These Stray Mods Make The Game Even Better

Indie game developer BlueTwelve Studio released its breakout hit "Stray" in July and critics and fans have been gushing over it ever since. Playing as an adorable orange cat separated from its family, gamers travel around a human-less post-apocalyptic world populated with living robots. While exploring, the cat encounters a small drone who becomes its companion and guide. The more they walk around the dilapidated robot society, the more they learn about how it came to be.

They eventually set out on a mission to bring back the sky, but dangers lurk around every corner in the form of Zurks, a cannibalistic hivemind bacteria — not to mention security drones, called Sentinels, who won't hesitate to shoot on sight. Together, tiny robot B-12 and the titular orange stray seek to help the robots of the city see the sky once more, which they thought was lost along with all human inhabitants. An emotional story combined with clever puzzles, it's no wonder people love it — and the mods "Stray" has inspired make the game that much more interesting and fun, allowing players to bring their favorite animals into the spotlight.

Keeping with the small animal theme, a mod made by Chris Rubino turns the orange tabby into a black and white French Bulldog. Called the "Happy Puppy" mod, players can download it from NexusMods.com. Though it was added shortly after the game released, Rubino has said the mod is still in development. He's aiming to add additional skins beyond black and white and have the dog bark instead of meow.

Though the mod looks cute and perfect for dog lovers, it's far from perfect. It will still have cat-centric animations in terms of cleaning itself, scratching the furniture, and other actions. Rubino did say that there were "still so many things" he wants to do with the mod. Here's hoping he can make all the necessary improvements. Sadly, the mod only works with PC players, forcing those who use the PS4 and PS5 to stick with the cat.

This iconic dragon first appeared in the gaming scene back in 1998. The open-ended 3D platform series was developed by Insomniac Games. Spyro and his dragonfly friend, Sparx, have to travel around the Dragon Kingdom and find a way to defeat the Gnasty Gnorc. He trapped dragons across all five homeworlds in crystal and turned their hoards into his army.

Spyro went on to be an iconic game character, launching a successful series in his own right. Those 90s kids just couldn't get enough of the little purple dragon. Now, Spyro's a mod in "Stray," created by MrMarco1003. Not only that, MrMarco1003 made it so that B12 gets replaced by Sparx, Spyro's trusty dragonfly friend. The iconic duo is back together again, this time for an entirely different sort of adventure. As Spyro technically runs and walks like a cat already, his movements work perfectly — though the backpack doesn't quite fit him as well.

Originally starring in a comic strip of the same name, Garfield was created by Jim Davis and first debuted in 1978. Davis was inspired to create the lasagna-loving fat cat after growing up with a bunch of barn cats (via Story Museum). He named the cat and based his personality off of his grandfather, and the rest is history. Appearing in over 2,500 newspapers and breaking the Guinness World Record for most syndicated comic strip in 2002, Garfield has become a beloved pop culture icon for all kinds of people to enjoy. 

As the cat in "Stray" is orange, it's only natural that someone would mod Garfield into the game. Another mod from Rubino, it not only changes the main cat to Garfield, but the other three cats as well. While they look like Garfield, they still keep their original colors. Not only that, Rubino even gave the mod a Garfield-esque meow. There might not be a way to see him eat lasagna, however.