Updated March 23, 2022 by Allison Stalberg: Dogs and everywhere in video games, even when they are not, as recently shown in Elden Ring where players are writing messages next to turtles that just say “dog.” Popular video game dogs are ever-increasing, such as the newest addition, Argos, from Final Fantasy 14 . There are also older faces that deserve attention, such as the mabari from Dragon Age: Origins . From post-apocalyptic German Shepards to bipedal guitarists, video games have given society a lot of memorable d

What was possible for open-world RPGs in 2004 versus what can be achieved now is drastically different. There are some exceptions, Morrowind managed to bring a well-realized open world to the Xbox, but Fable, visually, was a far superior game, obviously leading to restrictions in other areas. The core elements of RPGs have remained the same, but morality systems are an exception. For the past few decades, what gamers want out of a morality system has shifted dramatically, and with it, the way that gamers think about a narrative as a wh

A pie of table games On the other end of that are games that dropped the morality system entirely, one example being Fallout 4. Ditching the Karma system wasn’t a popular decision, but it did make players consider why they did what they did, rather than just making binary choices to fit the mold of a hero or villain. That’s not an easy thing to accomplish, and unrooting players from a mechanic they’ve used for the better part of a decade is commendable, even if there’s a notable shift in how well that change works. Morality in the game is by no means perfect, there were pointless decisions in Fallout 4 , and players were forced to play the hero in most situations, but it did make the smaller-scale decisions worthy of reflect

Sandbox titles focused on causing as much chaos as possible are seldom these days. The only games that fulfill that fantasy are Just Cause and Grand Theft Auto , although the latter is more focused on satire.

Fans loved this dog so much that they would reload their save files if he ever ended up dead. Sometimes that meant undoing hours of game progress! So fans were very happy once Fallout 4 made it so Dogmeat could not die (though some still do not like that the dog can be attacked at a

Players took the role of Banjo with his bird friend Kazooie. Together, you venture out to stop the evil plans of Gruntilda, an evil witch who only wants to benefit herself. Jigsaw pieces and musical notes are needed to progress to new zones, encouraging exploration and interacting with the game’s charming characters. The latest entry in the series was a vehicle-building title rather than a platformer, resulting in many fans disliking the departure.

Overall, E3 2019 did a solid job of shining a spotlight on a variety of upcoming horror games that are coming in 2019 and beyond. With GhostWire: Tokyo , we may have even gotten our first glimpse at a next-gen horror Adventure Game Strategy, and so there should be plenty of frights in store for gamers in the fut

One potential surprise is the first footage and details for The Avengers project that was announced last year. Rumors indicate that the project has been retooled to be a reboot of the Marvel Ultimate Alliance games , but fans will have to wait until Square Enix’s E3 2018 press conference to be s

Bethesda gave fans a pair of pre-E3 surprises when it announced Rage 2 , which was previously leaked by Walmart, as well as Fallout 76 . Bethesda will pull the curtain back on Fallout 76 at its E3 2018 press conference, where it should address rumors that the game will be an online multiplayer survival ti

Alongside games like Knights of the Old Republic , which featured its own morality system with a light side and dark side meter, black-and-white moral systems were fairly common in a game, adding an additional layer of depth to individual characters. It was an early blueprint for what was to come, providing ways for players to impact a game’s narrative, at least to a degree, with decision making, but not quite having the effect on entire worlds like fans see in more modern ga

Dying Light 2 was seen in a couple of different press conferences at E3 2019, with both highlighting its parkour action and threatening undead hordes. Besides learning that Dying Light 2 is aiming for a spring 2020 release, we also found out that it will place a much higher emphasis on player choice. In fact, the developers estimate that someone’s first run through Dying Light 2 will only allow them to see half of the game because of

The mabari companion in Dragon Age: Origins is the one unquestionably faithful friend in the party. No matter what the Warden does, the dog remains loyal. Like other companions, it can be part of banter while the player explores. This results in a lot of humorous relationships between companions and the

Argos is one of the newest dogs to gaming, playing an important role in Final Fantasy 14: Endwalker and later being accessible as a mount for players to ride on. The golden-haired dog belonged to Venat a very long time ago but has survived the test of time due to being a familiar rather than your average ani