Stray Modder Can Place Your Cat In The Leading Role

Stray's orange tabby protagonist is very cute, but nothing stirs the hearts of cat owners more than their own feline companion. Ever since Stray was first announced, players have wanted to cast their own cats in the leading role.

There are no such customization options in the base game, but NorskPL--a good person doing the good work of fulfilling cat mod requests and commissions--can help you out.

NorskPL's Stray cat mods are at a name-your-price cost and will vary depending on the complexity. Chatting with GameSpot over Discord, NorskPL says they've been "overwhelmed by hordes of cat owners." So for potential commissioners, NorskPL has a two-week backlog currently and new commissions will have to wait a bit.

NorskPL says their work is currently based on textures only, which means they can't modify fur characteristics like fur length. They do say they're planning to buy the Gfur Pro plugin for Unreal Engine 4 in the future, which will allow them to do more in-depth modifications to Stray's feline protagonist.

NorskPL opened up commissions after cat owners started organically asking them to mod their cats into the game. "People started asking me in the posts section on Nexusmods if I can make X cat, and then people started paying me themselves," NorskPL says. The modder also adds that they'd do each request for free if they could, but NorskPL has been so overwhelmed by inquiries, they decided to open up commissions.

Full disclosure: I'm also going to commission NorskPL to mod my sister's cat Gabe, a lovable goofball who passed away last year.

Stray released in July and was a surprise hit, attracting both human and feline attention. GameSpot rated it a 9/10 in our Stray Review, and critic Alessandro Barbosa praised the game for its pacing and attention to environmental design. "Stray's ultimate strength is how well its overall design embodies the unique perspective and capabilities of its protagonist," Alessandro said. "But it also doesn't rely on this to be the only distinguishing feature of the entire adventure."