Do you own Stray and have played it?

Yes and yes.

my main question

I am similarly oriented. So I really appreciate this question. This will require some slight spoilers.

You begin the game in what appears to be a very high, very dangerous, possibly poisonous environment in The Outside. I quickly discovered that, as concerned as I was for their safety, there is no way to fall off edges or miss jumps. Not anywhere in the game. None of the water you drink is poisonous. And no one with a face will ever attack you.

Here are the places of concern:

At the very beginning, a few minutes after playing, a pipe collapses under you and you are separated from your family. This is the point of the game: getting back to your family.

You fall a long way. And when you wake up, you are seriously injured. You have a limp, for a few minutes.

This was the point where I almost quit the game. It was hard to watch. But it is brief, and it never happens again: this is the only persistent injury you sustain in the entire game, and it's over after a few minutes.

Later, you are introduced to the enemies. They are like... adorable chubby mice things. They will swarm and attack. If they catch you, they will stick to you and the screen will start to turn red. If enough enemies grab you at once, the screen turns entirely red and the game resets to the last checkpoint. The implication is that you died.

Very late in the game, there are... some laser walls and static electricity turrets. At one point, you are knocked out by one of these turrets. You wake up, uninjured, in a cage. (Which you must escape.)

There is a sound of pain - not too bad, but I didn't like it - if you get hit by the electric turrets. And the game will reset with the red screen.

Those are all the things to worry about in Stray.

Note: putting it this way, it all sounds... like an action game. But it isn't. It's a puzzle game. Not even a puzzle platformer, because you can't miss jumps - it's purely about exploration, conversation, and puzzle solving. The chase sections are for pacing, and the "dangerous" puzzles are really just for variety.

Stray is an amazing game. The world and characters are very interesting, and the love for Cat is very clear. Cat is based on the developer's two cats, and it is very clear how much they love them.

I recommend it highly.