Killing people in games? No problem! Killing dogs in games? No way!

Domagoj Belancic

23/3/2024

Translation: Patrik Stainbrook

Some games force me to kill dogs. I have my problems with it, I love those cute furry friends. Sony’s samurai epic Rise of the Ronin has the perfect solution for people like me.

Many of my favourite games are full of violence, blood and death. Same with PS5 game Rise of the Ronin. In it, I take on the role of a masterless swordsman in historical Japan, slaughtering my way through hundreds of enemies.

I slit the throats of my foes from an ambush.

I cut off limbs and heads, enjoying the resulting fountains of blood.

I incinerate opponents with a flamethrower.

Not a problem for me, on the contrary. As it’s so unrealistically exaggerated, I find these depictions of violence amusing. When an enemy’s head flies off at the end of a sword fight as if it were a bursting champagne cork, I always have to laugh out loud.

In the first few hours of the game, I happily slaughter my way through the picturesque scenery of Rise of the Ronin, having fun all the way. Until I meet a group of bandits who have dogs with them. Damn it.

I don’t want to kill you, go away!

The bandits occupy a village I have to liberate. I often start these missions in stealth mode, decimating every enemy from the shadows before going into open combat. Same here. First, I kill an enemy with a bow and arrow from a distance. The headshot lands, nobody saw anything. However, a dog is up next. I sneak up behind the animal. Via a button prompt, the game says I can kill it unnoticed. My finger hovers over the button, but I don’t manage to press it.

Instead, I move on to the next human enemy and am discovered on the way. I pull out my sword and turn the attackers into mincemeat. The dog also attacks me, jumping and biting at me. I have no choice, defending myself with a sword slash. But he doesn’t let up. Another slash. Go away, you stubborn pooch, I don’t want to kill you! Another bite, another sword slash. The dog’s dead.

Oh my God, what have I done? The mission was successful, I liberated the village. But at what cost? I look sadly at the lifeless body of my four-legged friend, completely ignoring the many dismembered corpses of human enemies around me.

Petting dogs instead of killing them

Team Ninja, the development studio behind Rise of the Ronin, also knows that killing dogs isn’t cool. After killing that dog, I discover an exciting skill in my character’s skill tree – Beast Whisperer. It’s divided into three stages. If I unlock the first one, I won’t be spotted by dogs as quickly. Brilliant. If I unlock the second, I can sneak up behind animals and pet them instead of killing them.

After the petting session, my four-legged friends sit down and don’t attack me any more. Ingenious! With level three, if I pet them the dogs will even fight alongside me against bandits. But I don’t want that, they’ll hurt themselves otherwise. So I stick with level 2.

From now on, I clear villages occupied by bandits without unnecessary dog killings. I’m relieved. At the same time I ask myself – why do I have no problem with killing hundreds of people in the most brutal way, while simultaneously being unable to eliminate a single virtual dog?

Dogs can’t help it

I love dogs, I have one myself. Lino is his name. He’s absolutely the sweetest, smartest and most beautiful dog in the world. I mean, just look at him:

So it’s logical I wouldn’t like murdering his kind in virtual space. Especially not when Lino is lying next to me while I’m gaming. What would he think of me…

But even before Lino, I had problems with attacking four-legged friends in games. The fact that I have a furry friend in real life can’t be the only reason for my aversion to virtual dog killings. After much consideration, I thought of another reason that seems logical – dogs are innocent. It’s not their fault. The good boys in Rise of the Ronin haven’t decided to attack a village, spreading fear and terror. They simply follow their masters. They’re loyal, naive creatures with no moral values and no ulterior human motives. They don’t act out of malice, but out of instinct and love for their humans.

Killing such innocent creatures from stealth just feels wrong. Those stupid bandits, on the other hand, deserve it. They know what they’re doing, and they know why I’m attacking them.

Give me the option to let dogs live

Historically, dogs have been rarely used as enemies in games. I usually play violent games against fantasy creatures or human opponents. The fact that I’m now numb to the killing of humans but react very sensitively to the killing of dogs is also down to my experiences as a long-time gamer.

In recent years, however, I’ve noticed an increase in doglike enemies. I can understand this from a gameplay perspective – dogs add an exciting twist to the loop. Four-legged friends are faster, smaller and more agile than human opponents. They force me to adopt new approaches in combat. As far as I’m concerned, development studios are welcome to continue integrating dog enemies into their games – as long as I have the option to keep them alive.

PlayStation Studios is setting a good example here. In addition to Rise of the Ronin, PS4 blockbusters The Last of Us Part II and Ghost of Tsushima also had dogs as enemies. I was able to spare them in both games.

In the documentary about the development of the second The Last of Us, developers at Naughty Dog say that they explicitly made sure that you could pass every level without killing dogs. In view of the explicit and extremely realistic depiction of violence, I was very happy to have this option. It wasn’t always easy, and I didn’t always succeed, even with the best intentions – dogs in The Last of Us Part II are extremely clever and tirelessly follow my trail. But the option is there, and if I make an effort and have a bit of luck, I manage to spare the fluffy boys.

Developer studio Sucker Punch only added the option to spare dogs a few months after launching Ghost of Tsushima. The patch came too late for me – I’d already struggled through the game and had a few dog lives on my conscience. But I’ve also benefited indirectly from this update. I’m pretty sure that Team Ninja took a lot of inspiration from Ghost of Tsushima. Why? Well, in the PS4 game, I can also sneak up on enemy dogs from behind, pet them and bring them to my side. Just like in Rise of the Ronin.

Dogs dying as part of the plot is fine

But dogs aren’t only used as enemies in games. They’re also increasingly finding their place in narratives – usually in a tragic way. I can accept dog death in a well-told story. Don’t get me wrong – if a dog dies in the plot of a game, I’ll lie in front of my TV crying in the fetal position for an hour. But in-story death feels less «wrong» than when I, a player, indiscriminately slaughter innocent animals.

Careful – potential spoilers for The Last of Us Part II and Life is Strange 2.

Sheepdog Alice from The Last of Us Part II is particularly engraved in my brain. After meeting and fighting alongside her as one character (Abby), I had to kill her in self-defence playing another character (Ellie). It’s the only point in the game where I’m forced to kill a dog. A horrific but deliberate moment that succinctly takes the philosophical question of the cycle of violence in the game to the extreme. You were a good girl, Alice.

I was also influenced by the death of beagle puppy Mushroom in Life is Strange 2. Shortly after adopting him, he’s killed by a cougar in the mountains of Colorado. With my telekinetic abilities, I can either take revenge on the wild predator and break its bones or let it live. This scene also destroyed me emotionally. But my decision – I killed the puma – was an important catalyst for further events in the game.

If you can’t stand gameplay or storyline dog death, I recommend Does the dog die?. On the site, users reveal whether dogs appear in a game and whether they have to die – or whether you have to kill them. In addition to games, films, shows and books are also covered.

So, after all the death and destruction, I want to end my article on a positive note and add another photo of Lino on top.

Isn’t he the cutest? Dogs are just great – whether real or virtual.

You can find a detailed review of the dog-friendly Rise of the Ronin here:

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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