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PC players are lapping up cat adventure Stray on Steam, despite being free on PlayStation right nowThe game that got the cream
The game that got the cream
Image credit:Annapurna Interactive
Image credit:Annapurna Interactive
Never underestimate the innate cuteness of cats. It’s a phenomenon that’s served the Internet, Ancient Egyptian civilisation and Andrew Lloyd-Webber well. Now it’s the turn of Annapurna Interactive, publishers of miaow ‘em upStray, who have seen the highest concurrent player counts on Steam for any of their games released to date. That’s despite the game being free to PlayStation owners right now, if you sign up for their newly added seven-day free trial of theirPlayStation Plus Extra subscription. Watch the trailer below to get a dose of cuteness for yourself.
Stray Lets You Control A Very Realistic Cat | My Fav Thing In… (Stray Review)We discussed our favourite thing about Stray in the video above.Watch on YouTube
Stray Lets You Control A Very Realistic Cat | My Fav Thing In… (Stray Review)
Following Stray’s launch on the 19th, it peaked at a concurrent player count of 62,963 according toSteamDB. They aren’t the huge figures seen for 2022’s other smash games such asElden Ring,V RisingorLost Ark, but Annapurna’s other games haven’t garnered that many players on launch before. As industry pundit BenjiSalestweeted, this June’s excellent speedrunning card-shooterNeon Whitegarnered a peak player count of 3,277, while 2019’s space time-loop adventureOuter Wildssaw just 7,936 at its peak.
There’s obviously an element of cuteness to Stray that’s appealing to a wider audience than many of Annapurna Interactive’s other games. The publisher is enjoying the moment though, having renamed themselves ‘Annapurrna Intercative’ on social media. It’s not just humans enjoying Stray either – their cats do too, asGraham pointed outafter the game launched earlier this week.
One of RPS’s many cat owners, Katharine awarded the moggy sim a Bestest Bests in herStray review. “Stray is still a remarkable action adventure game in its own right, and whose naturalistic approach to 3D platforming is among the best I’ve seen,” she said. “It proves we don’t need condescending slathers of paint to point us in the right direction anymore, and that there are better, more immersive ways of traversing dense and detailed play environments.”
Stray is onSteamfor £24/$30/€27. It’s exclusive to PlayStation on console though. Cats are fickle, eh?
