Stray (2022)
The story of Stray takes place in a post-apocalyptic setting and follows a nameless orange stray cat who falls into an underground walled city inhabited by robots. Accompanied by his drone friend B-12, the goal of the game is for the cat to return to the surface and open up the walls. But like in any other game, the feline and his companion run into quite a few obstacles. As the game progresses, the player learns that the robots share similar characteristics and organizational structures to the humans, who no longer exist, which creates problems along the way. As a matter of fact, these robots, also known as the Companions, were originally created by humans to fulfill simple tasks such as security, cleaning, and more. These tasks were carried out inside walled cities that were built to protect humans from the outside world which had become polluted and inhospitable over time due to radiation from nuclear attacks. Inside these cities, humans and robots lived in darkness and inequality, as the engineers and scientists living on top of the city controlled everything and dictated how others had to live, relegating many to lower and more compact slums. Overtime, due to the accumulating amount of waste created in these underground cities, new, smaller robots were created, capable of eating that waste product.
In the present day (of the game), many years after a plague erupted inside those cities and killed every human being, including the ones on top who had abandoned those living at the bottom, the have developed a personality and language of their own. Yet, their ways of living are similar to the humans, including living in houses, running their own shops, and even eating. However, some have not changed. The security robots, the Sentinels, that were created to prevent humans from leaving the walled cities still exist, prohibiting other robots from leaving. The latter have not seen the Sun in years, and have long forgotten about the outside world. As for the little waste eaters, the Zurk, they have evolved over time and learned how to eat robots themselves, making them a danger to everyone else. Then, you have the Outsiders, those who still remember the outside and wish to escape, making them the most-wanted criminals. Their only hope is this mysterious cat that appeared out of nowhere…
