A surprisingly tricky trophy is driving Stray players up the wall

Can’t Cat-ch Me

When I cracked into Stray for the first time, I didn’t think I’d have to worry about how best to zig-zag, juke, and even “drift” as a cat — but when a coveted trophy is on the line, everything’s on the table. Half an hour of failed attempts and several slow-mo guide videos later, I’ve finally gotten Can’t Cat-ch Me, a simple yet deceptively hard trophy.

It’s one of the earliest trophies/achievements you can (theoretically) get in Stray, but I’m here to say that it might be best to save it until after you’ve finished the game. It could put you into a sour mood if you try to force it, so don’t let it gnaw away. Come back later.

**Spoilers below**

In the second chapter, there’s a tense chase sequence on the city streets with Headcrab-esque creatures called the Zurks. They’ll scurry, leap, and glom onto your cat, and if you don’t shake them off quickly enough, that’ll be the end of this journey. Try again.

In a puzzle-solving adventure game that is overwhelmingly chill, these little creeps are very threatening. They’re relentless, as they’re meant to be, and that works well in the context of the ruined city’s story. But when it comes to this trophy, the struggle is real.

• Can’t Cat-ch Me: Complete the first Zurk pursuit without being caught.

The chase sequence is about a minute long — how hard could it be? I feared the two-hour speedrun more than anything else, but that seems way less stressful by comparison; there’s room for error, at least. Here, you have to memorize every rushdown and pray.

That’s your home!

In general, zig-zagging is the play. But sometimes, it’s best to strategically run into a group of Zurks and swerve at the last second. Other times, you might need to take a wide swing from one wall all the way to the other, to draw out certain Zurk leaps. It’s not so much avoiding coming into contact with them as it is making sure they don’t land on top of you.

Of course, in practice, it feels like devious RNG is pulling the strings.

Are you too good for your home?

Here’s a successful Can’t Cat-ch Me run from Stone Edge Gaming:

And another from PowerPyx:

Visualizing it can help.

If you’re going for the Can’t Cat-ch Me trophy in Stray, I would recommend rebinding the run input to something comfortable (not the default R2 on PS5), just in case you’re stuck here for a while. Other players recommend increasing the sensitivity, but I kept it as is.

Misery loves company

A few reactions from other Stray players to help ease the pain:

• “This is purely on random luck.”
• “Took a solid 45 minutes, sometimes zig-zagging works sometimes they get you no matter what.”
• “This trophy really makes me wonder why we trophy hunters do this to ourselves.”
• “Stray isn’t free if you want the platinum. It costs at least one controller.”

Good luck. You can do it!

Jordan Devore

Jordan is a founding member of Destructoid and poster of seemingly random pictures. They are anything but random.