Right whenStraywas first revealed, it captured the heart of the gaming community. Between its lovable affectations of cuddling up to NPCs or its dedicated meow button to the grander scope of its cyberpunk ethos,Strayis one of the breakout indie games of 2022. Following BlueTwelve Studio’s debut game, hopes are now high that the developers will continue to bring similar results to future projects, with some even wondering if possible sequels or DLC forStraywill be on the table.
Though Stray is not a long game, it tells an intricate story with many hidden details. While players sleuth out some ofStray’smysteries, some loose ends have still been left unanswered or unresolved, adding to speculation about a sequel. One such mystery involves the humans that built the world thatStraytakes place in, and what ultimately happened to them to leave behind a race of robots fending off the encroaching, all-consuming threat of Zurk invasion. The vague references to a plague that supposedly wiped humanity out factors heavily intoStray’sstory, and the cause of this plague could be far darker than players realize, with clues to the truth hiding in plain sight.
RELATED:Why Stray is a Genius Game
What Happened To The Humans?
Through the pieced-together memories of B-12 and the various environmental storytelling and NPC interactions, players can uncover what happened to the humans who came before. Early on, it’s easy to believe that theZurks, an omnivorous invasive creature, were the cause of humanity’s disappearance. But it’s later revealed by B-12 that the Zurks came after the humans were gone, not before, and that the Zurks were actually just hyper-evolved man-made bacteria created to tackle the sealed city’s trash overflow. Though the Zurks are not directly responsible for humanity’s disappearance, they do provide the first clue to the truth: humans were meddling with science.
By the game’s end, it is revealed that the humans were actually killed off by a plague, which was confirmed byB-12 who is arguably the last surviving human. No name is ever given to the plague, nor are any symptoms listed, or a cause provided, and even when the credits begin to roll it remains just as undefined as it was when it was first mentioned. Through context clues, though, it can be inferred that the plague came after the city had been sealed, not before. This means that whatever this plague was, it had thrived within the sealed environment of the city and spread fast, with those in charge doing little to stop it.
What Caused Stray’s Plague?
Without knowing specifically what caused the plague or how it spread, there are other clues that are less directly pointed out to the player which could be easily overlooked. For instance, it’s explained that the city players navigate through was sealed off from the “Outside” due to the outside world being inhospitable to human life. B-12 very quickly glosses over this fact though, as they declare that it must be safe now since the cat has come from the Outside and is perfectly healthy. This, however, is the second clue that players might miss: there are no signs of life Outside beside the cats and some birds. More importantly, fans need to think about whya cat had been made the game’s protagonist.
The implication here is that there might actually be a darker connection between the cats' survival outside the city’s walls andthe death of humanity by plague.Combined with the earlier conclusion that mankind had been conducting genetic experiments and altering bacteria, it suddenly becomes a possibility that maybe humanity had been experimenting with more than just trash-eating microbes. For example, “T. gondii” is a parasite that causes toxoplasmosis and can infect warm-blooded animals, but more significantly it is known for its infectivity and reproduction among domesticated cats - which incidentally is the most common way it then infects humans.
The Cats Caused The Plague
Ultimately, by drawing together these points, it suggests that humanity’s scientific endeavors may have inadvertently caused their own demise. Arguably, the T. gondii parasite made more dangerous through experimentation got loose and migrated into domestic cats, and within the confines of the sealed city, it spread like wildfire among the populace. The domestic cat, with its clearly endearing charm evidenced bythe gaming community’s reaction toStray, coupled with humanity’s innate love of cats reflected in the robots, illustrates how easy it would have been for the rogue parasite to be transmitted as humans readily show affection to cats without a second thought.
Moreover, with no specific timeline on when the city was first sealed and why it happened, beyond B-12’s vague assertions ofthe Outside being close to apocalyptic, it might actually stand to reason that the city was sealed in response to the plague. By attempting to seal the cats outside the city limits within a hermetic dome, humanity could have been attempting to stave off the plague. This would even help to explain B-12’s comments on how indifferent and ineffective the humans were in handling the plague, as they were aware of the plague’s origins and wanted to keep quiet, and additionally realized that despite their efforts there was nothing more to be done as it surged.
RELATED:Stray: 5 Adorable Things The Cat Can Do
The Plague After Stray
With the humans assumed dead and the protagonist cat reentering the city, the only creatures encountered are birds, Zurks, and robots. The latter two, Zurks and robots, may be immune to parasitic infection, since Zurks were originally bacteria and may not be warm-blooded, while robots are inorganic, meaning they cannot be infected no matterhow often they pet the cat. Birds, however, may have only survived by luck, as their natural instinct to avoid predators like cats could mean they avoided infection by keeping their distance. With no other animals in-game, such as rats, raccoons, foxes, or dogs, it’s possible that these succumbed to the parasite just as humans had.
Though speculative, there are sufficient pieces laid out byStrayto make a strong case for a darker narrative hidden beneath the charming visuals and characters. For an indie game that took a novel direction in gameplay, it’s likely that BlueTwelve Studio kept the scope its story limited in order to ensure that the gaming experience was perfected. Following the game’s reception, the studio is now in a solid position to consider the game’s future, as it has harnessed a niche corner of the gaming scene with commendable results.PossibleStraysequels or DLCscould further explore the world made by BlueTwelve, possibly even exploring if the humans survived or where this plague came from.
Strayis available now on PC, PS4, and PS5.
