Stray: Complete Guide

A spoiler-light Stray guide covering controls and cat mechanics, B-12, Zurks and Sentinels, collectibles (memories, badges, music sheets), the full achievement list with tips for the tricky ones, and accessibility settings.

Researched September 2026 — current as of PC Patch 4 (August 10, 2023), the latest content patch; later releases added platforms (macOS December 2023, Switch November 2024, Switch 2 May 2026). Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

What Stray Is

Stray is a third-person adventure from BlueTwelve Studio, published by Annapurna Interactive on PC and PlayStation on July 19, 2022. You play an orange stray cat separated from its family and trapped in Walled City 99, a sealed underground city where humans have vanished and only robots (the Companions) remain. Along the way you team up with B-12, a small drone that translates, stores items, gives you light and hacks technology.

• Threats: Zurks (swarming mutant bacteria that eat anything) and Sentinels (security drones).
• Length: It is a fairly short game. There is an achievement for finishing in under 2 hours, which tells you how compact a well-routed run can be. Most first playthroughs take noticeably longer.
• Platforms (per Wikipedia): PC and PS4/PS5 (July 2022), Xbox (August 2023), macOS (December 2023), Nintendo Switch (November 2024) and Switch 2 (May 2026).

Quick Start

• You cannot fall by accident. Jumping is context-sensitive. When a jump prompt appears, the cat lands it. Explore freely.
• Talk to every robot. Once B-12 is with you, robots give you directions, trades and side tasks. Many lead to badges and memories.
• Check every corner in hub areas. The Slums and Midtown are packed with side content, and a lot of the achievements come from them.
• Keep moving against Zurks. Stopping means they latch on. If they grab you, shake them off quickly.
• Use cover against Sentinels. Break line of sight, hide, and move when their scanners look away.
• Meow, scratch, nap, knock things over. They are not just flavor. Several achievements come from being a cat.
• Chapter select unlocks as you go. You can replay chapters to pick up missed collectibles, so do not stress about finding everything on your first run.
• Look at the accessibility options (Patch 4) if rapid button tapping is hard for you.

Cat Controls and Actions

Button prompts show up contextually. These are the main actions:

Action | What it does

Jump (on prompt) | Leap to highlighted spots. It always succeeds

Meow | A dedicated button. Robots react, and there is an achievement for 100 meows

Scratch | Scratch carpets, doors and trees (counts for achievements)

Interact | Knock objects off shelves, push things, use doors and machines

Nap | Curl up in certain spots and sleep (there is an achievement for over an hour)

B-12 menu | Open inventory, read memories, hack or translate

Sprint | Run from Zurks and Sentinels

Accessibility (Patch 4, August 10, 2023)

Patch 4 added options for players who have trouble with rapid tapping:

• Toggle run
• Toggle Defluxor
• Toggle to shake Zurks
• An option to hide cat death ("it is too sad")

It also brought crash fixes, audio stutter fixes, and collision and navmesh fixes throughout the game.

B-12

B-12 joins you early. It:

• Translates robot speech so you can understand the city's inhabitants.
• Stores items you pick up for trades and puzzles.
• Lights the way in dark areas.
• Hacks terminals and doors.
• Carries the Defluxor for part of the game. It is a UV-style weapon that destroys Zurks but overheats if you hold it too long.

Memories

B-12 has lost memories scattered through the world. When B-12 reacts to a spot, stop and let it recover the memory. Collecting all of them is tied to the "I Remember!" achievement. Memories are easy to miss in the large hub areas, so check a collectible guide for the chapter you are replaying if you are short.

Threats

Zurks

• Zurks swarm in large groups and latch onto you.
• How to survive: Keep sprinting, change direction around obstacles and do not stop at dead ends. If several grab you, shake them off right away.
• During the Defluxor section, blast groups with short bursts and let it cool down between them.

Sentinels

• Sentinels are security drones with a scanning beam. If they spot you, you are in trouble quickly.
• How to survive: Stay out of their light, hide behind cover, wait for patrols to turn away, and move in short bursts.
• Watch the patrol patterns before moving. Rushing is how most Sentinel deaths happen.

Areas and Characters (Spoiler-Light)

Without giving the plot away, the journey goes from the ruins outside the city down into Dead City, through a lab apartment where you meet B-12, and into the robot neighborhoods:

Area | What to expect

Dead City | Abandoned streets and your first Zurk encounters

The Slums | A hub with lots of robots. You meet Momo of the Outsiders. Trades, badges and music sheets for Morusque

Rooftops | Vertical climbing between buildings

Dead End and Sewers | Zurk-heavy stretches outside the Slums. The Defluxor section falls in this part of the game

Antvillage | A small robot settlement. The story here leads you toward Zbaltazar, the scientist the Outsiders need

Midtown | A second big hub with more trades, the Clementine storyline and a shop

Jail and Control Room | The final stretch, with heavy Sentinel sections

Tip: The two hubs, the Slums and Midtown, hold most of the side content. Explore them fully before you move the story on.

Area-by-Area Tips

• The opening ruins: Get comfortable with jump prompts and movement. Nothing here punishes you for exploring.
• Dead City: This is your introduction to Zurks. When a chase starts, head for the exit the camera shows you and do not turn back. If you die, the checkpoint is close.
• The lab apartment: Solve small environmental puzzles and get B-12. From this point on, look for the B-12 interaction prompts, since they are the key to both puzzles and memories.
• The Slums: Slow down. Talk to every robot, collect the music sheets for Morusque, try the mahjong table, find a TV, and do the trades that lead to badges. Several of the common "cat" achievements (meowing, nuzzling, napping) are easiest to get here.
• Rooftops: Mostly traversal. Look around for side paths.
• Dead End and the Sewers: Tight spaces and lots of Zurks. Whenever you have the Defluxor, use short bursts and do not let it overheat in a crowd.
• Antvillage and Zbaltazar: A calmer break before Midtown. Talk to everyone before moving on.
• Midtown: The second big hub. Explore it just as thoroughly as the Slums, with more trades, badges and memories. Finish your badge list here before the story moves on.
• Jail and Control Room: The Sentinel-heavy finale. Watch patrols, use cover, and take your time. Keep a Sentinel stealth achievement guide open if you are going for Sneakitty.

Collectibles and Side Content

Badges

You earn badges by completing robot trades and requests (giving the right item to the right robot). Collecting them all unlocks "Badges", one of the rarest achievements (about 5.5% of Steam players). Talk to everyone in the hubs and read what they ask for.

Music sheets (Morusque)

Morusque is a musician robot in the Slums. Find all the music sheets around the Slums and bring them to him for "Meowlody" (about 20.6%). He plays each song you bring. Grab them before leaving the Slums for good, and use chapter select if you miss any.

Energy drinks and trades

Hub robots trade and ask for specific items. Pick up anything B-12 can carry, including energy drink cans, since they are part of the trading economy.

Achievements

There are 24 Steam achievements. Global unlock rates are from the Steam stats page (September 2026).

Achievement | Description | Rate | Tip

Missed Jump | Hidden | 93.0% | Story-related

Not Alone | Hidden | 81.5% | Story-related

Cat Got Your Tongue? | Hidden | 76.4% | Story-related

Curiosity Killed the Cat | Wear the paper bag | 69.9% | Find a paper bag on the ground and walk into it

Cat-a-Pult | Jump 500 times | 64.9% | It comes naturally across the game

A Little Chatty | Meow 100 times | 64.8% | Spam meow while walking around

Catwalk | Hidden | 45.1% | Story-related

Al-Cat-Raz | Hidden | 40.5% | Story-related

Eye Opener | Hidden | 39.3% | Story-related

No More Lives | Die 9 times | 37.2% | Zurks are the easy way

Cat-a-strophe | Try to play mahjong with the robots | 35.3% | Interact with the robots' mahjong game in a hub

Cat's best friend | Nuzzle up against 5 robots | 25.8% | Use the rub prompt near friendly robots

Meowlody | Bring all the music sheets to Morusque | 20.6% | All the sheets are in the Slums

Boom Chat Kalaka | Dunk the basketball | 15.3% | Look for a basketball hoop and ball

Télé à chat | Browse through all of the TV channels | 14.7% | Find a TV and flip through every channel

Scratch | Hidden | 9.4% | Scratch surfaces whenever you see them

I Remember! | Hidden | 6.7% | Linked to recovering B-12's memories

Productive Day | Sleep for more than one hour | 5.5% | Nap in a sleep spot and leave the game running

Badges | Collect all badges | 5.5% | Complete all robot trades and requests

Sneakitty | Hidden | 4.6% | A stealth challenge. Look it up before the Sentinel sections

Territory | Scratch in every chapter | 4.4% | Scratch at least once in every chapter (use chapter select for any you missed)

Pacifist | Hidden | 3.8% | Hidden challenge. Check an achievement guide before the Zurk-heavy late chapters

Can't Cat-ch Me | Hidden | 3.7% | A fast Zurk-escape challenge

I Am Speed | Complete the game in less than 2 hours | 2.6% | Do it on a second run, once you know the route

Achievement strategy

• First run: Play naturally. Explore hubs fully, do trades, find memories and collect music sheets.
• Second run: Go for I Am Speed with no side content. Skip optional dialogue, move straight to objectives, and do not stop to collect.
• Cleanup: Use chapter select for Territory, any missed memories, badges and the challenge achievements.
• Productive Day: Leave the cat napping on a sleep spot while you do something else.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Leaving the Slums too early. Most badges and all the music sheets are there.
• Stopping during Zurk chases. Keep running.
• Rushing Sentinel areas. Watch the patrols first.
• Trying for I Am Speed on your first playthrough. Learn the game first.
• Holding the Defluxor down. It overheats. Use short bursts.
• Forgetting to scratch. Territory needs a scratch in every chapter.

Advanced Tips

• Speedrun routing: Know where each story item is in the hubs and skip everything optional. Patch 3 fixed fall-through-world bugs while trying to keep speedrunner skips intact.
• Zurk escapes: Take tight turns around obstacles. The swarm follows your path, and corners slow it down.
• Sentinel stealth: Move when the scanner beam passes by, not when it is facing you.
• Frame rate: PC has an uncapped frame rate option and proper exclusive fullscreen (added in Hotfix 2). If the camera feels sluggish on keyboard and mouse at low FPS, Patch 3 improved that.
• Chapter select: Use it to replay a single chapter for a specific collectible without losing overall progress.

FAQ

How long is Stray? It is short. A speedrun achievement exists for under 2 hours, and a relaxed first playthrough with side content takes longer.

Can the cat fall off ledges? No. Jumping is context-sensitive, so you only jump to spots the game allows.

Can I replay chapters for collectibles? Yes. Chapter select lets you go back to chapters you have finished.

Is there an option to turn off the cat's death? Yes. Patch 4 (August 2023) added an option to hide cat death, plus toggles for run, Defluxor and shaking off Zurks.

Where are the music sheets? In the Slums. Bring them all to Morusque for Meowlody.

Is Stray on Switch? Yes. It came out on Nintendo Switch in November 2024 and on Switch 2 in May 2026, according to Wikipedia.

Sources

• Steam: Stray (App 1332010)
• Steam: Stray achievements global stats
• Steam announcement: Stray Patch 4 (August 10, 2023)
• Steam announcement: Stray Patch 3 (August 3, 2022)
• Wikipedia: Stray (video game)