Quirky Fun with Russian Subway Dogs

By: GeekyGamerGirl87

Developed and published by Spooky Squid Games Inc. Russian Subway Dogs, is a new indie game, that is just as adorable as it is quirky and fun. When I saw that Spooky Squid Games Inc. was coming out with a new game, I was overcome with excitement. In the past, I have played their other game They Bleed Pixels and thought it was a good game. If you haven’t tried their other game They Bleed Pixels, I highly recommend that you do give that game a look as well, just like Russian Subway Dogs it will not disappoint you. There were two things that drew me to Russian Subway Dogs. The first thing I thought was the puppies were adorable. The second thing was the fact that Spooky Squid Games Inc. was coming out with a second game.  Therefore, when I was offered a code to review the Steam version of the game (it will be out a little later for consoles) I was really thrilled. I would like to take the time to thank Spooky Squid Games Inc. for providing me with a free copy of the Steam version of the game. If it was not for their generosity, I would not be able to write this review.

The concept for the game is you are apart of a pack of strays, that uses the Russian metro system to travel around scavenging foods to eat. This is not an easy task as you have to  not only scare commuters into dropping their foods for you to collect it, but also be able to collect the food before rival dogs eat it, and dodge bottles of vodka. If you let the food drop to the ground it reduces the amount of points you gain from the food. If your rival dogs eat the food the points are subtracted from your score. Not only can you use the vodka to cook the commuter’s food; rendering more points for you, but you must not let the vodka touch you or else it will take some of your stamina away. In addition, you can use the vodka to attack other rival dogs which also gives you more points.

There are two different modes for the game; there is a Campaign Mode and an Endless Mode. In the Campaign Mode there appears to be eight levels per station and there is a total of ten different stations. The levels are each timed at different intervals (usually getting longer in time), and to move onto the next level you must collect the right amount of bones to go further. Bones are collected by doing Proleraticat’s missions. I will admit I had some trouble and found the Campaign Mode a little difficult and it does provide a challenge, but it’s not a challenge that would make you stop playing the game. When it comes to the Endless Mode (which is my favorite mode on the game, as it plays more like a casual mode.) you simply just play the game until your stamina bar runs out. Endless mode also comes with a leaderboard for global players. The Endless mode is a great relaxing experience and it helped me a lot with the Campaign Mode. There is a total of ten stations for Endless Mode, but they do not become available until you have opened the stations up in The Campaign mode. 

One of the features that I thought was cool is when it comes to the playable characters. There is a total of 12 different playable characters. What I liked about the characters is that some of the characters are from other indie projects, and I thought that was cool that they included these characters in their game. It’s pretty much their way of paying respect to the other indie projects by doing this, and I applaud them for doing so. The following characters that are in the game and projects they are from are as follows:

Russian Dog – Russian Subway Dogs
Proletaricat – Russian Subway Dogs
Clawed Kitty – They Bleed Pixels
Question Hound (my personal favorite) — Gun Show
Ratcoon – Ruin of the Reckless
Nacho – VA-II Hall-A,
Rad Shiba – VA-II Hall-A
Nidhogg – Nidhogg 2
Doppler – Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime
Kepler – Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime,
Vay Chivo – Guacamelee ,
Fidel – Fidel Dungeon Rescue

When it comes to the controls for the game you can play with both keyboard or gamepad. I have played the game with both controls and I enjoy it with both controls. It’s all about setting the keyboard up according to your liking. The gamepad is really smooth, and I do find myself playing the game more and more with the gamepad than the keyboard. Mainly,  because the game feels a lot better with the gamepad to me.

For those of you who are achievement hunters you will be happy to know that Russian Subway Dogs offers achievements. There is a total of thirty-seven different achievements. If you are also into the trading cards, I will let you know that right now there are no trading cards for the game. Maybe later they will be added, but currently the game does not have them.

Overall, I can say that I do recommend Russian Subway Dogs if you are someone who does like a casual game, in which you can come after other scores. Even if you like quirky and adorable games, this is going to be a game that will keep you entertain for hours at a time.  Again, the game is releasing on PC and macOS X on August 2, 2018, and coming to PSVita, PS4, XBOX One later this year. I do find it a little strange that this game is not being ported over to the Nintendo Switch. I say this because there are a lot of games being ported to the Nintendo Switch and I think that it could be good on the platform as well. Perhaps, it is something that the developers may want to look into if possible. However, If you would like to play Russian Subway Dogs for yourself, you can do so by purchasing the game which is now available on Steam for $14.99 USD.