‘Stray’ Has Trophies That Could Leave You Tearing Your Fur Out

Stray is largely a chill exploration game, but a couple of trophies might be frustrating.

Annapurna Interactive/BlueTwelve Studio

I’m a couple of hours in to Stray (aka “the cat game”) and I’m having a real good time with it. Exploring this gorgeous, dense city and trying to help the poor kitty find their friends has been mostly delightful. A quick look at the PlayStation trophy list, though, and things suddenly feel more daunting. There are two in particular that might cause players some frustration.

The city is full of deadly creatures called Zurks (no spoilers here, but they’re critical to the story). You’ll see one or two scurrying away in the distance in the early goings, but you’ll soon come face-to-face with them. In the second chapter, you’ll encounter a chase sequence for the first time.

There’s a trophy up for grabs if you can make it all the way to the end of the sequence without a Zurk catching you. That’s easier said than done, though. The critters can jump onto the cat from the shadows. There’s a reason the Can’t Cat-ch Me trophy is a gold one — this is a tough task.

The consensus advice is to hold R2 to make the cat run and zigzag your way through the alleys. Keep your distance from the Zurks as best you can. If you get caught, you can reload from the last checkpoint. Watch YouTuber WarbyGaming show how it’s done:

I haven’t snagged this trophy myself yet. I’ll return to this chapter after my initial playthrough. When I initially played this sequence, the Zurks caught me four or five times. It’s clear there’s a way through them without one latching onto the cat, and I’m looking forward to outwitting them on my next attempt.

The other trophy that might cause some problems for those seeking the platinum is the requirement to beat the entire game in less than two hours. It should go without saying that you probably shouldn’t try this on your first playthrough. Take the time to enjoy Stray and soak everything in.

On your second run, though, it’s time to fire up the kitty’s turbo boosters and plow through everything as fast as you can. I’d recommend using a guide to help you quickly complete all of the required tasks in the open world areas, to bypass puzzles where you need to find a door entry code and so on.

Generally, it seems to be taking most people between five and seven hours to complete their first run. That’s double the time limit for this trophy.

The frustration might set in for players who are just a little too slow and miss the time limit by just a few minutes. That stinks, since those folks will lose a couple of precious hours of time. You’ll have more experience to help you for the next attempt, sure, but there are other things to do in Stray, not to mention other games.

There is a bigger problem with these two trophies beyond their base-level difficulty. Stray doesn’t have in-depth accessibility options, so these trophies could be nigh-on impossible for many players and lock them out from obtaining the platinum trophy.

One of the other trophies is an absolute delight, though. You simply have to let the cat nap for an hour. Just find a good spot and curl up for a bit while you go and do something else in the real world. Just don’t plan on snagging the speedrun trophy in the same run.