Do you want to know all of Stray’s Easter Eggs hidden throughout its vast world? Here’s a list of the game’s fictional references, funny gameplay moments, and little hints from the developers.
From The Slums to the Jail, you can find many Easter Eggs in Stray. Find out if you have encountered all of them or if there are some you may have missed.
Carpet in The Shining
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In The Slums, you can spot The Shining’s carpet design on the walls of a few rooms. Many other fictional worlds have featured this iconic pattern, and now Stray keeps this tradition alive by adding it into the game.
Half-Life References
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If you’ve played Half-Life, you may have noticed the familiar Headcrab’s design of the Zurks in the game. Not only do they bear a similar chicken look, but they also attack by jumping on top of the player and dealing immense damage. Furthermore, You can see Gordon Freeman’s crowbar on the train to Midtown.
Stranger Things Easter Egg
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When you initially start the game, you must follow several lights to lead you to the location of B-12. This concept is a nod to a Stranger Things’ scene, where Christmas lights guide Joyce Byers to find her son.
Adorable Camera Gameplay
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At the beginning of the game, you can interact with the camera by meowing at it, and it will nod back at you. This cute interaction is B-12’s way of telling players that they are going the right way once they meet up with the droid.
The End of Humanity – Oct. 11th Theme
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As you explore the multiple rooms of Stray, there is always a calendar set on Oct. 11th, a day that fans believe to be the destruction of humanity.
One Reddit user also states that the official Twitter account of Stray follows 11 people and joined the platform during the same month shown in the game:
What Remains of Edith Finch Reference
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Since What Remains of Edith Finch is one of Annapurna Interactive’s most notable games, they had to put at least one Easter Egg within Stray. As a result, you can spot several icons of Milton Finch with his crown in many areas, including The Slums and Midtown.
B-12 Named After BlueTwelve Studio
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BlueTwelve Studio is the team responsible for creating Stray, and you can recognize a slight hint to their name with B-12. In addition, there are multiple boxes with the words “Made in France,” the country where the company is based in.
Elliot from Mr. Robot
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The computer expert, Elliot, is named after Rami Malek’s character in Mr. Robot. Like the show’s “fsociety,” this droid lives in secret and keeps himself away from others by staying in his room.
The Simpsons’ Iconic Beer Brand
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The bar in The Slums showcases a neon sign of “Duffer Bar,” a nod to The Simpsons’ Duff Beer and Moe’s Tavern. On the other hand, some consider this to be another callback to the Duffer Brothers, the creators of Stranger Things.
Morusque Covers Famous Songs
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To earn the Music Badge, you must acquire eight Musical Sheets to fulfill Morusque’s dream, which are real-life renditions of popular songs. For example, “The way you compute tonight” is a parody of Frank Sinatra’s “The Way You Look Tonight.”
Other notable compositions include “Counting Stars” by Nujabes and a possible cover of the Undertale theme.
Callback to Stray’s First Official Artwork
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When Stray first came into production, BlueTwelveStudio announced its arrival with an image of an alleyway. Now that the game has finally been released, you can see this artwork in many rooms of the game.
QR Codes Reveal Hidden Messages
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While trying to earn the Tele a Chat Trophy, you’ll see a QR code in the bottom left corner of the TV located in The Slums. A few Reddit users have translated the binary codes of these Easter Eggs into the sentences “Hello you! :3” and “The quick brown fox jumps over 13 lazy dogs.”
Gravity Falls Book in the Library
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After Momo sends you on a mission to find notebooks, you’ll come across a library filled with many books and a reference to Gravity Falls’ piece of literature. But, instead of a handprint like the show, it displays a pawprint and the written language used within Stray.
Back to the Future
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One of the easiest Easter Eggs to notice in Stray is the references to Back to the Future, like the characters Marty McFly and Dr. Emmett Brown. For instance, the robot, Doc, features a design that mimics Dr. Emmett Brown and even states the words “1.21 Gigawatts,” a direct reference to the power they need in the movie. Moreover, Seamus in the game has the same vest Marty wears in the film.
On top of all these similarities is another callback to October, the same month they travel to in Back to the Future.
Maneki-Neko Easter Eggs
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Besides the recurrence of October and Milton Finch is the theme of Maneki-Neko, also known as the Lucky Cat. Because the game features Japanese-inspired elements, it’s no surprise that these figurines made their way into Stray with the addition of the Neco-Corporation (Neko translates to “cat” in Japanese.)
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
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The robot, Isaac, in Antvillage finally answers the question, “do androids dream of electric sheep?” when we see the droid dreaming about the Zurks. This particular inquiry comes from the novel of the same name and is referenced in Blade Runner.
Skyrim’s Character Dialogue
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You can find two Skyrim Easter Eggs when exploring Antvillage and Midtown. The first can be found at the bottom of Antvillage when Jenkins says, “Some may call this junk. Me, I call them treasures,” a character dialogue within the RPG.
Another example is when Sojiro states, “Until I took a screwdriver in the knee, and it’s closed now” –a reference to The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s “arrow to the knee” line.
Notable Literature Easter Eggs
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At the entrance of Midtown, B-12 mentions a memory fragment about two pieces of literature: The Turing Test Legacy and The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence. The first book is a nod to the Turing Test, an experiment that researches the link between machines and artificial intelligence.
The next book references Nick Bostrom and Eliezer Yudkowsky’s The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence, an essay that once again examines AI technology.
Persona 5’s Sojiro
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Although Sojiro’s statement about the screwdriver originated from Skyrim, his overall character representation is based on Persona 5’s Café Leblanc manager. However, Stray’s version indicated that this robot owned a bar instead of Persona’s signature coffee location.
The Traffic Cone Head Easter Eggs
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Stray features two representations of Silent Hill’s Pyramid Head in a couple of places in the game. For instance, Albert in Midtown is wearing a traffic cone like the creature, while a mannequin in Clementine’s hiding area displays something similar. Additionally, Dead by Daylight showcases this specific character with the Executioner in their Silent Hill DLC.
Robot Dungeons & Dragons Session
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On your way up to Clementine’s hideout, the robots Lyn and Pinu are having a conversation about a D&D session. In this realistic portrayal, we see the friends arguing about character sheets and Lyn’s frustration with Pinu after the droid spent all week preparing for this game.
Robots Named After Developers of Stray
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BlueTwelve Studios named some of the robots in Stray after company employees, like the three robots at Clementine’s apartment: Miko, Simon, and Jeanma (real-life game animators.) Moreover, players can spot the QA tester’s name, Baladin, at Antvillage and Alterisateur (an alias of Technical Game Designer Hugo Dunas-Wald) in the Jail.
Lastly, Stray’s directors Colas Koola and Vivien Mermet-Guyenet can be seen in robotic form at the club in Midtown.
Daft Punk Easter Egg
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Speaking of the club, players can spot a representation of the French music duo Daft Punk jamming out at the DJ station. While you are there, you can earn the Scratch Trophy, which allows you to mix up some beats with them.
NieR: Automata References
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Because NieR: Automata features a machine-driven dystopia, BlueTwelve Studios made some time to feature some hints of the game in several places. For instance, the landmark in Antvillage resembles Pascal’s tree, a famous character in the RPG.
You can also listen to the robot, Vladee, at Midtown when he hints at The Ship of Theseus, which is a subject matter that gets brought up in NieR: Automata.
Al-Cat-Traz
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In the Jail, you’ll encounter a few robots named after criminals, like Pablo Escobar, Al Capone, and Arsene Lupin.
Pablo is the first one you’ll meet and has been incarcerated for 350 years, as mentioned before in Midtown. Shortly after that, players will see Capone, a notorious prisoner of Alcatraz.
Lupin is the last Easter Egg you may have noticed, which could be a reference to Sherlock Holmes’ criminal, Arsene Lupin.
That does it for our guide about all Easter Eggs in Stray. If there is a reference we may have missed, be sure to leave a comment below to add to this collection. While you are here, you can explore the relevant links below to see more content about the game.
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