Feline adventure game Stray has made a big difference to real-life cats

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The game's publisher, Annapurna Interactive, has organized a number of fundraising activities since its release

Screenshot from Stray, the game about a lost cat
(Image credit: BlueTwelve Studio)

The best feline adventure of 2022, Stray, has made a real difference in animal shelters.

As reported by PBS (thanks, PC Gamer), Stray has been such a hit with cat fans that it's inspired a number of fundraising activities. As explained in the original report, Stray has helped to raise thousands of dollars for various charities that all help real-life stray cats and other animals. 

Using the feline-centric game to bring awareness to cat-related issues was apparently a "no-brainer" according to Annapurna Interactive's Jeff Legaspi, who was interviewed in the report. In Stray, players take control of a little orange tabby who must travel through a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by only animals and robots. Part of Stray's gameplay requires players to act like a cat by meowing, knocking things off of tables, scratching at scraps of carpet, and more. 

PBS also spoke to a number of animal charity representatives for its Stray coverage, including the marketing specialist at the Nebraska Humane Society, Brendan Gepson. Discussing the organization's marketing strategy from last year - which saw the charity giving away codes for Stray in exchange for $5 donations - Gepson described the campaign as "very successful," after it raised around $8,000 for the charity.

Annapurna Interactive also worked with streamers (one of which managed to raise $1,500 with their Stray content alone) and sponsored the Stray Cat Relief Fund's 5K walkathon last year - which went on to raise $6,500 for the cats in its care. "Having a stray cat be the star of a video game is just amazing," Debbie Distanisloa of Stray Cat Relief Fund said in the same report, "we're really hoping it can shed more empathy in the community for the stray cat community." 

Can't get enough of Stray's adorable protagonist? Take a look at our list of the best cat games for ideas on what to play next. 

Hope Bellingham
Hope Bellingham
News Writer

After studying Film Studies and Creative Writing at university, I was lucky enough to land a job as an intern at Player Two PR where I helped to release a number of indie titles. I then got even luckier when I became a Trainee News Writer at GamesRadar+ before being promoted to a fully-fledged News Writer after a year and a half of training.  My expertise lies in Animal Crossing: New Horizons, cozy indies, and The Last of Us, but especially in the Kingdom Hearts series. I'm also known to write about the odd Korean drama for the Entertainment team every now and then.