Stray Life

A first meal beyond the alley

Stray Life turns finding food and somewhere to sleep into decisions seen through a stray cat’s eyes. A two-month-old kitten faces its first meal alone: another cat, a person carrying food, and something across the road suggest different possibilities. The question is where to go, not simply which button advances the story.

Health, fullness, and familiarity with humans form the three main stats. After a choice, days, months, or years can pass as the game describes what changed. The alley scenes give those numbers a setting and a vulnerable character to care about.

Temporary shelter is not a permanent home

In one example, waiting near a doorway prompts someone to notice the cat, look for its owner, and find temporary shelter. The result advances time by one month and six days and increases fullness, but explicitly says nobody has adopted the cat permanently.

Outcomes involve randomness, physical condition, and earlier experiences. Meeting a kind person is not a guaranteed route to adoption. Progress saves automatically in the browser; reloading or switching languages does not reroll the same result.

Safety has more than one requirement

A crowded shelter presents another choice: wait in a hiding place or explore during quieter hours. Food is available, yet noise and unfamiliar cats make adjustment part of survival too.

A life record lasts at most 22 decisions, potentially ending earlier through danger, permanent adoption, or old age. A surviving cat can instead continue beyond the recorded story. These are fictional storytelling mechanics, not veterinary guidance or real-world survival statistics. Creator Ekkapoj Noiprasert says he used Codex to help build the game, inspired by two former strays he adopted. His aim is to encourage people looking for a companion to consider adopting a stray cat. The Thai/English browser game is available to try and labels itself a life-simulation prototype, version 2.

Read the creator's announcement