The Hidden Meaning of Stray

The voice actress for the cat, a grey tabby named Lala did a great job. I nominate her for best voice actor.

Spoilers for Stray As we find out later in the game, our companion B-12 was a human that transferred his consciousness into the system via a pod. We find a pod later in the game in the tree house section as well. There are also other clues that lead to believe that a lot of the robots in the city are former humans that didn't transfer to their units successfully. When you free B-12 at the start of the game he says, "I can't remember my name, my memory is corrupted." There is no telling how many pods are located throughout the city and this was a way to survive the plague that affected them.

What I loved most about the father/son reunion is that there's no way they're actually related, not being biological. But the bond between them is just as strong and I find that poetic.

I finished this game and immediately texted my roommate: "I just finished Stray and it's surprisingly an anticapitalist masterpiece."

Only on Wisecrack I come to learn that the cutest kitty cat is actually a secret Marxist agent..

Stray is a freaking masterpiece. Pure art. People out there that keep saying that video games don't count as art have absolutely no idea what they talk about. Stray is pure art.

Love this: Understanding humanity by trying to be a cat while robots are trying to be human.

2:23 You’re discussing a concept that lies parallel to the idea of “umwelt”, or consciousness that is formed by the unique environmental and physiological factors that shape an organism’s unique experience! Love that you mentioned Thomas Nagel to do a brief aside about our disconnect to other organisms despite our anthropomorphic tendencies to desire to know them!! I hate how we’ve adopted “animals” as a frame of reference to compare “what defines humanity” bc it is innately reductive to the vast array of consciousness available in the animal kingdom that is forever skewed through a decidedly human lens that views it!! Fuck Plato for saying animals are automata. gasps for air after saying all of that in one frenzied, hyperfixated breath

This makes me happy the game starts with such wholesome, community oriented activities like cuddling and play-fighting. It's an idealistic state of nature.

Awesome video with very nice explanations. I hope my footage helped. Thank you for the credit Wisecrack. You rock!

I just spent my first summer on my own after teaching this last year and the instantaneous come-down from nurturing community member to isolated sad-sack made me come to the same conclusions as Honneth. The Maslow hierarchy is a codified disaster, I think it's one of the prisms through which ignorance and suffering is justified to continue.

The sound the robots make reminds me a lot of the sounds the creatures make in the Chibi Robot games on the 3DS.

Stray does do a great job showing what societies form based on the systems of control that surrounds them, doesn't it?

it be crazy if this game doesn't win some awards, it's so good in every aspect from story, subtext, to gameplay and the music and the visuals, this video barely showed the most visually beautiful part of the game which is the community between the slums and midtown where they live in like a giant tree. The vibe there is similar to the slums so I guess philosophically it could be grouped in together with the slums. Stray is definitely my favorite game that's come out this year, so far. It's one I'd recommend to everyone, controls are very easy, even if you don't play video games at all you can still pick it up and enjoy it.

I loved this take on the videogame, a well thought-out, serious analysis! Bravo!

"When others misrecognize you, it can make you misrecognize yourself. " WOW

Very well done video! I now appreciate and love Stray even more, which I didn't think was possible but here I am!

... and this why allegorical story telling is important: It sparks reflection.

I really enjoyed this episode. Very interesting breakdown. Keep them coming.

"#pspspspspapspsps" I'm dead 🤣