Stray gamers on PC are currently living the dream with mods that allow them to trade their own cats in the game.
The furry protagonist of the game is an orange tabby whose antics have mesmerized cats all over the world. He is partially based on Murtaugh, the cat whose human is one of the co-founders of developer Blue Twelve. You can read more about him and the other feline inspiration on the website. PlayStation blog (opens in new tab).
But the choice to limit players to the nameless ginger rather than clearing the ground for character creation is deliberate. Which you can now completely disregard if you’re on PC. There are a number of feline variants in Nexus Modes (opens in new tab) this will allow you to find the closest match to your own moggy. Then you can get into your adorable beans and take them on an adventure. This one Twitter Thread (opens in new tab) gathered a bunch to give you an idea of what’s available:
stray modders making playable cat look like their cat > pic.twitter.com/2Vu7sfhA6cJuly 24, 2022
How to change cat color in Stray
modder Sirgalahad1972 (opens in new tab) is doing a lot of heavy lifting with these Stray mods. Just on the mods page you will find some different black and white cats, a Siamese cat, a brown cat and a red cat to name a few. They even have some accessories if you feel like your Stray needs a statement piece. There are glasses, an eye patch and a newsboy cap to choose from.
If you’re in the market for something a little different, there’s a Garfield Mode (opens in new tab)and this absolutely terrifying GTA: San Andreas CJ mode that words cannot adequately describe.
Once you find a clone of your cat on the website, follow the instructions on the mods page to change it.
Why Stray doesn’t let you change the cat’s color
Talking to kotaku (opens in new tab), Stray producer Swann Martin-Raget said the cat customization conversation was a “heated debate”. But at the end of the day, it all came down to what the studio was capable of and the narrative of the game itself.
“We are a small team, and in terms of production, it was quite difficult to have something that was really at the level of quality that we wanted. But also… the story is very important to us, and this character – it’s really his story. we wanted him to be recognizable and unique in the game.”
PS4 and PS5 gamers will be stuck experiencing the game as expected. Although on the positive side, they can play Stray for free. But if you’re on PC, feel free to put Mr. Bigglesworth the Second in the game and see if he recognizes himself on the big screen.