A few months ago, game publisher Annapurna Interactive announced the July release of Stray, an interactive video game where the player walks in the shoes of a stray cat trying to find his way in a futuristic robot city.
The highly-anticipated game was finally released on July 19th to immediate success. Now Stray is taking over social media and pet owners are posting videos of their cats watching and reacting to the game.
Prior to the launch, when Annapurna gave the public a preview of its new project, Stray, the audience had an enthusiastic response. Many loved the game’s unique synopsis and lauded the realism of the scenes.
After finally getting their hands on the product, it appears this enthusiasm has not waned. On the contrary, the title has caught the hearts and imaginations of even the most jaded players.
Stray takes over social media
The game is officially one of the studio’s biggest launches and gamers are extending the experience to their feline companions.
Following the release of the game a Twitter account named @CatsWatchStray was set up with a dedicated hashtag. As its designation indicates, this account features posts of felines watching the video game.
Three days after its creation, the Twitter page counts over fifteen thousand followers and hundreds of retweets.
The craze has quickly reached Tiktok, where players post videos of their cat’s interaction with Annapurna’s project. The hashtag #straygame on TikTok has accumulated over thirty million views in two days.
The unique game features an option where the player can press a button to make the cat “meow”, this option seems to confuse the felines watching the game.
A TikTok video titled “Just our former stray remembering what life used to be” shows a black and white kitten really absorbed in the scenes on the screen.
At some point, the animal jumps toward the TV, trying to join the CGI cats he sees playing.
Another upload shows a black cat being unfazed by his owner playing the game at first. But when the video character lets out a realistic meow, the black feline becomes intrigued.
Some players have found a clever way to poke fun at their furry friends with the Stray meowing feature. For example, on Twitter, user @rbininger wrote the following comment about his pet’s late-night meowing.
Stray is available on PC and PlayStation. The hit game is a project from French developer BlueTwelve Studio, published under Annapurna Interactive. Â According, to Tech Radar, the prospect of an Xbox release is likely.