However, Stray has finally gotten a release date of July 19 as well as being announced as a free title for the new PS Plus Premium and Deluxe tiers. This announcement is exciting news for PlayStation fans who want to take full advantage of the new subscription options available in PS Plus.
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A Cat’s Adventure
In Stray, players are in control of a lone cat wandering through the alleys and slums of a run-down cyberpunk city that is influenced heavily by Kowloon Walled City in China. Based on the gameplay trailers, the cat and its companion, B-12, are able to interact with many of the city’s environments and robot inhabitants. The two set out on an adventure full of mystery in an attempt to escape the city.
Publisher Annapurna Interactive is well known for its interactive and deep storytelling with titles such as What Remains of Edith Finch and Outer Wilds, and this game seems to be following suit. The developer, BlueTwelve Studio, consists of a very small group of creators formerly from Ubisoft. BlueTwelve wanted to make a story and world that felt vast compared to its small, nimble protagonist and aimed to create a very natural and realistic character that moved and felt like a real cat.
Making the Jump to PS Plus
PlayStation has already started making the transition into its new subscription services with PS Plus and has announced that the new tiers will be available on June 13. These new changes are going to act similar to Xbox Game Pass and allow players to stream and download older games.
The first two tiers, PS Plus Essential and Extra, act similar to how the service is run now. Players have access to online play as well as monthly downloads and discounts. The higher tiers, Premium and Deluxe give players access to a library of older PlayStation titles, and other perks including certain day one releases, such as Stray.
Since Stray has been in development for over five years, it has lost some footing with interested fans. As such, the decision to market the game as a free download with the higher tiers of the PS Plus service makes sense. Allowing this game to be a free download will expand the audience and let players partake in this unique experience without having to purchase the game.
Stray seems to be taking full advantage of the abilities of the PlayStation 5 and definitely should not be looked over. That being said, with so many larger titles coming out, many indie games could take a back seat. Previous developers have answered this problem by going free-to-play or bundling the games with consoles or services. Fall Guys is a perfect example of how an indie game could launch through a service like PS Plus and become instantly popular. The goofy battle royale was easily accessible for PlayStation 4 players and gained a larger following up to its release on Switch, Xbox, and PC. Stray has the potential to follow in those footsteps by acquiring a fan base through PS Plus and gaining popularity and viability outside the subscription service.
Many gamers may not even be aware of Stray and the unique characters and story, but Sony fans who are willing to subscribe to the Premium or Deluxe tiers will be pleasantly rewarded with an indie title from the very prominent publishers at Annapurna Interactive.
Stray launches July 19th for PC, PS4, and PS5.
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