Where to get it

2022 · Indie · Life simulation

Wobbledogs

Nintendo console exclusive

A 3D pet simulation where you raise your own personal hive of mutating dogs, physically simulated all the way down to their guts! Wobbledogs is a casual and chill sandbox for players of all ages who want to care for their very own virtual pets in a surprising, unique, and stress-free environment.

Released: 15 March 2022
Platforms: Nintendo Switch Windows macOS
Genres: Indie Life simulation Simulation
Developers: —
Publishers: Secret Mode
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Comedy Sandbox
Country: United States
Age ratings: GRAC ALL PEGI 3 ESRB E10+
Languages: Chinese (Simplified), Chinese (Traditional), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Spanish (Spain)
Time to beat: 5.5hmain story21hcompletionist

About

Wobbledogs is a pet simulation game created by Tom Astle and published by Secret Mode. It was released on PC on March 15, 2022, and on the Nintendo Switch on November 17, 2022. It is a pet simulation with sandbox elements, featuring a fully developed breeding system, allowing for the aforementioned mutated dogs.

›Story

Dogs have highly variable bodies controlled by a simulated genetics system. As they age, they periodically enter a pupal state and physically mutate. The foods they eat fill their guts with different flora, just like in the gif above. These flora influence the dogs' mutations, letting you craft and mold them to fit your own idea of canine (im)perfection!

Dogs need a place to call home, and it’s up to you to create an appealing habitat to help them thrive. As you play, you'll gain access to more and more objects and decorations. String together rooms and decorate them however you’d like. Give your dogs a relaxing place to sleep, set up an maze, or even cultivate a garden. There are no built-in goals, so you can prioritize whatever you like the most!

The dogs in this game are physically simulated, which adds a layer of uniqueness to almost every action they take. Two dogs with separate body structures will experience the world in different ways. They also have unique personality traits that influence the types of behaviors they tend to run and govern how they interact with other dogs and objects.

Wobbledogs is meant to be enjoyable simply to passively observe, but it’s also rewarding to interact with the dogs directly, whether that’s petting them to relieve some stress, tossing a pup around to watch it tumble through the pen, or helping your canine companion get free after it wriggled itself into a particularly tight space. These dogs try their best, but sometimes they need a bit of extra help!

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Wobbledogs is a pet simulation game where the player cares for wobbly dogs. Wobbledogs has a fully functioning breeding system with traits being mixed together and passed down via genetics. Dogs acquire traits by eating different foods which introduce new flora into their gut. At several points in the dogs' lifespans, they will enter a chrysalis and mutate, with their gut flora influencing physical and behavioral changes. Dogs in the game reproduce by laying eggs.

The game also features sandbox elements; the home of the wobbly dogs, which consists of a series of tubes leading to different rooms, can be edited and constructed as well. This can be done by adding and removing furniture from the rooms as well as changing their floor and wallpaper.

Development

Tom Astle, the Los Angeles-based creator of Wobbledogs, had his original vision be fairly similar to how it was in the end. However, he spent two years prototyping various gameplay concepts in the hopes one of them would be a perfect fit for the game. This approach failed, and Tom decided the only way to finish the game would be to return to what had worked and focus specifically on that.

Wobbledogs first entered early access on January 28, 2021. It then exited early access at March 15, 2022 and released on Nintendo Switch on November 17, 2022. Wobbledogs would later receive a free Desert Patch near the end of 2023, adding new desert-themed toys and decorations.

Reception

NME was endeared with its goofiness, likening it to a cross between Nintendogs and Mewgenics, but acknowledged that the game may not be for everyone, with mutation being a lengthy system and it having a simplistic core loop. It was described as "the kind of brightly-colored fun that I was longing for as a kid when I rented the Catz 5 from my local library" by Rock Paper Shotgun author Lauren Morton. PC Gamer stated "the game is more passive observation than puzzle". The game received "overwhelmingly positive" user reviews on Steam as of March 15, 2022.