Life is good when you’re a carefree kitty—until the day you tumble into an underground city brimming with high-tech danger.

As Stray’s feline hero, you’ll explore a sprawling cyberpunk metropolis inhabited by quirky robots who mimic the lives of their long-vanished human creators. Where have all the people gone? What’s with the control room towering over the city? And how will you get home? Assisted by your companion drone B-12, dodge danger in this peculiar dystopia to find out.

What we love: Being a cat, of course. When you’re not slinking across rooftops or leaping through open windows to solve the game’s many puzzles, you can scratch up couches and knock stuff off shelves. Lifelike animation captures the movement and mischief-making of Stray’s furry protagonist; your meows and purrs may even attract the attention of your real-world feline friends. (Just don’t let them walk across the keyboard in the middle of a tense action sequence!)

Quick tip: To ease repair-bot Elliot’s shivering, you’ll need to obtain a poncho. Meow at the paint-tossing robot outside the laundromat to make it drop a can; when the angry shopkeeper comes out to clean up the spilled goop, sneak in the door and find a bottle of detergent. Give it to the merchant robot Azooz in exchange for the electric cable Grandma can use to fashion the garment.

Meet the creator: Stray comes from French indie developer BlueTwelve Studio with support from publisher Annapurna Interactive, who worked on hits like Journey and What Remains of Edith Finch. The game’s unnamed feline hero was inspired by Murtaugh, a stray tabby adopted by BlueTwelve’s founders.