You are a stray cat. Unfortunately, you’ve been separated from your fellow feline friends, and you find yourself stuck within the shaded ruins of a decrepit, walled-in city, where light is limited to flickering neon signs and the glint of greasy metal. By befriending some of the city’s all android inhabitants, you find yourself involved in their quest to escape from this futuristic wasteland and reach “the outside”.

This is the premise behind Stray, a puzzle-based indie videogame created by BlueTwelve studios. Stray tells a thoughtful, cutting story, with each task and character correspondence building your understanding of the world around you. In-game, your ability to communicate is limited to action and observation, however your small stature gives you an advantage in terms of exploring the city and finding clues.

The beauty of the game’s story lies in what is unsaid. The implication behind themes of power and control, as well as the portrayal of love, friendship, and the meaning behind a consciousness. All forward progress in this game requires an exchange– no door or window yields without a code– signifying the remnants of a society bent on control. Every antagonistic character you encounter is insinuated to, at some point, have been a product aligned with human interest. Their combined purpose descended into needless terrorization after the loss of the city’s ruling class, who aimed to live in sterile luxury, while the rest of the population remained trapped within a stuffy urban cage. The game thus implies an unintended consequence for mankind’s gross obsession with command over nature and society, which seems to be a common theme in the game.

Stray encourages its players to make their own conclusions about its message, as it withholds any standard explanation. You are simply perceiving the world around you and discovering things as you go; your own motives lacking in clarity, but as the player, you’re left, nonetheless, completely immersed.