Cat Behavior Expert Analyzes the Video Game ‘Stray’

Cat behavior expert JoAnna Puzzo of Battersea Dogs & Cats Home analyzed the feline-centered video game Stray, specifically how the actions of the in-game cat matched real-world behaviors.

JoAnna Puzzo–a Feline Welfare Manager at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home–breaks down the feline antics of the Stray.

Puzzo looked at several scenes where the cat in the game acted as a cat would, walking across a piano, knocking things off shelves, grooming each other, the cat’s defense mechanisms, getting stuck in a paper bag, and tripping people. While a couple of scenes puzzled her (i.e. the ziplining bucket), in the end, Puzzo was impressed with how accurate the game was.

I mean the game is really quite ingenious because who whoever made the game, they really picked up on a lot of very natural cat behaviors like allogrooming and allorubbing with individuals in his social group. They’ve also included some nice subtle behaviors like the pupils dilating when he’s quite vigilant, those ears turning and the defensive posturing. Also the vocalizing. It’s really sweet and really nice and yeah they definitely have done their research.