If the internet loves one thing, it’s cats. Cat memes, cat rescue stories, cat vids. Cats have taken over people’s lives, real and virtual, and are quietly dominating the games space. Surely you’ve played a great cat game in recent years, like Stray, Little Kitty, Big City, or the Cat Quest trilogy. I’m not much of a cat person myself, yet even I fell in love with Stray and its orange, single-brain-celled feline. Still, I can’t help but lament the dearth of games starring cats’ mortal enemy: dogs.
Unfortunately, dogs are frequently featured in games as enemies destined to be killed by the player, whether we’re talking military dogs in first-person shooters or Bloodborne’s grotesque hounds. Let’s reverse that trend.
A dog game could be a very simple thing. Taking inspiration from Little Kitty, Big City, we could control a wayward hound searching for a way home. Naturally, hijinks would ensue — just think of all the trouble your homebound pup gets into, and imagine the damage he could do when loosed on the world. Digging random holes, rolling through mud, peeing on fire hydrants. Chaos!
What I’d really love is a dog game pulling narrative inspiration from Stray or the heartbreaking Copycat, which tackles themes like abandonment and loss. Having a dog is an emotional endeavor — they’re not called “man’s best friend” for nothin’ — and a game like Stray succeeds because of the emotion threaded through its six-hour playtime. No reason a “Stray but a dog” game couldn’t do the same.
Sure, there are games that have you play as a dog — Okami is a highlight here. And we’ve been able to pet dogs in many an open-world game, while others let you get a dog companion, like best boy Scratch in Baldur’s Gate 3. Wolves are common as well, like the titular Neva in Nomada’s emotionally devastating 2024 hit. But those aren’t strictly dog games in the way Stray or Little Kitty, Big City embody the idea of a cat game.
I need a game that lets me chase squirrels, get the zoomies after dropping a deuce, tear up a human’s socks before giving them an adorable “I’m sorry (but not really)” guilt face. I want a dedicated “snuggle” button in my dog games.
What I’m looking for is a rash of dog games, a wave of hound-starring adventures ranging from “Dog Quest The RPG” to a post-apocalyptic “Stray Pup” to a tear-jerking “From Shelter to Forever Home.” This shit writes itself!
Hopefully, that wave is on the horizon, and maybe even already begun. Farewell North launched last year and embodies the aspects of a dog game that I want out of this genre; it’s an emotional adventure where you, as a border collie, restore color to the world. Ikuma sits comfortably on my 2026 radar — blending the climbing and dog game genres, I can’t wait to check it out. And Haunted Paws is an upcoming cozy horror game where you and a friend each control a pup. Hell yeah. Give it to me now.
In the meantime, I suppose I’ll have to go back to the well and replay the excellent Stray a few more times. It’s not a dog game, but it provides a great cheat sheet for future dog games to steal from.
The post Where are all the good dog games at? appeared first on Polygon.
