Stray and the world of mods: From changing the cat's color to replacing meows with "Jason!"

Nuzzling for love (Image via Stray)

Stray's post-apocalyptic cyberpunk world is an ideal space for modders to tinker with, especially with respect to the ginger cat who is the unique protagonist of the title. It's been less than a week since its release and the indie title already has mods that enable split-screen multiplayer functionality, tweak the color of the cat, and even change the meows to "Jason!"

Coming from BlueTwelve Studio and Annapurna Interactive, Stray narrates the journey of the feline lead after getting separated from its family and falling into the walled city. Along their journey, players will come across various humanoid robot settlements, meet unique personalities, and learn about their struggles.

Before the game's release, fans had been wondering if they would be allowed to customize the cat protagonist to better resemble their own pets. While that mechanic has not been included in the game, modders have quickly come to the rescue.

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Stray's mods make fun tweaks to its protagonist

Several of these mods are currently available on websites, such as Nexus Mods for one, with more being added daily. A little caveat, however, is that these mods are only available on the PC version, so console owners will have no option to tweak or tinker with their games. A number of these mods tweak the kind of cat protagonist the game offers.

SpaceD0lphin's Pick of the Litter produces hand-painted alternative textures for the "purr-tagonist," with Ghost Tabby and Witch's Familiar being available at the moment, and more to be added soon. Another mod, coming from NorskPL, applies black cat textures and changes all cat mustaches to white.

There are also options to change the cat's color to brown, red, white, Siamese with blue eyes, white-and-gray, and more. All of these are being offered in mods uploaded by Sirgalahad172. They also provide mods that introduce eyepatches, glasses, and newsboy caps to Stray's protagonist.

One of the most interesting, albeit funny ones is simply called JASON. Created by Gibrietas, it replaces the meowing of the cat with a pleading call for his lost son from the father in Heavy Rain. The latter is a cult classic revolving around the Origami Killer and a father's quest to save his son Shaun.

In a flashback sequence, the protagonist's first-born son wanders away and players can repeatedly call for him by shouting "Jason." Heavy Rain is often considered one of the greatest video games ever made, but this is surely a crossover not many saw coming.

There are also a number of mods that go beyond changes to mere cosmetic appearances and will be helpful to various players according to their needs. The Dualshock 4 buttons mod allows players to see the layout in their native PlayStation format and also reflects in-game in Stray.

The Muted Buttons mod is an excellent addition to the game that further enhances the player's immersion in the beautiful world of Stray. This is one game that deserves a photo mode, and the contextual in-game buttons do ruin a picture perfect moment. For those who know where to hit which keys, this is a perfect bit of tweaking.

There is also a mod that makes the gameworld slightly more realistic and another that allows for splitscreen multiplayer. It is heart-warming to see how much players have enjoyed Stray and how they are reimagining the gameworld through these mods.