At this point, petting a dog in a video game is a calcified meme. It’s not uncommon for studios to devote hours of precious development resources to creating custom dog-loving animations in an attempt at wholesome viral marketing.
Another 2022 favorite melancholy There are even unique petting animations based on the size of the dog. All of this effort is to please gamers and court dog influencer @CanYouPetTheDog reports a feature on Twitter.
But in the case of Midnight Suns, the tactical superhero role-playing game Firaxis released last Friday, petting a dog is more than a sensible moral decision. For the first time, the fate of humans may depend on whether you call a puppy a good girl too many times.
Charlie is a dog from hell, which might make you think they’re a bad dog, but in reality, they’re a good dog that deserves constant praise. (I should add that this isn’t even the first time we’ve been able to pet a dog from hell—Hades 2020 lets you pet Cerberus.)
Here’s my Butterfly Effect theory on how Charley from the Midnight Suns could save the planet:
- Humanity is threatened by the powerful witch Lilith
- Inside the Abbey (Midnight Sun’s base and Downtime Center), petting Charlie grants small resources such as Points and Glory
- Petting Charlie also boosts your friendship XP with the dog, and during your battle with Lilith, he becomes a playable character for some special, non-optional quests.
- Raising friendship with Charlie can upgrade Charlie’s ability deck
- You can pet or compliment this dog almost every day throughout the Midnight Suns campaign
- A campaign lasts for dozens of days (I’m on day 71) and may be completed in ¾
- Points earned from petting are used for valuable base and card upgrades
If you neglect to pet Charlie, it could have a major impact on how many Hydra soldiers Wolverine can kill, or whether you make a game of KO demons.
But there’s something bigger: There’s also a cat. Ebony’s are harder to find in the Midnight Suns expansive field (I think they might only appear on certain days; I recommend looking for the paw icon in the Midnight Suns map), but the bonuses I received were substantial. Once, touching Ebony instantly healed my wounded hero.When I stroked that cat last night, it Instantly level up every character in my party. Never before has a spasm of the head been so impactful.
Thank you for coming to my PET Talk.
