Stray is a newly-released adventure-platformer cyberpunk game in which players control a stray cat in a futuristic city solely occupied by robots and giant flea-like creatures. After an emotional beginning, the lost kitty's sole goal is to reunite with its family. With a dedicated meow button and wholesome interactions with NPCs, Stray has many hidden details for eagle-eyed players to fall in love with.
Easter eggs and hidden details are prominent features within exploration games like Stray. Having only been released on the 19th of July on Steam, PS4, and PS5, players are already unearthing Easter eggs and pop-culture references in Stray's expansive neon-plastered environments.
11 Always Watching
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The cameras in Stray are constantly following the player's feline friend, no matter where they go. There are audio cues that signal the cameras swiveling to re-focus on the cat's movements.
Players meow at these cameras in outrage and will be greeted by these cameras responding and nodding back in understanding.
10 Paper Bags
Littered among the garbage around the Slums are paper bags. Curious cats can press to interact, resulting in the bag getting stuck on their heads.
This results in discombobulated controls as the cat, naturally, cannot see where it is going. Doing this mindless act results in players earning the achievement “Curiosity Killed The Cat.” Luckily, in this case, it’s just a bit of harmless fun.
9 Curiosity Did Not Kill The Cat
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While exploring, players will often get the option to interact with different objects in the cyberpunk landscapes. This can sometimes be useless, like allowing the cat to scratch their claws. However, it can also yield helpful shortcuts to minimize travel time, like ripping a curtain down to reveal a hidden window.
In one case, the cat can even try their paws at some DJing, scratching the discs, and creating some tunes.
8 Cats Are Agents of Chaos
Environmental interactivity is one of the main selling points of Stray. Players can drink water, scratch their claws, and do other regular kitty-cat things like nuzzling NPCs. Very wholesome, but players can also be destructive.
Players can push over cans of paint and decorate the floors blue, smash pots, and even become a keyboard kitty-cat warrior and spam to their heart’s content.
7 Vending Machines
Dotted around the Slums are several vending machines. Interacting with these machines grants players a can of energy drink. Not for cat consumption, of course.
These are currency and can be sold to NPC-merchant Azooz in the Slums marketplace, in exchange for a piece of sheet music and a memory for B-12 to absorb.
6 Valve Games
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There are several references to games published by Valve, including Team Fortress 2 and Half-Life. For starters, each chapter has a similar naming convention to Half-Life. The cities in Stray often have their name, followed by a number, which is the same in Half-Life with City 17. The Zurks, the giant flea-like enemies in Stray, also appear to have visual similarities with Head Crabs from Half-Life.
There also appears to be a mural for the Medic in an abandoned flat, where one of the Outsider notebooks can be found to further progress with the game’s plot. A nice homage to Team Fortress 2.
5 Back To The Future - Doc
As players meet Doc in the Dead End chapter, they can immediately see how his character design is a slight nod to Doctor Emmet Power in Back To The Future. He has similar wild white hair and a long white lab coat.
The Doc in Stray even has a couple of pieces of dialogue similar to famous lines in Back To The Future, like mentioning the Defluxer needs 1.12 gigawatts of power to function. This hints at the scene where Emmet Power discusses the Delorean time-traveling car and how much electricity it needed.
4 The Simpsons - Dufer Bar
Inside the Slums is a pub called Dufer Bar, which is a subtle reference to The Simpsons. Duff Beer is the most recognizable made-up beer brand from the long-running animated series.
Dufer Bar also has a similar layout to Moe’s Tavern, Homer’s favorite hangout spot in the series.
3 Gravity Falls - Pawprint Journal
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In Doc’s library/apartment in the Slums, there is a small reference to the popular animated TV show Gravity Falls.
Players can navigate their way around the book-strewn apartment to discover a red leather-bound book embossed with a paw print. This is a nod to the journals from the Gravity Falls, which typically had a hand print on the front cover.
2 Stranger Things - Flickering Lights
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This may be a slight leap, but the guiding lights in Stray could be a slight reference to Stranger Things. In the Dead City chapter, players make their way toward B-12. If they get stuck, they can meow, and the lights will flash orange, guiding players to their next destination or objective.
This links to how Joyce, played by Winona Ryder, used Christmas lights to communicate with her son Will, who was trapped in the Upside Down.
1 Skyrim References - A Screwdriver To The Knee
There appear to be two obvious Skyrim references in Stray. The first is in the Antvillage, where two robots are rummaging through trash piles. A robot NPC named Jenkins says, “Some may call this junk, Me, I call them treasures.” This line is a clear reference to multiple merchants in Skyrim, as they speak this exact line when players interact with them to trade wares.
Of course, this section would not be complete without an arrow to the knee; the most meme-able line in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. When the stray cat arrives in Midtown, they discover a reminiscing robot called Sojiro, talking about how he used to own the coziest bar in town. That was until he took a screwdriver to the knee, and it closed down. Poor Sojiro.
Stray is available now on PS4, PS5, and PC.