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Stray modders are adding their real cats to the game, and Garfield

And dogs, and CJ from GTA San Andreas, and...

Sunny the cat as recreated in Stray's Calico Cat mod.
Alice O'Connor avatar
News by Alice O'Connor Former Associate Editor
Published on
22 comments

Less than a week after Stray launched, the smash-hit cyberpunk cat adventure has dozens of mods available with new looks for our little friend. My favourites are when modders make the game's cat look like their own real cat, and show me photos of that pretty cat. Then... you have some weirder options, like turning it into Garfield (in both realistic and cartoon forms) or a horrifying quadripedal version of GTA: San Andreas star CJ.

Cover image for YouTube videoStray Lets You Control A Very Realistic Cat | My Fav Thing In... (Stray Review)
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Browse through Stray's category on Nexus Mods and you'll find a great many new skins for the cat. Some folks have created their own cats, some have created streamers' cats, some have created cats they just like, and some have created cats with sad stories.

"This color resembles our old cat which passed away a few years ago," says the creator of the Gray Domestic Cat mod. "It's a memory for my son who was growing up with that cat."

The best part is that some modders include photos of their real cats too. Observe:

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A photo of calico cat Sunny, who has been modded into Stray. The Stray version of real calico cat Sunny, based on the modder's real cat. A photo of adorable tuxedo cat Maro, who has also been modded into the video game Stray. A screenshot of adorable tuxedo cat Maro modded into the video game Stray. A photo of real-world cat Peppermint The Bougie Sphynx. A screenshot of a sphynx cat modded into Stray, inspired by Peppermint The Bougie Sphynx.
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Some of the cat replacement mods are more dramatic, or more distressing:

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A little puppy in Stray thanks to the Happy Puppy mod. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas star twisted into horrifying cat posture in a Stray mod. Garfield inside Stray thanks to the Garfield - Cartoon Edition mod. Stray's cat looking a bit like Garfield thanks to the Garfield Cat mod.
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I enjoyed seeing videos of cats watching people play Stray, and now I want to see those same cats' reactions when faced with the horrors of CJ or the Garf.

Katharine said in our Stray review, "even if you're not massively into cats the same way I am, 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."

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