Spooky Squid's Russian Subway Dogs recently made its way onto PC and Mac, and it's scheduled to release later this fall for the PlayStation 4, the PlayStation Vita, and the Xbox One. The game is a side-scrolling action puzzle game of sorts from the creators of - They Bleed Pixels - which was a hardcore side-scrolling action game steeped in Gothic imagery and Lovecraftian themes. The highlight of Spooky Squid's latest game is that people who purchase the game will also find themselves contributing towards helping puppies in need. So not only are players paying for a game to have fun, but also putting a little something-something back into the world to do some good.
The availability of the game was made known through the launch trailer for Russian Subway Dogs, which was posted up over on the Spooky Squid YouTube channel. But what's interesting is that the game is actually based on real life. According to the developers, there are a lot of stray dogs that roam around in Moscow, Russia, especially in the metro where the subways run. The animals are constantly in search of food and desperate for some kind of meal or attention, which is why parts of the game's revenue will go toward helping animals in need. The developers reveal that more than 35,000 dogs are without a home in Moscow, and one dollar from each sale of the game will go toward the Save Our Scruff nonprofit organization, as reported by VentureBeat.
The game itself sees players in control of a dog as they race through the subway startling passengers, who in turn throw up some food into the air as they run away. You'll have to catch the food while it's falling to score points. The hook for the game is that you'll receive missions from the feline proletariat who will require you to only accumulate certain kinds of foods in different missions. This adds a measure of strategy to the game, as you'll need to only pick up snacks in one stage, or only vegetables in another.
Different stages will have different difficulty challenges based on the mission parameters. You'll also be able to unlock some special abilities, such as ice attacks, or the ability to unlock flaming abilities, which you can use on passengers or other animals. And yes, you will need to stave off attacks from larger foes such as angry bears, and a perturbed moose. You can use the elemental abilities to shock, freeze, and flame your opponents as you attempt to collect items and progress through the levels. There are also a number of different dogs that you can play throughout Russian Subway Dogs, including a few dogs based on popular internet memes and other video games, including Nidhogg from Nidhogg 2 and Uay Chivo from Guacamelee.
You can watch the launch trailer for the game below:
You can pick up a digital copy of Russian Subway Dogs right now from Steam for $14.99. The game is scheduled to release on Xbox One and PS4 later this year during the fall.
