***SPOILER ALERT!*** The ending and what it means...

[xBenlander]

***SPOILER ALERT*** I was curious what some of you may think about the ending where the cat is just sitting at the top of the steps outside, the music is going strong, and then the cat walks away. Suddenly the music cuts out, and then you hear and see the little screens on the wall light up. What do you suppose that means? Why did the screens light up if we shut it all down? Could it be that B-12 is alive and is running the system? Or do you think there is someone or something else? All throughout the game they made it very clear that camera's were watching us. But who was watching the camera's? I really hope there is a sequel with a lot of lore cleanup.

[woggly4]

2 hours ago, HeyaBen said:

and then you hear and see the little screens on the wall light up. What do you suppose that means? Why did the screens light up if we shut it all down? Could it be that B-12 is alive and is running the system?

 

Did we though? My take on it is that we just changed the system's state from "sealed city" to "open city" and the security drones shut down because the lockdown ended. Otherwise all robots and doors etc would have stopped working. I think the wall lighting up was just to indicate a possible malfunction of technology and that nature will outlive everything. That is also the reason why B-12 had to die because humans can't trick nature and in the end they kill themselves because of their own technology, even if they manage to upload the human mind to a robot.

 

At first the humans and/or robots watched the cameras but for some reason everyone died, even outside of the sealed city. The cause of that might be unknown or I missed a clue during the game but if I remember correctly they just mentioned "that plague". But after opening the final door you can see the ragged path so it seems to be a long time ago. Even B-12 says the control room wasn't visited in years. There was just no one left to open the city again. And nature ran its course and claimed back everything that was outside of that city bubble.

[Sikutai]

I'm guessing it's B-12 and I'm hoping we'll save him in Stray 2.

Edited July 24, 2022 by Sikutai

[Biscoito18]

2 hours ago, HeyaBen said:

But who was watching the camera's? I really hope there is a sequel with a lot of lore cleanup.

 

Maybe it's another character that will be revealed in a sequel. Someone who watches what happens in the sealed cities. Another human mind inside the machine, a collective mind or even surviving humans. Maybe them were the ones who guided the cat to find "B-12".I also like that it was just one city. There's at least another 98 locked cities and a lot of possibilities. New life forms different from Zurks, maybe even intelligent and more complex. The zurks were also evolving with those huge eyes in the sewer.

I love this game's plot. So many possibilities.

This new character could be following the cat and may try to use it to unlock new cities.

[Slava]

The state of that robot society is interesting and all. But did the cat reunite with the other cats?? This is what I want to know lol.

[Solid-Fisch]

B-12 is alive and rebooted in another computer system. That's how I understood it. If there will be a DLC or Stray 2 some day, that would be nice. I wanna see the cat reunited with his family/firends.

[yowzagabowza]

All we did was open a door, we didn't "defeat" anything. 

The door was likely supposed to be opened long ago but everyone died so things just kept being locked down til everyone was dead. 

Whatever the case, this was not a very intriguing story or game to begin with. I don't think the developers really put a ton of thought into the lore or backstory. It was mainly just a backdrop for the kitty cat. I really wish there was more "cat stuff" in the game, too. You do all of it in the first few minutes and then it's just platforming the rest of the time. I caoulda been anything and done that.

Edited July 24, 2022 by yowzagabowza

[The Alchemist]

4 minutes ago, yowzagabowza said:

I really wish there was more "car stuff" in the game, too. 

 

I mean, to be fair, it would be quite difficult for the little kitty to drive ?‍♂️

[yowzagabowza]

3 minutes ago, The Alchemist said:

 

I mean, to be fair, it would be quite difficult for the little kitty to drive ?‍♂️

So don't have a driving section? There was way too much help from the drone and robots and stuff and it took away from the cat-ness for me. 

Edit- Oh, my bad, I made a typo 

Edited July 24, 2022 by yowzagabowza

[TheSlyGCooper]

1 hour ago, Slava said:

The state of that robot society is interesting and all. But did the cat reunite with the other cats?? This is what I want to know lol.

 

100% this. I'm pretty disappointed you don't meet up with your cat homies at the end. The entire game I thought about it. 

[Berrytenor]

My first thought was that the computer flicker was B-12 and he took over the infrastructure and system. Possibly a hint for a sequel which would be nice. It was a short and enjoyable experience! I doubt there will be DLC for a game like this so a sequel is more likely. 

[djb5f]

It means Sequel

[Dangisuckatgamin]

15 hours ago, TheSlyGCooper said:

 

100% this. I'm pretty disappointed you don't meet up with your cat homies at the end. The entire game I thought about it. 

I agree. For me it sort of ruined the ending because of that lol. But I’m a cat lover who wanted him to have a happy ending of the kitties being reunited ?

[MikeCheck--]

B-12 is back in the system, his consciousness at least. So either in Stray 2, he will guide us to our friends, or after we find them we link up with B-12 and transport him into a robot body. Another theory I like is that B-12 will run the city now that he is in the City's technological infrastructure.

[MikeCheck--]

21 hours ago, Biscoito18 said:

So many possibilities  pawsibilites.

Fixed. 

 

[ZitMeatloaf]

On 7/24/2022 at 4:14 PM, woggly4 said:

At first the humans and/or robots watched the cameras but for some reason everyone died, even outside of the sealed city. The cause of that might be unknown or I missed a clue during the game but if I remember correctly they just mentioned "that plague". But after opening the final door you can see the ragged path so it seems to be a long time ago. Even B-12 says the control room wasn't visited in years. There was just no one left to open the city again. And nature ran its course and claimed back everything that was outside of that city bubble.

 

When B-12 mentioned the plague, this was my take on what happened:

1. Some sort of plague/nasty disease was spreading through humanity, so these underground sealed cities were made to protect the uninfected. The humans constructed the robots to help them, which later became sentient.

2. While sealed in the city with their own waste, the humans began engineering a super bacteria (or whatever it was called) to dispose of the waste, but the bacteria evolved out of control and became the zurks.

3. Engineered and evolved to eat organic matter, it was the zurks that consumed all the humans in the city. Once they were out of meat, the zurks further evolved to consume metal, but the robots had enough time to act before they became the main source of zurk food, which is why the surviving robots isolated themselves from the zurks.

4. Now there's no humans left outside the city because the plague got them, and none left inside this city because they became zurk food. So no humans at all to override the original lockdown. The robots keep isolated to stay alive.

5. An unknown amount of time passes, life minus humans survives on the surface, and our kitty protagonist falls into the dead city.

 

What remains unknown is whether any humans survived in any of the other sealed cities. Is humanity truly extinct? Did a few others manage to become B-12's? Lots of potential for a sequel here.

[Vulpine9Tails]

In my little imagination I like to pretend you meet back up with your clowder and live happily ever after and the robots just continue on existing but without the fear of the zurks.

 

Imo, there's got to be more to those eyeball things in the sewers. I'm really hoping there will be a sequel where you have to deal with that more directly. Something else has to be in the network too, maybe the eyeball creatures are in there and it's some sort of symbolism of "something is always watching you" or something.  

[sa7355735502]

I have to admit the ending felt akin to a "wait and see" for the developers but at the players expense. I mean this in that an ambiguous ending for Stray being well received clearly leaves the door open for more (DLC or sequel) whereas if the game didn't perform well, our feline friend still got out.  Hopefully the positive experiences that AnnaPurna's work is giving gamers will lead to more game(s) and clarification on the kitty.

 

I'm also interested in the other 98 hidden cities.

[peffsi]

10 hours ago, Vulpine9Tails said:

In my little imagination I like to pretend you meet back up with your clowder and live happily ever after and the robots just continue on existing but without the fear of the zurks.

 

 

Yep, basically my imagined true ending is achieved by replaying the very beginning of the game where you have to interact with each of your cat buddies. The End.

[MikeCheck--]

11 hours ago, ZitMeatloaf said:

 

When B-12 mentioned the plague, this was my take on what happened:

1. Some sort of plague/nasty disease was spreading through humanity, so these underground sealed cities were made to protect the uninfected. The humans constructed the robots to help them, which later became sentient.

2. While sealed in the city with their own waste, the humans began engineering a super bacteria (or whatever it was called) to dispose of the waste, but the bacteria evolved out of control and became the zurks.

3. Engineered and evolved to eat organic matter, it was the zurks that consumed all the humans in the city. Once they were out of meat, the zurks further evolved to consume metal, but the robots had enough time to act before they became the main source of zurk food, which is why the surviving robots isolated themselves from the zurks.

4. Now there's no humans left outside the city because the plague got them, and none left inside this city because they became zurk food. So no humans at all to override the original lockdown. The robots keep isolated to stay alive.

5. An unknown amount of time passes, life minus humans survives on the surface, and our kitty protagonist falls into the dead city.

 

What remains unknown is whether any humans survived in any of the other sealed cities. Is humanity truly extinct? Did a few others manage to become B-12's? Lots of potential for a sequel here.

 

 

Very well said, I enjoyed reading this plot synopsis.

[LouNollo]

I think it would be cool if this was just one of many cities like this and B-12 has uploaded to a main database or something and we have to go and free another city.  

[g34hgfggn]

To me it's obvious, the cat returns home, the game actually begins just outside the control room, it's very likely the cat needs back up with the three it got separated from.

 

As for B12, he escaped the City by becoming the city.  This is why the wall panel lights up, a dead man could not have opened the city in the first place.