In real life, the most important question in any new scenario is “where’s the bathroom?” Video games, however, have their own set of priority queries. For one, “Can you invert the camera?” But even more crucial, “can you pet the dog?”
More and more games have dutifully embraced that desire in recent years, adding in dog-petting mechanics and objectively improving everyone’s lives. But what about other animals? They don’t deserve the short end of the slobbery stick. So thankfully, a good chunk of games have elected to broaden your happy scritching abilities.
Sonic Adventure/Sonic Adventure 2
Sonic Adventure
An ancient evil lurking within the Master Emerald has been unleashed from its slumber by the devious Dr. Eggman and is on the verge of becoming the ultimate monster using the 7 Chaos Emeralds. Only Sonic and his friends are heroic enough to put a stop to Dr. Eggman and his evil minions. Hit the ground running in this classic epic adventure in a race against time to save the world!Six Characters, Six Adventures - Play through as one of six different characters, including Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Amy, each with their own unique adventure and story.Breed a Pet Chao - Breed and nurture your very own pet Chao in the Chao Garden minigame. Then compete against other Chao in a battle for ultimate Chao supremacy.
TheSonic Adventuregames ushered in a new era for the series, offering full 3D gameplay and a lifetime of memes. But they were also a bit ahead of their time with the ultra-cozy Chao Garden side activity.
Whenever you feel like slowing down a bit, you can just head on over to one of several areas in the game specifically for raising those cute little Chao creatures you’ve seen around. Yes, that includes giving them head pats, even way back then, so take that, Nintendogs.
Underwater survival game Subnautica and its standalone expansion Subnautica: Below Zero really nailthe feeling of isolation and horrorout in the middle of the ocean. The fact that they’re also set on another planet almost feels like overkill on that front.
So it’s probably a relief to know you can hatch baby companion fish to hang out with among all the decidedly less-friendly big boys out there. The cuddlefish and trivalve pets may be aliens, but quality head scritches are universal.
You’ve been able to pet your Pokemon in a bunch of their games for years now. So it only stands to reason that Palworld, a game that has nothing whatsoever to do with Pokemon, would offer the same courtesy.
Just bring out one of your Pals into the field and bring up the radial menu, then you’re able to give them all the belly rubs a giant flaming wolf could want. It doesn’t do anything gameplay-wise, but neither does pressing B when catching Pokemon, and you know full well you still do it.
Obsidian’s Honey, I Shrunk the Kids-inspired survival game Grounded sees you and your friends shrunk down and fighting to stay alive surrounded by giant insects and other horrors of the suburbs. But obviously, your biggest concern is which proportionally gargantuan monsters you can pet.
If you find certain tiny bugs, you can tame them with the right food item, and they’re very much like humans in that regard. Once you gain their trust through num nums, they’ll happily join up with you and you can stroke their noggins all you want; just be careful, as they can still die, another pesky similarity they share with humans.
Monster Hunter Stories 2 remedied a horrific oversight that plagued its predecessor: you couldn’t pet your Monsties (the game’s perfectly adorable name for monsters you may tame and befriend). Not only did the sequel fix that, but it did it in a frankly ingenious way.
As a turn-based RPG, Monster Hunter Stories 2 naturally makes use of a command menu during battles, which is where you’ll find the pet option under Skills. It even heals your Monstie a bit, which technically makes it abetter monster-catching game than Pokemon.
Guilty Gear Strive boasts a charming and eclectic art style, so you know the animators wanted to make sure you get to enjoy it to its fullest. Among the more intricate moves you can perform in this flashy fighting game are the lively pirateMay’s near-unblockable dolphin attacks, but that’s not all you see of her aquatic buddy.
Playing as May, you’ll also quickly discover that your taunts will occasionally result in her giving Mr. Dolphin a quick rub on the head. Feel free to keep repeating that animation; your opponent may not be thrilled, but they’re probably just jealous.
Despite its rocky start, No Man’s Sky managed to not only reverse its initially mixed reception but rocket itself in the other direction to the delight of gamers everywhere. Nowadays, the game enjoys a solid positive reputation thanks to regular updates, one of which added something essential.
As the game is now, you may tame and adopt any number of the various fantastical creatures you find on your travels. Naturally, once you do, you can also pet them, which improves their mood; they love it, you love it, and it’s truly the pinnacle of gaming.
Baldur’s Gate 3 deserves every praise it’s received and a few more. Its endlessly charming cast of characters are all worth interacting with, and that includes a certainowlbear cub you can get to stay at your camp.
There are several paths you can take to have the cub eventually show up at your home base, but however you do it, you’re then able to pet the feathery ursine friend whenever you like. Don’t worry, when he demands more petting, you don’t have to keep going, but you might as well.
In Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, the main character Cal Kestis retains his fondness for the cute little biped boglings from the previous game. Also, some other stuff happens, but the boglings are back in the sequel, and that’s huge.
Once you arrive on Koboh, you eventually discover that Cal’s buddy Greez brought some boglings to the planet and they quickly began to multiply. Naturally, you can find some and give them their well-earned head scratches.
Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth is chock full of new content to an almost staggering degree, with tons of minigames and enough map markers to give a Ubisoft executive the vapors. One recurring discovery in each zone is several nice rest spots watched by ridiculously cute baby Chocobos.
While exploring, you’ll often see one of these little fluffs come up to Cloud, beckoning him to follow. If you do, you’ll eventually be rewarded with a Chocobo stop where you can take a rest and, more crucially, pet the baby when you finally fix up the place.
