Seemingly useless at first, Stray has a good reason why meowing gets its own dedicated button. Find out more in our Stray guides.

Stray Guides: What is Meowing for in Stray?

Very early on in the game, you'd learn how to meow in Stray. There's a dedicated button for it: it's ⭕ / B on the gamepad. But apart from letting out a cute sound, meowing doesn't seem to do anything useful. Well, not at first. In fact, meowing eventually becomes a useful tool for you in your journey the deeper you get into the game. The use of meowing changes depending on the chapter that you're in. In fact, you'd figure these out quickly as you play through the game, so feel free to leave this article and explore on your own.

But if you're really itching to know, here are just some of the reasons why you should be meowing in Stray:

  • Direction – Especially during the early parts of the game, BlueTwelve eases you into the game's exploration and platforming by giving you visual hints on where to go to next. To make them appear, just meow and the lights will show you the way.
  • Distraction – Meowing will get the attention of both Zurks and Sentinels, allowing you to influence their attention and movements in both the chase and stealth sequences of the game. Meow and the Zurks will notice you and to make Sentinels turn your away, clearing up spaces where they've been tightly guarding until then.
  • Struggle – When overcome by Zurks, you can shake them off your body by meowing repeatedly until they come off.
  • Roleplay – Roleplay your character as a cat by meowing in response to things around you and the chatter of others. Also, meow to exert dominance when you knock over and break stuff.
  • Chatty – An Achievement, Chatty, is tied to meowing a lot of times, so keep meowing for that Platinum!

P.S. Did you know you can also meow in some of the cutscenes? Pretty cool feature, if you ask me.

Stray is out now on PS4, PS5, and PC. The game is free as part of this month's PlayStation Plus Extra subscription service. For more Stray Guides, click here. For our Stray Review, click here.