Enter the Gungeon, a tongue-in-cheek shoot ’em up style video game available on multiple platforms, has received mainly positive reviews since being released by Devolver Digital two years ago.
Spencer Campbell, writing for Electronic Gamer Monthly gave Enter the Gungeon a 9/10 rating, saying “It takes the rogue-like formula of its predecessors and combines it with the mechanics of a pattern-heavy bullet hell like Ikaruga, then layers a heaping dose of its own charm on top. The end result is a hellishly difficult, vastly rewarding game with a tone all its own.”
But that isn’t to say the game was perfect. People noticed one flaw, and boy was it a big one: You could not pet the helpful dog that followed you around.
This was highlighted by the Twitter account “Can You Pet the Dog?” which, as the name implies, tells you which video games allow you to pet the dog in the game and which do not.
You cannot pet the dog in Minecraft pic.twitter.com/mCeQC2ew9E
— Can You Pet the Dog? (@CanYouPetTheDog) April 7, 2019
https://twitter.com/CanYouPetTheDog/status/1113819067654316032
You cannot pet the dog in Bloodborne pic.twitter.com/ReTjfGtOAB
— Can You Pet the Dog? (@CanYouPetTheDog) April 5, 2019
The person who runs the “Can You Pet the Dog?” account, who wishes to remain anonymous, told us via email that they deleted the original tweet about Enter the Gungeon because it is no longer accurate. Instead, they replaced with this much, much better one.
New: Following an update, you can now pet the dog in Enter the Gungeon pic.twitter.com/kUOuF9ljL6
— Can You Pet the Dog? (@CanYouPetTheDog) April 5, 2019
It seems the initial tweet caught the attention of Dave Oshry, CEO of New Blood Interactive, who replied to it with a crying emoticon. He also tagged Dave Crooks, the man who designed Enter the Gungeon. Crooks took this as a challenge and replied: “Hold my beer.”
Hold my beer
— DodgeRollDave (@dave_crooks) March 12, 2019
And behold, just a few weeks later, when the “Farewell to Arms” update dropped for Enter the Gungeon, a very important change had been made.
Also, you can now pet the dog.@CanYouPetTheDog pic.twitter.com/JGorSd1Fli
— Enter/Exit the Gungeon (@DodgeRollGames) April 5, 2019
The gaming community rejoiced.
https://twitter.com/SomeTrashCan_/status/1114539947506245632
me when Enter The Gungeon releases new content:
— 180 pounds of banana shake in a cracked eggshell (@itspladd) April 6, 2019
( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
me when you can now pet the dog in Enter The Gungeon:
( ͡⊙ ͜ʖ ͡⊙)
(live)https://t.co/x5htDY7QY9
Have I unlocked any of the new content in the #EnterTheGungeon new update? no
— NewGame+ 🏳️⚧️ (@NewGamePlusUltr) April 5, 2019
Have I pet the dog? Yes pic.twitter.com/LVHXBzEBRA
Enter the Gungeon released it’s final update, “A Farewell to Arms” and I’m checking it out tonight. Oh yeah, you can finally pet the dog!
— Rom (@TheRomShow) April 8, 2019
Live: https://t.co/0cjAi5yFu4 pic.twitter.com/TrtbtLVo2y
OH MY GOD YOU CAN NOW PET THE DOG YEShttps://t.co/kJrtkFDlrn
— Wonderis_ (@Wonderis_) April 5, 2019
Although they were obviously happy about the change, the person behind “Can You Pet the Dog?” was reluctant to take credit for it.
“I attribute the addition of a pettable dog in Enter the Gungeon in large part to the game’s community, including the r/EnterTheGungeon subreddit,” they told us. “Their vocal support of the idea was then heard by the responsive team at Dodge Roll Games, who implemented a great dog-petting feature. Overall, I had very little to do with these events, but I am pleased with the outcome.”
A few articles have attributed this development solely to me, which I believe is inaccurate — the game’s community, including the active r/EnterTheGungeon subreddit, are responsible for bringing this issue to light.https://t.co/tGHBXWCZp2
— Can You Pet the Dog? (@CanYouPetTheDog) April 9, 2019
Although certainly, their tweet had a some role in the update.
— птичка на скейте 💙💛 (@Ravinggus) April 8, 2019
And it wouldn’t be the first time. “A handful of developers have implied that they were inspired by the account,” they said. “Two recent games that come to mind are Headliner: NoviNews and Knights and Bikes.”
Added a quick bit of polish so that Knights And Bikes *will* pass the all-important @CanYouPetTheDog test🐕 #screenshotsaturday pic.twitter.com/hNBdXXcgxi
— Knights And Bikes! Switch/Steam/PS4/XBOX (@foamswordgames) March 16, 2019
⛔BREAKING ⛔
— Unbound Creations 🐦⬛ (@UnboundCreation) April 9, 2019
We interrupt your feed to bring you this public service announcement:
🐶 You can now pet the doggo 🐶
You may resume casual scrolling 📲 pic.twitter.com/kowK2fo9Kp
Petting digital dogs is clearly important to the gaming community. After all, the whole point of video games is to escape into a better/more exciting world, and who wants to live in a world where you can’t pet a dog? Still the creator of “Can You Pet the Dog” offers a few words of caution.
“It is great to see more dog-petting in games,” they said, “but I hope that anyone who goes on to request such a feature does so politely and with respect to the developers.”
In other words, only good boys get treats.
READ MORE:
