Pets and Animals in games: Showing the furries some love

Games are increasingly incorporating non-humans into the core gameplay experience

It happens right out of Tennoji Temple in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows. When playing as Naoe in the early game stages, you encounter a quest titled “thrown to the dogs,” and to begin, it is essential to pet a wounded, distraught dog guarding the gravestone of his deceased master.

Similarly, in Hogwarts Legacy, your journey with Poppy Sweeting, a fellow 5th year Hufflepuff student begins with the quest “The High Keep” where you save a hippogriff from poachers and unlock an eight-mission long side quest journey where you engage with a variety of magic beasts ranging from a dragon and its egg to finding the once extinct Golden Snidget.

Over the last decade, open-world and narrative-driven games have increasingly turned to animals, electronic companions, and mythical creatures to offer players solace and connection on otherwise perilous journeys.

In The Witcher 3: Blood and Wine DLC, a memorable side quest titled “Equine Phantoms” briefly shifts the perspective from Geralt to Roach, his loyal steed, across hundreds of hours. This week’s column is a nostalgic look at these digital companions – how they’ve shaped our most cherished gaming memories, and how, in the years to come, they are likely to become even more central to the games we play.

We need to begin this journey by mentioning Chop, Franklin’s Rottweiler from GTA V, who, once unlocked after completing a mission, allows players to take him for walks or play “fetch.” The interactions with Chop were an elaborate part of the GTA V experience, as it was possible to teach him tricks and keep him happy through the game’s now-defunct companion app, iFruit.

In 2018’s Red Dead Redemption 2, horses are integral not only to transportation in the Wild West but also as partners and key allies. The game requires players to build bonds and relationships with their steeds, and its mechanics rely on a simple pet system—where you can groom, pet, feed, and ride your horse—to make them more reliable and attuned to Arthur’s outlaw ways.

If you have played Metal Gear Solid V, you are bound to remember the one-eyed wolf, D-Dog, and the horse, D-Horse. D-Dog can attack and surprise enemies and is also useful for extraction of prisoners and foraging for medicinal herbs, while D-Horse proves useful for stealth and distraction. Then there’s 2016 Far Cry Primal, a game with one of the most elaborate animal recruiting and training systems, as its mechanics revolve around the protagonist’s abilities as an animal tamer.

However, in recent years, games have begun to view animals and pets as more than just functional necessities. Through elaborate non-core gameplay elements, developers have found ways to give players opportunities to spend more time in-game that are less about skill or constant grinding.

In Horizon Forbidden West and The Witcher 3, developers use mount races to offer players a welcome diversion from the games’ core narratives. Pokémon Sword and Shield introduced the Pokémon Camp feature, where players could picnic with their Pokémon, cook food, and play with toys.

And in 2022’s Stray, the game adds a unique twist as the companion to the cat protagonist is the sapient drone B-12, which carries a human consciousness. The use of non-human characters as essential contributors to a game’s journey gives players compelling reasons to keep returning.

While the ability to pet cats and dogs in open worlds can serve as a welcome virtual break for players, I believe there’s still room to push the envelope when it comes to narrative engagement and story-building, particularly by developing perspectives that aren’t necessarily human.

Biomutant and Stray are great examples to follow, after all!