![]() ![]() Whatever operating system governs their thoughts, their moods stream, in pixelated form, across the glass: smiles, frowns, hearts, musical notes, etc. They are androids, roughly human-shaped, with computer monitors for heads. Those for whom these streets were intended-or, at least, those who live there-are an odd and beeping bunch. This strikes me as morally right, seen as most places-boxes, bookshelves, houses, towns-are designed without cats expressly in mind but nonetheless come to house them. (The place is based on the Kowloon Walled City, an ungoverned enclave in British Hong Kong, which looked like a set from Blade Runner, and was demolished in 1993 to make way for a public park.) Apparently, the designers at BlueTwelve-blasphemous though this may seem-arrived at the setting before the cat was dragged in. Cobwebbed with wires and drizzled in sodium glare, the setting catches the eye-not just ours but our friend’s swivel the camera and watch his orbs blaze as they mirror the cold light. Fate strikes, we are separated from the pack, and we wind up below, in a knotted network of alleys. They are occupied chiefly by the essentials: batting at any ears that take their fancy, rubbing up alongside each other for good measure, and curling into a snooze atop a splayed cardboard box. Our hero is an orange tabby, who begins the adventure as part of a quartet. And the high-ups, it goes without saying, insisted on an open door policy. The real work was not done on laptops but on laps. Any humans who happened to be involved in the project were merely there for support-of both the moral and physical variety. However, I think we ought to prepare ourselves for the truth: that the developer, BlueTwelve Studio, may in fact be overseen by cats. ![]() Should a game about a cat not be made with as much consultation as humanly possible? But what are we to make of the directors, who are listed as “Koola & Viv”? Supposedly, they are a pair of former Ubisoft artists, who like to remain as anonymous as possible, omitting their surnames and slinking from public view. It seems only right that the credits of Stray are staffed by the likes of Babu, Bat, Lala, Poupi, and Newt. ![]()
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