The game is Stray. Developed by Blue Twelve. Published by Annapurna Interactive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stray_(video_game)
Without spoiling anything, there's way more to this than just a cat simulator. Loving it so far, in any case. I recommend this to anyone who loves exploring new worlds, interacting with lots of locals, solving puzzles. Everything about it has both a familiar RPG feel and also a sense of new to it. And it plays really well on Linux via Steam.
What the fuck? There's...what? I played this game for a short bit and thought it was great, but I figured I got the gist of the game and never felt the urge to resume. I was still outside, so I clearly stopped before it started getting good. Fuck. I'm going back in, thank you for posting this.
Dooooo it. Yes.