Stray: What to Do Once You've Won
A Lost Title Card
Every once in a while, a game comes along that gets everyone's attention for a month or more, and sometimes even longer. At one point or another, "Among Us," "Fortnite," "Minecraft," and even "Wordle" have all been the center of attention. They are all phenomena that have made it out of the gaming world and into the popular zeitgeist. Stray is becoming one of these games very quickly.
Stray was just released two weeks ago, but it has already broken a number of records that most people didn't think were possible. Stray is an indie game with a small budget, and it was the first game that developer BlueTwelve made. However, the game has done better than anyone expected, both in terms of critical reception and sales, breaking a number of Steam records. Stray has caught the world's attention with its cute main character, a cat, and its beautiful art style. Gamers of all types are giving it a try. But playing Stray only takes about 5 hours on average, so fans of the game may want to know what to do next.

What to Do After Beating a Stray

When the player finishes Stray, the final cutscene will play, and then the player will be taken back to the main menu. From here, your only real choice is to start the game over, but luckily, getting the Platinum Trophy is a lot of fun. Platinum Trophies are usually hard to get and take a lot of time, but in Stray, the whole process is made to be fun and encourage exploration. Even people who don't usually try to get trophies in video games might give Stray's a try just to see the game's colorful world and characters again.

By the end of a player's first playthrough of Stray, they probably have most of the Trophies, or Achievements if they're playing on PC through Steam. This is especially true if the player has spent a lot of time in each environment and learned everything there is to know about it. There are, however, quite a few Trophies that even the most careful players will have missed. First of all, the "Sneakitty" Trophy is hard to get because the player has to avoid waking up any of the drones in Chapter 10. Also, the "Can't Cat-Ch Me" Trophy requires that the player never get caught by a Zurk in the second chapter. This can be a little frustrating, but the player shouldn't have too much trouble if they plan well and keep trying.

Getting the Platinum Trophy for Stray is still a time-consuming task, but this is the perfect reason to play it again for those who want to. To top it all off, the last Trophy the player will probably get is the "I Am Speed" Trophy, which requires them to finish the game in less than 2 hours. At that point, the player will probably be on their third playthrough, and this Trophy is a nice way to see the game through a different, more difficult lens.
If players don't want to go for the Platinum, they could always play another animal-based game. For example, 2019's Untitled Goose Game is similar to Stray in that the player controls a naughty goose whose only goal is to ruin the day of the villagers he meets. On the other hand, The Last Guardian doesn't let the player directly control an animal, but the whole game is about their relationship with a large cat/dog-like creature, so there is an element of animal companionship.

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