strayed is a newly released adventure platformer cyberpunk game in which players control a stray cat in a futuristic city inhabited solely by robots and giant flea-like creatures. After an emotional start, the lost cat’s sole goal is to reunite with his family. With a special meow button and healthy interactions with NPCs, strayed has many hidden details for eagle-eyed players to fall in love with.
Easter eggs and hidden details are prominent features in exploration games like strayed. Since it wasn’t released until July 19 on Steam, PS4, and PS5, players are already digging up Easter eggs and pop culture references in Strays sprawling neon plastered environments.
11 Always watching
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The cameras in strayed constantly follow the player’s feline friend wherever they go. There are beeps indicating that the cameras are rotating to refocus on the cat’s movements.
Players meow indignantly at these cameras and are greeted by these cameras who respond in understanding and nod back.
10 Paper bags
Scattered among the garbage around the slums are paper bags. Curious cats can press each other to communicate, causing the bag to stick to their heads.
This results in confused checks because the cat obviously cannot see where it is going. By doing this mindless act, players earn the “Curiosity Killed The Cat” achievement. Fortunately, in this case, it’s just a little harmless fun.
9 Curiosity didn’t kill the cat
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While exploring, players are often given the opportunity to interact with various objects in the cyberpunk landscapes. This can sometimes be useless, such as letting the cat scratch their claws. However, it can also provide useful shortcuts to minimize travel time, such as tearing down a curtain to reveal a hidden window.
In one case, the cat might even try his hand at some DJing, scratching the discs, and making some tunes.
8 Cats are agents of chaos
Environmental interactivity is one of the key selling points of strayed. Players can drink water, scratch their claws and do other common feline things like sniff NPCs. Very healthy, but players can also be destructive.
Players can knock over cans of paint and decorate the floors blue, break pots and even become a keyboard cat warrior and spam to their heart’s content.
7 Vending machine
Several vending machines are scattered throughout the slums. By interacting with these machines, players get a can of energy drink. Not for cat consumption of course.
These are currency and can be sold to NPC trader Azooz in the Slums market, 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 like: half-life. into the cities strayed often have their name followed by a number, which is the same in half-life featuring City 17. The Zurks, the giant flea-like enemies in strayedalso seem to have visual similarities to 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 continue the plot of the game. A beautiful tribute to Team Fortress 2.
5 Back to the Future – Doc
When players meet Doc in the Dead End chapter, they can immediately see how his character design is a small 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 strayed even has a few bits of dialogue similar to famous lines in Back to the future, such as mentioning that the Defluxer requires 1.12 gigawatts of power to function. This refers to the scene where Emmet Power discusses Delorean’s time-traveling car and how much electricity he needed.
4 The Simpsons – Dufer Bar
Inside the Slums is a pub called Dufer Bar, 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 in the series.
3 Gravity Falls – Pawprint Journal
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In Doc’s library/apartment in the slums is a small reference to the popular animated TV show Gravity falls.
Players can make their way through the book-studded apartment to discover a red leather-bound book with an embossed paw print. This is a nod to the magazines of the Gravity fallswhich usually had a handprint on the front.
2 Strange Things – Flickering Lights
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This may be a small jump, but the guiding lights in strayed may be a small reference to Weird stuff. In the Dead City chapter, players head for B-12. If they get stuck, they can meow and the lights will flash orange to guide players to their next destination or goal.
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 Credentials – A Knee-Length Screwdriver
There seem to be two obvious Skyrim references in strayed. The first is in the slums, where two robots rummage through heaps of garbage. A robotic NPC named Jenkins says, “Some call these junk, me, I call them treasures.” This rule is a clear reference to multiple merchants in Skyrim as they speak this exact rule when players interact with them to trade commodities.
Of course, this section wouldn’t be complete without an arrow to the knee; the most memorable line in The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim. When the stray cat arrives in Midtown, they discover a remembering robot named Sojiro, who tells how he had the coziest bar in town. That was until he put a screwdriver on his knee and closed it. Poor Sojiro.
strayed is now available on PS4, PS5, and PC.
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