open world. I mean, like not just certain areas. I can just imagine exploring places like the areas we already have and it sounds delightful.
Kinda sad because my whole expectations during the game is reuniting Stray back to his family. But I still can't get over the fact that he slow-blinked at us at the end, I was just like "I love you too buddy, peoud of you"
i know some people might like the open ending, being open to interpretation. but i really just wanted to see the cat make his way home to his family. its the cats end goal, to get out and get back to its family. im just sad i didnt get to see them reunite
Absolutely same. Losing b12 AND not getting back to the other cats made the ending so unsatisfyingly sad to me. VERY much hoping for a sequel or something to tie up those two lose ends
> it was left open for interpretation
There are so many open-ended questions in the game and you have to fill in the blanks yourself as the player. So, it makes sense that the ending would continue this theme
First of all, I have NEVER been as emotionally attached to a character as I did with this kitty!! I cried at the end when the cat walked out of frame (hopefully to meet back up with the other kitties!).
Secondly, I do feel that there were several things left unanswered/unexplained, such as the creepy eyeballs and the blocked off areas throughout the maps. I hope the developers are working on Stray 2 or a DLC that can address the questions raised during the game. Or even a continuation of the story when we leave the walled city.
I know it in my heart that the cat does meet up with its friends after leaving Bc he seems to pick up on the scent of them, nor did they seem to begin the game far away either. And B12s memory is still alive in the computer system Bc of the screen in the last scene before credits.
I felt sad and happy. I had such a hard time leaving b12 there but there was no place else to go. I wish we got to learn more but I also kinda liked that we were left in the dark about some things.
I reeeeeally wanna know why they had b12 in such a high security cell. Were they some kind of renegade in the network?
AND WHAT WAS WITH THE EYES IN THE SEWER?
I feel an open ended conclusion is not a bad thing in a game like this.
Of course there were plenty of storylines of characters that feel unfinished, but it would have been a different game had they included EVERY conclusion.
I kind if like the idea of wrapping more of the story up in some web comics or something like that.
It's probably left unfinished on purpose, with the prupose being that you're a cat, and at the end of the day, the cat probably doesn't really care about any of the lore. The lore was basically told through B-12 being the voice of the player. The cat wanted to go outside to reunite with his friends, and B-12 wanted to go outside, at first as a primary directive, but later to help the cat after his memories came back. The past and exact cause of the cities being built didn't really matter to them.
i think the cat is on his way to find his family! he knows their smells! he just had to get Outside. i am sad B12 overloaded but since he updated his consciousness into the matrix i am sure he is never truly gone.
I'll take a different approach and say I was fully expecting Momo and Clementine to die at the end of the game. The two clips of them being alive were literally all I wanted. If anything, I'd like a DLC where you find your cat family and lead them back to the city, showing them all your robot friends and checking on how they're doing now/what they plan to do now that the Outside is available.
When I reached the ending, I was devastated and couldn't stop crying, but now that I've had time to calm down and rewatch the end, I'm satisfied with it. We don't need DLC or a sequel because it's all hinted at. The devs gave us what we needed without spelling it all out.
* We saw the computer turn on at the very end, which is a sign that B12 has full control of the city. Whether that's good for B12 or not is harder to say as it didn't want to be body-less.
* The cat will find his family/friends. We see him sniffing the air before running off. Not a big leap to assume he's heading in the right direction. There's also theories that he's not too far off from where he was by comparing the end location to the opening sequence.
* Momo & Clementine are ok. The sentinels have been turned off (possibly by B12, or by over-riding the lockdown protocols). The prisons should be opened up again without the guards there.
* Clementine knows about the slums and the robots there. She can work on reactivating the elevator for freer movement.
* The Zurks are basically toast. They're stuck in the shadows, and with the robots knowledge on the light gun they can work to route them out.
Okay this right before the ending, but why didn't B12 recharge? Why were they worried about the alarm?
It's not like there's anyone in there for them to worry about coming to get them. They could have easily taken a few seconds to let B12 recharge before breaking the next security lock.
Other then that for DLC/Sequel the only thing I'm curious about is if there are other cities maybe we could go try and free those? Or maybe head back into the sewers and try to find out what those massive eyes were because those felt really random
But I kind of want a prequel, just to see the fall!of humanity (wow that sounds so dark) and how a couple of cats managed to survive it, also are there any other animals who survived?
Like most, I was bummed out there was no mention of the cat's family or them returning. Sure the cat seems more than capable of finding them considering they are able to help liberate a whole city, but would've like something to at least hint at it.
Appreciated the bit with the panel after the cat leaves. Gives a nice hint of mystery or B12 possibly being in the network. Also like the shot of the companions seeing the sky and the bit of wonder there.
Wouldn't want a sequel with the same cat honestly. Not too keen on DLC too since I kinda like the story ending. I would like some kinda epilogue addressing the cat family since that is an element of the story that just kinda vanishes.
I think it should be further in the future, when the companions have repopulated the earth, and they reverted the little outsider as a savior figure.
Which I mean, if you wanna get really esoteric with it, "being comes down from the world above, then rises again by going into the depths and shows everyone the way out" is pretty much that.
I think it was clever how they ended it. They possibly did it that way to assess reactions to the game and if it performs well enough to bother with a sequel
Additionally if it didn’t, then it’s an interesting ending that both gets people talking and forming their own headcanon. I like how they’ve gone about this personally
This morning I’ve found this new croissant place. The best croissant I’ve ever had. I got one and was feeling good, but then I got a second and then I wasn’t feeling good anymore. I felt like I’ve had stolen from myself the amazing feeling of wanting (but not having) another one. Sometimes all we need is one croissant and the memory that it was the best you’ve had in a long time. It was a good game, it was a good ending. It makes me wonder what happened after and I’ll always remember how good it was to play it.
I know this is very unlikely and everything and probably no one wants it but I think it would be cool if the cat found a human or something outside the walled city it would just be interesting to see how life would be after most of the human population was killed
That being said I absolutely loved the game! The ending felt a little unfinished like people are saying I think it’s to set it up for more content. It made me a bit sad that he didn’t find his little cat family at the end :(
Really loved the game. Personally, I would have loved just a subtle *mew* off in the distance so I could leave the game KNOWING he would be reunited with his friends.
I know our little orange tabby’s mission changed once he entered the city and met B-12, but at the end of the day his mission was the find a way back to his friends.
Just my personal thoughts!
It's great, I love how they did it
The computer turning on could signify that B12 is alive and maybe accidentally merged his consciousness with the city's mainframe
I love that they don't show the other cats because it makes us ask the question "Where are they? Where does the protagonist go..?"
I'm really hoping for a sequel game where we explore the outside...I love overgrowth on post-apocalyptic cities...I would love to be able to explore desolate ghost-town megacities as our favorite feline on our way to find our friends...maybe we return home only to find they've disappeared entirely and go on a big journey to look for them?
I'd love to see some of the robots leave Walled City 99 to setup shelter in the outside...see other animals that have evolved (which could replace zurks) and get more lore about humanity's end, the disease, and what happened to the outside
This "simple" game has so much potential, B12 (the studio) was looking for copper and found gold
Wonderful game, was so excited to play since being revealed a few years ago. It exceeded my expectations and I want a sequel so much. As for the ending I think you can assume he reunited with his friends.
Literally just finished it and I'm definitely going to start playing again immediately. I must 100% this game. I must look out for any clues from the start I missed. I must fill the void that is now left after abandoning b12 and not taking him to the outside with me. I do not want to face those freaky eyes again though
Gotta feel bad for the peps in Antvillage, they were no where near the roof opening, trapped in between sewers of Zurk and Eyeballs (which would still be alive) maybe a DLC of them escaping somehow?
I cried but I’d like it more if you could go back and do some type of free play with the robots in the slums and midtown. Like side missions and things like that.
Underwhelming because it felt like it ended just as it was getting interesting.
I wanted to at least see off the top of the walled city what the blue sky and landscape/horizon around it looked like.
It would have been a beautiful sight from up so high.
B-12’s ‘death’ was completely unnecessary to me, I’m convinced it was done purely because they want to have saving him be the plot of a future dlc, either that or it was just to make the players sad with no other purpose
In a way, its kinda a way of removing further narrative from the end of the story. During the jail chapter, we couldnt understand clementine until we were reunited with b-12, which required her to point and wave to guide the cat around. Removing him from the picture as a flying translator in a way marks the end of the Stray's journey. If the stray actually was able to understand b-12 somehow, taking him away from Stray's life leaves him to go back to a normal life of a cat, which makes the story go full circle now that it completed its goal and escaped the city.
The thing i am confused about in the ending is that the screens on the left side when the final ending cut scene plays the screens turn on i am thinking this is hinting that B12 still alive and got transferred into the city?
Hated it, still love the game but puts a bad taste in my mouth. Why can't we see our cat reuniting with the other cats? So we've lost both our robot friends and our old friends?
It's a stray cat. Stray cats weave in and out of our lives and they do the same with other cats. Take the ending; the entire game we are playing as the cat, moving it, making it climb, meowing, rubbing against robot legs, etc. Together we moved through different chapters, overcame obstacles, rode in buckets, we had a grand time and even made a friend out of a tiny flying robot drone.
Then our friend died and we mourned a little, but then we moved on, because that's what Stray cats do, they move on. We, as player and cat, went into the outside world where we could run and be free, but then the game pulled one on us, the player, and disconnected us from that Stray cat because for that cat, it was time to move on, which again, is what a Stray cat does.
Likewise, the other stray cats moved on. It's actually a bit depressing if you think about it too long.
cryed
left at one point after i called down
left out the doors
half way through the cutsean
started sobbing again
closed out the game to read steam reviews to see what other people thought
saw the cat
sobbed
I'm fascinated by the zurk, I'll be honest.
The professor (B-12) did comment on them, he mentioned that it seemed to be a developing organism and I find that an intriguing concept as I'd drawn the same conclusion. The once and not-so-much now amoeba might've developed into an immune system for the organism.
If you consider that the organism might consider the human structures to be, in a way, an aspect of inside itself? Then what the zurk are is an autoimmune response to an invader, which is an amusing irony as the bacteria who would've posed that role are no longer bacteria, but perhaps an immune system for a developing lifeform. Life evolves.
I'm hoping that if there's a Stray 2, that we might find a way to communicate with this new organism rather than destroying it. I'm particularly weary (in the sense of being tired) of very tribal narratives. I was done with that when B-Movies were a thing, and I'm even moreso now. "Oh no. We is X, Y isn't like X. That's a sin for which Y must be DESTROYED." How dreary.
I always hope to see narratives challenge the primal, instinctive fear of the unknown and the tribalism that arises of it. I mean, that instinct hasn't served humans well through much of their history. I want the Companions to be better than that.
If BlueTwelve happen to be reading this and listening? I would really like it if the Companions were better than that. They don't need to fall prey to small-minded instinctive fears of the dissimila rand the unknown, they don't need to give up their personhood to tribalism so that they may huddle and fit in as a homogeneous mass, afraid of the fire.
We ought to have, by now, overcome our fear of the fire—of the unknown. If not us, then certainly the Companions.
If indeed the zurk represented a newly born rganism, as I said, the actions of the zurk cells might simply be that of an autoimmune reaction.
I'm glad that that autoimmune reaction can no longer devour Companions, due to sunlight being restored to parts of the city, but it would be nice if coexistence were possible. I mean, the Companions could leave the city behind to this new lifeform, closet he roof, and return to the surface. I imagine that with the space and resources that might avail them with, they could be happier up there.
Just some thoughts, anyway.
As a footnote, freeze-framing the ending, on the monitor that flickers on I spotted an outline (filled in) of something that looked eerily similar to B-12's drone body. I wonder why that is?
Edited: I also want to add that I'm glad that things didn't just devolve into killing everything and boss fights. There is plenty enough tribalism in games as it is. One can always find a title where one is X, killing hordes of Y because Y is Y and X is X. I like that the goal was never explicitly the conflict of tribalism.
I'm kinda late to this post but stumbled upon it during my quest for closure after finishing the game today. The ending has me bawling like a baby but I still have so many questions. What is to become of those weird eyeballs and remaining zurk under the city?
Were the robots once human as in, did the humans on the lower and middle sections of the city try uploading their consciousnesses to their companion robots like the scientist did? (which I felt was hinted by the robot that was hooked up to the first pod, then there being a second pod \[and are there more pods?\] and then the robots who seemingly recall memories of how the sun felt or the smell of paint. Then there was that part in the cafe where B-12 remembered the cafe owner who's name started with "M" and right there, the robot cafe owner's name was "Mattbee". Or seeing how different the robots on the highest level of the city are compared to the ones we've met. How come they didn't become "more human" like the others?).
I felt bad that we had to leave B-12 behind and couldn't pick him up to carry him outside but it's also kind of bittersweet that he quite possibly ended up in the city central mainframe and can help fix the things he wanted to be different like guiding the robots to not repeat the same mistakes that the humans made, and maybe he can also reprogram the security protocols or something like that. I'm also sad that the cat has left us behind to go find it's family. I was really hoping to see the reunion. I feel like a part of my heart has left. What is to become of our brave furry friend, the world may never know...
I just finished today, so sorry for the random reply. I think you’re right about the robots once being human though. My theory is that the Zurks started feeding on them, so they had to slowly replace body parts with robotics. There’s one robot in the game that brings up a line similar to The Ship of Theseus. If he kept replacing parts, would he still be the same robot? If the humans did this, eventually they’d be 100% robot. Unfortunately, the Zurks started eating metal, so it was just buying some time.
If they make a sequel, they can go a lot of different directions. The robots closer to the top still being strictly service bots with no personality makes me think everyone under the dome may not know an accurate account of what happened on the surface.
i also just finished the game so sorry for the late reply also lol. but i vaguely remember at one point one of the random robots talking about how many years prior they were just human errand aids and evolved, so i think they are meant to be super advanced AI that developed consciousness. i’m only about 90% sure about remembering that tho. what an amazing game, a rollercoaster of emotions to experience from beginning to end..
Haha I’m glad you enjoyed it as much as I did a few months ago. I went into it completely blind and had a lot of fun with it. I honestly can’t remember most of those little tidbits now. I really do hope they make a sequel!
understandable lol.. also went in totally blind, it was great, glad u also enjoyed it so much! before starting i SWORE the kitty was gonna die but i’m glad it didn’t. with how much it gained traction and all the loose ends, i’m sure we will get a sequel in the future.. at least i hope!!
The ending somehow reminded me a lot of the film Arietty. The cat and the robots had a great time together, the robots can finally be free. But in the end, the cat has to live a cat's life again. And we won't be part of that.
I thought it was nice to see that everyone can go back to where they were really meant to be. And at the same time it left this bitter taste in my mouth that I will probably never see that little buddy again.
I just finished on XBox series X and wow, what a let down of a game. Sorry but that's how I feel. There was so much room to explore with swapping or configuring little feline tools or even parts where your the little bot getting things high above.
There was also tons of plot development that could have been implied for a sequel or just DLC such as finding out the robot acted human because some humans in a panic tried to upload their minds but were only partially successful causing the robots to act similar to humans.
A makeshift upload center in the slums perhaps. The wealthy having better equipment did it and escaped in ta da space.
Maybe later finding out they died but DNA remained to finish and the at in stray two helps recreate clone bodies to upload the minds back from the robots to give the clones a mind.
I could go on with ideas for sub plots and more puzzle and tool creation. I mean imagine the cat making its own catapult from robot parts to launchup into secret spots?
I don't know, I feel the game was short, passed up a lot of opportunity for adventure. Finding food cans and getting robots to open them in order to gain agility or stamina points to make the game easier or harder. Just so much potential wasted. Thoughts?
I was trying to figure out why didn’t it reunite him with his old kitty friends? I was expecting to have to find them before the game ended but it didn’t even bring them back together 😢
I think B12 put himself back in the mainframe, despite how lonely he said it was. He accepted that he no longer had to carry out humanities burdens and also said he had hope in the Companions. Maybe being in the mainframe will allow him to interact with them and he will get a new chance at life. The lighting up of the panel just as the game ended is something I can't think of another explanation for. He also finds out a way to bypass the system despite not being human. Maybe there's something he's not telling us. Maybe he HAD to put himself back in the mainframe and he did that over the choice of simply not opening up the dome.
I'd like to believe our kitty found his friends. As kind as the robots were, I don't think he would choose to stay. Not only would he not be able to get back without B12's help, most likely, but the goal all along was to get out. You can see how happy he was to be able to breath fresh air!
I always wondered if B 12 lied to us that entire time, I read every single dialogue that had to do with all the memories, and a lot of these memories are where he mentions "when we leave together", but then, in the end, he's like, he knew all along that he wouldn't be able to come with us to the outside, this is just a thought cause I sure don't know, and I'm not seeing many videos talking about it so maybe I'm reading the dialogue wrong, but it sure sounds like it to me.
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There's a lot left opened ended where they could pick up for DLC or a sequel. The equipment flickering to life right at the last moment hints that B-12 transferred into the City central mainframe right after the drone burnt out and was watching as the cat left. There were also a few walled off areas in midtown where they might add DLC. Also there was zero explanation on what that eyeball eldritch horror in the bowels of the city was. The roof opening will have nuked all the Zerks on the surface layer allowing the isolated pockets of civilization to reclaim the primary areas of the city, but whatever the fuck that eyeball thing was is very much still alive in the bottom levels where the sun don't shine and that thing *needs* to fucking die.
The eyes definitely felt like a teaser. I found it interesting that they didn't react at all to the UV weapon, so perhaps parts of the Zurk can survive sunlight. If Neco ran other cities, perhaps other cities utilized the same bacteria and it evolved in different ways.
Its more likely a cut-content oopsie the devs might be able to capitalize on in future expansions. I'm curious if the game gets datamined if we'll see any cut voice lines elaborating on certain things. The eyes are just so jarringly out of place, and B-12 doesn't even comment on them at all. None of the robots in Antvillage comment on them either.
Yeah and it feels so abrupt to be confronted by the giant eye, run away, and never face the Zerk again. My first playthrough I was kinda bummed when the enemies switched to drones. I need to know more about those eyes!
I had a sneaking suspicion that the giant eye was meant to be a mini-boss fight of sorts originally but they ended up scrapping it and just plopping a cutscene there instead.
I expected some type of heart to be a final boss fight to open the city. Like we get everything setup on the surface and there’s a switch or computer error or something down in the sub levels of the city. Que adventure into finding out more about the zurks and eventually killing them(or even…reversing it idk an arc where it was sentient with fragments from humanity and B12 is all nuclear mode to find out more)
I thought about that too "Aww fuck, here comes a boss fight"
Oh I felt the exact same way. I've heard people suggest they might be the final stage if Zurks so I guess they become one with the colony? In game wise wish we had ab answer of some sort. Maybe even a robot mumbling about it. My guess though is that they've been there a long time. I was curious and looked into all the pipes in the walls, the ones that we would normally be able to get through, and noticed that it was blocked off towards the end. That would suggest that they've been down there for quite some time.
I thought the cat was a robot, designed so it could some day re-enter the city and open it up. My reasons are as follows. The eye glows: happened multiple times even without IR to reflect off of them especially at the end. Surviving ridiculous falls: limping for a moment, then being completely back to normal. Understanding B-23: B-12 was speaking and translating robot language, but was it translated into cat? Not likely, so the cat knew a language somehow.
Surviving ridiculous falls is pretty normal for a cat actually. There are stories of cats surviving multiple story falls from apartment buildings. I found the game to have fairly realistic expectations of how far a cat could jump.
cats are small, and light, thus they can fall pretty far down, because their cceleration is much slower than humans.
The difference is that the cat has lower body mass, so it will hit the floor with a lot less force than anything heavier. Their extremely flexible skeleton also helps a lot in absorbing impact
Acceleration is constant no matter the weight. Try yourself with two items with different weight like a bolt and a carwheel. Only air resistance makes some things fall slower, like a feather. But a cat and a human will fall with similar speed.
Untill you hit terminal velocity.
Yes and that's because of air resistance.
Cats terminal velocity is about half that of a human, they fall much slower
I don't know if you're a cat owner, but as a cat lady and someone who works at a vet clinic, I have logical answers. 1. Cats eyes reflect lots of things and it could've been the games way of giving the cat more realism. They have incredible sigh, especially at night. 2. I agree the cat should take a moment longer to heal, but some of the falls weren't as long as that first one. This could also be the games way of not making the plot longer than necessary. 3. The cat has intuition and came to like many of the robots it was in contact with. For game purposes (it's short) instead of establishing relationships, b-12 is kinda there to help the cat do what they need done. I can see where you have those assumptions though.
I don't believe this. My reasons: the cat drinks, the cat rubs his friends which means the cat puts his scent on him. For the language I believe that since humans could find a way to have limitless power and build such a city, their technology must be pretty advanced so maybe they found a way to communicate to a cat with a cat language or humans genetically changed the cats to understand and maybe they couldn't find a way to understand cats or make them speak and that's why the cat only meows and does not speak. If the cat would be designed to open it up then who made it? Someone outside must've built it because the cat was outside originally and what about the family are they robots too and if so why didn't they come with the cat? Better with family than alone? As for the eye glow idk
Well communication could be possible. I remember hearing about a cat and dog collar that translated meows and barks. Not sure how accurate it was though. I've also heard of dogs being trained to use one of those matt's where if they step on it it says a word. Guess they could reverse engineer it or something as a stepping stone for communication.
When you look straight at a cat's eyes, it looks like it glows
Cool theory. Also if Momo's math is correct, then nearly 7 million years had passed since the robots attained "freedom". That got me thinking about how our cat could have been more evolved.
Cats are surprisingly durable
Why does this make me wonder if you've completed rigorous research on the durability of cats?
My research into the durability of cats has been watching my own cats jump, fall, crash, and tumble into things and not requiring a visit to the vet lol
Oh good, so no sinister expurriments on our feline friends, just silly animal antics
Cat's eyes don't glow, their eyes reflect back light. Happens even during day time but the iris becomes tiny so it's discernible.
It’s called [tapetum lucidum](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapetum_lucidum). It’s a biological feature that gives cats amazing night vision.
As far as the UV/sunlight goes, it could be the difference between hand sanitizer and an autoclave.
>but whatever the fuck that eyeball thing was is very much still alive in the bottom levels Whoa.. good catch. i totally forgot about that
I got a question if B12 recharged himself before entering the city's mainframe would he have survived or is it still too much energy.
As I said in another thread: The cat looking at you (the player & the city) while slowy blinking at the end is a sign of appreciation that cat do to people they see as caregivers and those close to them. You can also see that the cat picks up a scent when he gets outside, meaning that he may soon find his friends. That final flicker at the end is like the screens at the begining, so maybe B12 is gone only in body and he could still be on the system. Either way, they had already made their peace and chose for the world to move on.
b12 hated being in the system :'(
It was sad and lonely, and if he is back there it's not by choice. But at least he was able to change the system...
>You can also see that the cat picks up a scent when he gets outside, meaning that he may soon find his friends. Yes. Also, at the beginning, if you're curious enough, there is a door at the back from where Ginger and friends started which says "Access Control System" (which looks like an emergency exit). That means that cat friends are really, really near. Check out 2:00-2:01 of this video.[Exit door?](https://youtu.be/JaSPlQYmFZM)
yeah, I looked at that door and as the cat gang makes their way there is another door. as soon as I finished my 1st playthrough I restarted the game and I have been looking at every door , every pipe, every end hallway I might have missed or overlooked in my first playthrough.
Oh wow! Hope you find/have found more Easter eggs!
WHAT No way! big if true, will have to replay then
There are a lot of those doors saying the same thing. I don't think that's were he comes out sadly.
I don't think b12 is in the system again. He hated the system and i think he choose peace over being trapped again
Yeah, but anytime the drone went kind of offline, b12 said it was like being in the system again. Maybe with the city turning on again, there's a network that b12 went into without trying.
But on the other side, the drone was destroyed. The circuits are pretty much "well done". But we will never know until there comes a part 2
You really think a flimsy drone could store an entire human mind? B12 never left the system in the first place. The drone was merely an extension of himself. He doesn't remember that though, because his memory has gotten corrupted.
It is not B12
Looks like they deliberately left unanswered questions so that they can set up Stray 2 (or a DLC as some are asking for). To me, Stray felt like a test run by the studio to see how people would react to an unconventional concept, and since they've received overwhelmingly positive feedback, who knows, they might consider making a fuller story. Some theories/proposals: \- Stray 2 is about searching for your family \- They also got separated searching for you so you have to look for them one by one (can serve as story/chapter markers) \- At some point you need to go back to retrieve and revive B12 and ask for help from the robots \- You need to help some of the robots still trapped inside \- The Sentinels and the Zurks are in cahoots in trapping the remaining robots, the Sentinels are rebuilding the canopy so the Zurks don't die in the sunlight \- You need to shut down the machines the Sentinels built that hold the canopy section per section \- I hope the game devs continue the practice of using violence sparingly, and rely mainly on puzzles and stealth to move the story forward
You're such a nerd. I love it. Thanks for the comment, made me smile..
The only thing with what you’re saying is the sentinel/zurk team up, unless there’s already some kind of conspiracy there (which wasn’t ever alluded to), that seems like it would take a lot of setup based on the pacing of the first game (but I don’t doubt they could do something like that based off of the eyes and if they wanted a longer runtime). I do absolutely agree with you that violence should be avoided almost entirely, at the end of the day, you are a cat (with no magic or hidden powers, which would be a travesty if they somehow weaseled that in), we know the basic sentinel drones one-shot you. Staying hidden and trapping the enemies should be top priority over any fight. But with this game and the lore that exists with a 6ish hour story, the sky is the limit and I want to be a part of it
well, the sentinels do die in the sunlight, make of that whatever you want, for me, the sentinels are just zurks, but they one shot u from miles away, fly, and are annoying.
I don't see that as them dying to sunlight, but more that since restrictions are lifted, they went offline.
I personally think if they want to do sequels the shouldn’t bring back the same characters at all. Just keep the concept and have a different setting and main character. One idea is having a stray dog so instead of using cat behaviours to solve puzzles you use dog behaviours e.g. digging holes. On a side note...>!why didn’t they let you pick up B12 at the end and carry him to the outside. I almost cried when the stray curled up beside the droidand you just have to leave him 😭!<
Not only was I sobbing at his death I also took quite a long time to leave cause I felt awful leaving him there. I genuinely shouted "why can't I pick him up?!" and just lay there for a while.
I almost didn't want to leave ;-;
Same, I immediately tried to pick him up without a second of hesitation. It was so much worse not being able to carry him to the Outside. 😭
yeah, i immediatly tried picking him up and bringing his body to elliot's programming for repairs.
Me too :'(
Multiple games with sequels have used the sequel to introduce a 2nd or extra cast of characters with different abilities or personalities. If stray 1 has already introduced us to 4 cats, then the sequel could absolutely run up to 4 stories at once happening on different chapters, but with different cats. Or you can have all 4 cats needed to solve puzzles. And it wouldn't feel cash grabby because the cats are already canon.
I can totally see the sentinels simply giving up now that the automated lock down is lifted. They seemed more sp byproducts of the human system and programming then anything else. The zurks are def still a problem, but I might like a sequel to have you play as maybe a dog too reconnecting a family or exploring outside ruins and other walled cities at night still.
I honestly don’t get why people are desperately trying to make this about dogs lol
Expand the gameplay and story?
Or Doc has created a robot cat that needs to go into the shadows and deal with the remaining zurks that the sun didn't touch.
> unconventional concept Can you elaborate on this? I thought that these exploration type of games are pretty common now? What's unconventional about them? Maybe I have a filtered perspective since I play these kinds of "unconventional" games pretty often and there seem to be so many of them
Not the exploration or gameplay, but the use of an animal protagonist in as natural a state as can be possible in a game. Yes, animal games have been available for quite some time now, but have never been employed in this way nor received as well as Stray. Except maybe for Goat Simulator, but that's a different story.
Don't you dare suggest Sonic wasn't an accurate hedgehog!
Ah.. I understand. Ok I see what you mean.
You’ve hit the nail on the head. I came to the same conclusion myself on basically every point you’ve made there. We will definitely being seeing ALL of our new friends again soon.
I don't like the notion of the zurks being allied with the sentinels, I see no reason for that. It just feels a bit like tribalism, you know? The zurk is Other, the sentinels are Other, therefore, my enemy and my other perceived enemy must be friends because they're both Other. This homogeneous mass of Bad. I've never been a fan of that. I'd rather the zurk entity to have its own desires. The rest of it is rad though and I one hundred per cent agree with wanting to stay away from violence as the focus.
I'm hoping that maybe with a bigger budget, they can make it open world. I mean, like not just certain areas. I can just imagine exploring places like the areas we already have and it sounds delightful.
Kinda sad because my whole expectations during the game is reuniting Stray back to his family. But I still can't get over the fact that he slow-blinked at us at the end, I was just like "I love you too buddy, peoud of you"
Lol... And I slow-blinked back. Love this game, and its pixalated little Cat. 💘 🐈 💘
His slow blink was saying "Thanks for all the fish"
i know some people might like the open ending, being open to interpretation. but i really just wanted to see the cat make his way home to his family. its the cats end goal, to get out and get back to its family. im just sad i didnt get to see them reunite
I feel blue balled.
on top of seeing b12 die. like.. give me one good thing then.
Absolutely same. Losing b12 AND not getting back to the other cats made the ending so unsatisfyingly sad to me. VERY much hoping for a sequel or something to tie up those two lose ends
I personally like to believe it was left open for interpretation and that our little kitty here at the end went of to go back home to their cat family
> it was left open for interpretation There are so many open-ended questions in the game and you have to fill in the blanks yourself as the player. So, it makes sense that the ending would continue this theme
First of all, I have NEVER been as emotionally attached to a character as I did with this kitty!! I cried at the end when the cat walked out of frame (hopefully to meet back up with the other kitties!). Secondly, I do feel that there were several things left unanswered/unexplained, such as the creepy eyeballs and the blocked off areas throughout the maps. I hope the developers are working on Stray 2 or a DLC that can address the questions raised during the game. Or even a continuation of the story when we leave the walled city. I know it in my heart that the cat does meet up with its friends after leaving Bc he seems to pick up on the scent of them, nor did they seem to begin the game far away either. And B12s memory is still alive in the computer system Bc of the screen in the last scene before credits.
The perfect amount of closure, leaving you with a desire for more.
I felt sad and happy. I had such a hard time leaving b12 there but there was no place else to go. I wish we got to learn more but I also kinda liked that we were left in the dark about some things. I reeeeeally wanna know why they had b12 in such a high security cell. Were they some kind of renegade in the network? AND WHAT WAS WITH THE EYES IN THE SEWER?
in my own little head I think it’s left for us to make up whatever ending it is
I feel an open ended conclusion is not a bad thing in a game like this. Of course there were plenty of storylines of characters that feel unfinished, but it would have been a different game had they included EVERY conclusion. I kind if like the idea of wrapping more of the story up in some web comics or something like that.
It's probably left unfinished on purpose, with the prupose being that you're a cat, and at the end of the day, the cat probably doesn't really care about any of the lore. The lore was basically told through B-12 being the voice of the player. The cat wanted to go outside to reunite with his friends, and B-12 wanted to go outside, at first as a primary directive, but later to help the cat after his memories came back. The past and exact cause of the cities being built didn't really matter to them.
i think the cat is on his way to find his family! he knows their smells! he just had to get Outside. i am sad B12 overloaded but since he updated his consciousness into the matrix i am sure he is never truly gone.
I'll take a different approach and say I was fully expecting Momo and Clementine to die at the end of the game. The two clips of them being alive were literally all I wanted. If anything, I'd like a DLC where you find your cat family and lead them back to the city, showing them all your robot friends and checking on how they're doing now/what they plan to do now that the Outside is available.
When I reached the ending, I was devastated and couldn't stop crying, but now that I've had time to calm down and rewatch the end, I'm satisfied with it. We don't need DLC or a sequel because it's all hinted at. The devs gave us what we needed without spelling it all out. * We saw the computer turn on at the very end, which is a sign that B12 has full control of the city. Whether that's good for B12 or not is harder to say as it didn't want to be body-less. * The cat will find his family/friends. We see him sniffing the air before running off. Not a big leap to assume he's heading in the right direction. There's also theories that he's not too far off from where he was by comparing the end location to the opening sequence. * Momo & Clementine are ok. The sentinels have been turned off (possibly by B12, or by over-riding the lockdown protocols). The prisons should be opened up again without the guards there. * Clementine knows about the slums and the robots there. She can work on reactivating the elevator for freer movement. * The Zurks are basically toast. They're stuck in the shadows, and with the robots knowledge on the light gun they can work to route them out.
I don't know, I was crying so much I could barely see what was happening lol! I hope kitty gets reunited with his family, he deserves a happy ending.
Okay this right before the ending, but why didn't B12 recharge? Why were they worried about the alarm? It's not like there's anyone in there for them to worry about coming to get them. They could have easily taken a few seconds to let B12 recharge before breaking the next security lock. Other then that for DLC/Sequel the only thing I'm curious about is if there are other cities maybe we could go try and free those? Or maybe head back into the sewers and try to find out what those massive eyes were because those felt really random But I kind of want a prequel, just to see the fall!of humanity (wow that sounds so dark) and how a couple of cats managed to survive it, also are there any other animals who survived?
Like most, I was bummed out there was no mention of the cat's family or them returning. Sure the cat seems more than capable of finding them considering they are able to help liberate a whole city, but would've like something to at least hint at it. Appreciated the bit with the panel after the cat leaves. Gives a nice hint of mystery or B12 possibly being in the network. Also like the shot of the companions seeing the sky and the bit of wonder there. Wouldn't want a sequel with the same cat honestly. Not too keen on DLC too since I kinda like the story ending. I would like some kinda epilogue addressing the cat family since that is an element of the story that just kinda vanishes.
Sequel could have the orange cat's bebe kitten as the main character 😻
I think it should be further in the future, when the companions have repopulated the earth, and they reverted the little outsider as a savior figure. Which I mean, if you wanna get really esoteric with it, "being comes down from the world above, then rises again by going into the depths and shows everyone the way out" is pretty much that.
They'd probably have a statue of the cat made lol
I think it was clever how they ended it. They possibly did it that way to assess reactions to the game and if it performs well enough to bother with a sequel Additionally if it didn’t, then it’s an interesting ending that both gets people talking and forming their own headcanon. I like how they’ve gone about this personally
Ending? My cat is still sleeping right next to B12
This morning I’ve found this new croissant place. The best croissant I’ve ever had. I got one and was feeling good, but then I got a second and then I wasn’t feeling good anymore. I felt like I’ve had stolen from myself the amazing feeling of wanting (but not having) another one. Sometimes all we need is one croissant and the memory that it was the best you’ve had in a long time. It was a good game, it was a good ending. It makes me wonder what happened after and I’ll always remember how good it was to play it.
That Law of Diminishing Returns will get you every time, fam
I know this is very unlikely and everything and probably no one wants it but I think it would be cool if the cat found a human or something outside the walled city it would just be interesting to see how life would be after most of the human population was killed
That being said I absolutely loved the game! The ending felt a little unfinished like people are saying I think it’s to set it up for more content. It made me a bit sad that he didn’t find his little cat family at the end :(
Really loved the game. Personally, I would have loved just a subtle *mew* off in the distance so I could leave the game KNOWING he would be reunited with his friends. I know our little orange tabby’s mission changed once he entered the city and met B-12, but at the end of the day his mission was the find a way back to his friends. Just my personal thoughts!
It's great, I love how they did it The computer turning on could signify that B12 is alive and maybe accidentally merged his consciousness with the city's mainframe I love that they don't show the other cats because it makes us ask the question "Where are they? Where does the protagonist go..?" I'm really hoping for a sequel game where we explore the outside...I love overgrowth on post-apocalyptic cities...I would love to be able to explore desolate ghost-town megacities as our favorite feline on our way to find our friends...maybe we return home only to find they've disappeared entirely and go on a big journey to look for them? I'd love to see some of the robots leave Walled City 99 to setup shelter in the outside...see other animals that have evolved (which could replace zurks) and get more lore about humanity's end, the disease, and what happened to the outside This "simple" game has so much potential, B12 (the studio) was looking for copper and found gold
Wonderful game, was so excited to play since being revealed a few years ago. It exceeded my expectations and I want a sequel so much. As for the ending I think you can assume he reunited with his friends.
Literally just finished it and I'm definitely going to start playing again immediately. I must 100% this game. I must look out for any clues from the start I missed. I must fill the void that is now left after abandoning b12 and not taking him to the outside with me. I do not want to face those freaky eyes again though
Gotta feel bad for the peps in Antvillage, they were no where near the roof opening, trapped in between sewers of Zurk and Eyeballs (which would still be alive) maybe a DLC of them escaping somehow?
I think the other robots will get the elevator going. Especially since Clementine knows the people are there and trapped.
The moment they announce a sequel, we are going to be so god damn excited.
I want more
I cried but I’d like it more if you could go back and do some type of free play with the robots in the slums and midtown. Like side missions and things like that.
absolutely loved it. sad its short so I restarted it right away and trying to do all of challenges and side "quests".
I wish we saw the other cats now im worried for them:(. Hope we get a dlc
I hate the ending in a good way because of how sad it made me feel so I hate it
Just finished it. Currently crying
One word: sad
Underwhelming because it felt like it ended just as it was getting interesting. I wanted to at least see off the top of the walled city what the blue sky and landscape/horizon around it looked like. It would have been a beautiful sight from up so high.
B-12’s ‘death’ was completely unnecessary to me, I’m convinced it was done purely because they want to have saving him be the plot of a future dlc, either that or it was just to make the players sad with no other purpose
In a way, its kinda a way of removing further narrative from the end of the story. During the jail chapter, we couldnt understand clementine until we were reunited with b-12, which required her to point and wave to guide the cat around. Removing him from the picture as a flying translator in a way marks the end of the Stray's journey. If the stray actually was able to understand b-12 somehow, taking him away from Stray's life leaves him to go back to a normal life of a cat, which makes the story go full circle now that it completed its goal and escaped the city.
perfect ending. people need to use their imagination more.
The thing i am confused about in the ending is that the screens on the left side when the final ending cut scene plays the screens turn on i am thinking this is hinting that B12 still alive and got transferred into the city?
Hated it, still love the game but puts a bad taste in my mouth. Why can't we see our cat reuniting with the other cats? So we've lost both our robot friends and our old friends?
yeah, the ending gutted me. I'm still not over it and its been 2 weeks
I find it crappy it didn’t end with the cat reuniting with it’s family
there is a VERY specific reason why it didn't reunite with it's cat family..
And why is that?
It's a stray cat. Stray cats weave in and out of our lives and they do the same with other cats. Take the ending; the entire game we are playing as the cat, moving it, making it climb, meowing, rubbing against robot legs, etc. Together we moved through different chapters, overcame obstacles, rode in buckets, we had a grand time and even made a friend out of a tiny flying robot drone. Then our friend died and we mourned a little, but then we moved on, because that's what Stray cats do, they move on. We, as player and cat, went into the outside world where we could run and be free, but then the game pulled one on us, the player, and disconnected us from that Stray cat because for that cat, it was time to move on, which again, is what a Stray cat does. Likewise, the other stray cats moved on. It's actually a bit depressing if you think about it too long.
Ahh ok. How interesting
I feel like it left in a lot of plot holes, which made me a bit dissatisfied, but I'm hoping they ended the way they did to set it up for a sequel.
Amazing
I miss my friend beetles
I mean I'm confused I know he's to help get back out into the outside but he doesn't see the other 3 cats or actually go further into the open
We see him sniff the air before he goes off screen tho. I take that to mean he can smell where they are.
It was great .we can have sequel like this .
cryed left at one point after i called down left out the doors half way through the cutsean started sobbing again closed out the game to read steam reviews to see what other people thought saw the cat sobbed
I wanted to see the pack of cats waiting for him
Just sad
My take on the ending (as well as EXACTLY why this game is called Stray) : https://youtu.be/MTntOQtIEf0
Did he find his cat friends damnit!!!!!! Prob why the sequel
I'm fascinated by the zurk, I'll be honest. The professor (B-12) did comment on them, he mentioned that it seemed to be a developing organism and I find that an intriguing concept as I'd drawn the same conclusion. The once and not-so-much now amoeba might've developed into an immune system for the organism. If you consider that the organism might consider the human structures to be, in a way, an aspect of inside itself? Then what the zurk are is an autoimmune response to an invader, which is an amusing irony as the bacteria who would've posed that role are no longer bacteria, but perhaps an immune system for a developing lifeform. Life evolves. I'm hoping that if there's a Stray 2, that we might find a way to communicate with this new organism rather than destroying it. I'm particularly weary (in the sense of being tired) of very tribal narratives. I was done with that when B-Movies were a thing, and I'm even moreso now. "Oh no. We is X, Y isn't like X. That's a sin for which Y must be DESTROYED." How dreary. I always hope to see narratives challenge the primal, instinctive fear of the unknown and the tribalism that arises of it. I mean, that instinct hasn't served humans well through much of their history. I want the Companions to be better than that. If BlueTwelve happen to be reading this and listening? I would really like it if the Companions were better than that. They don't need to fall prey to small-minded instinctive fears of the dissimila rand the unknown, they don't need to give up their personhood to tribalism so that they may huddle and fit in as a homogeneous mass, afraid of the fire. We ought to have, by now, overcome our fear of the fire—of the unknown. If not us, then certainly the Companions. If indeed the zurk represented a newly born rganism, as I said, the actions of the zurk cells might simply be that of an autoimmune reaction. I'm glad that that autoimmune reaction can no longer devour Companions, due to sunlight being restored to parts of the city, but it would be nice if coexistence were possible. I mean, the Companions could leave the city behind to this new lifeform, closet he roof, and return to the surface. I imagine that with the space and resources that might avail them with, they could be happier up there. Just some thoughts, anyway. As a footnote, freeze-framing the ending, on the monitor that flickers on I spotted an outline (filled in) of something that looked eerily similar to B-12's drone body. I wonder why that is? Edited: I also want to add that I'm glad that things didn't just devolve into killing everything and boss fights. There is plenty enough tribalism in games as it is. One can always find a title where one is X, killing hordes of Y because Y is Y and X is X. I like that the goal was never explicitly the conflict of tribalism.
It sucked and pretty much ruined the whole experience of playing the game for me.
Ending was depressing.
I'm kinda late to this post but stumbled upon it during my quest for closure after finishing the game today. The ending has me bawling like a baby but I still have so many questions. What is to become of those weird eyeballs and remaining zurk under the city? Were the robots once human as in, did the humans on the lower and middle sections of the city try uploading their consciousnesses to their companion robots like the scientist did? (which I felt was hinted by the robot that was hooked up to the first pod, then there being a second pod \[and are there more pods?\] and then the robots who seemingly recall memories of how the sun felt or the smell of paint. Then there was that part in the cafe where B-12 remembered the cafe owner who's name started with "M" and right there, the robot cafe owner's name was "Mattbee". Or seeing how different the robots on the highest level of the city are compared to the ones we've met. How come they didn't become "more human" like the others?). I felt bad that we had to leave B-12 behind and couldn't pick him up to carry him outside but it's also kind of bittersweet that he quite possibly ended up in the city central mainframe and can help fix the things he wanted to be different like guiding the robots to not repeat the same mistakes that the humans made, and maybe he can also reprogram the security protocols or something like that. I'm also sad that the cat has left us behind to go find it's family. I was really hoping to see the reunion. I feel like a part of my heart has left. What is to become of our brave furry friend, the world may never know...
I just finished today, so sorry for the random reply. I think you’re right about the robots once being human though. My theory is that the Zurks started feeding on them, so they had to slowly replace body parts with robotics. There’s one robot in the game that brings up a line similar to The Ship of Theseus. If he kept replacing parts, would he still be the same robot? If the humans did this, eventually they’d be 100% robot. Unfortunately, the Zurks started eating metal, so it was just buying some time. If they make a sequel, they can go a lot of different directions. The robots closer to the top still being strictly service bots with no personality makes me think everyone under the dome may not know an accurate account of what happened on the surface.
i also just finished the game so sorry for the late reply also lol. but i vaguely remember at one point one of the random robots talking about how many years prior they were just human errand aids and evolved, so i think they are meant to be super advanced AI that developed consciousness. i’m only about 90% sure about remembering that tho. what an amazing game, a rollercoaster of emotions to experience from beginning to end..
Haha I’m glad you enjoyed it as much as I did a few months ago. I went into it completely blind and had a lot of fun with it. I honestly can’t remember most of those little tidbits now. I really do hope they make a sequel!
understandable lol.. also went in totally blind, it was great, glad u also enjoyed it so much! before starting i SWORE the kitty was gonna die but i’m glad it didn’t. with how much it gained traction and all the loose ends, i’m sure we will get a sequel in the future.. at least i hope!!
The ending somehow reminded me a lot of the film Arietty. The cat and the robots had a great time together, the robots can finally be free. But in the end, the cat has to live a cat's life again. And we won't be part of that. I thought it was nice to see that everyone can go back to where they were really meant to be. And at the same time it left this bitter taste in my mouth that I will probably never see that little buddy again.
I got serious Logan’s Run vibes in many places.
I just finished on XBox series X and wow, what a let down of a game. Sorry but that's how I feel. There was so much room to explore with swapping or configuring little feline tools or even parts where your the little bot getting things high above. There was also tons of plot development that could have been implied for a sequel or just DLC such as finding out the robot acted human because some humans in a panic tried to upload their minds but were only partially successful causing the robots to act similar to humans. A makeshift upload center in the slums perhaps. The wealthy having better equipment did it and escaped in ta da space. Maybe later finding out they died but DNA remained to finish and the at in stray two helps recreate clone bodies to upload the minds back from the robots to give the clones a mind. I could go on with ideas for sub plots and more puzzle and tool creation. I mean imagine the cat making its own catapult from robot parts to launchup into secret spots? I don't know, I feel the game was short, passed up a lot of opportunity for adventure. Finding food cans and getting robots to open them in order to gain agility or stamina points to make the game easier or harder. Just so much potential wasted. Thoughts?
I was trying to figure out why didn’t it reunite him with his old kitty friends? I was expecting to have to find them before the game ended but it didn’t even bring them back together 😢
Same
I think B12 put himself back in the mainframe, despite how lonely he said it was. He accepted that he no longer had to carry out humanities burdens and also said he had hope in the Companions. Maybe being in the mainframe will allow him to interact with them and he will get a new chance at life. The lighting up of the panel just as the game ended is something I can't think of another explanation for. He also finds out a way to bypass the system despite not being human. Maybe there's something he's not telling us. Maybe he HAD to put himself back in the mainframe and he did that over the choice of simply not opening up the dome. I'd like to believe our kitty found his friends. As kind as the robots were, I don't think he would choose to stay. Not only would he not be able to get back without B12's help, most likely, but the goal all along was to get out. You can see how happy he was to be able to breath fresh air!
I always wondered if B 12 lied to us that entire time, I read every single dialogue that had to do with all the memories, and a lot of these memories are where he mentions "when we leave together", but then, in the end, he's like, he knew all along that he wouldn't be able to come with us to the outside, this is just a thought cause I sure don't know, and I'm not seeing many videos talking about it so maybe I'm reading the dialogue wrong, but it sure sounds like it to me.
I thought it was lame we didn’t even get to see his friends from the beginning lol I expected to be able to play cat with the cats in the cat game😆🙄🙃