Game Review: Canine (Xbox Series X)

Developed and published by Puko, Canine blends first-person walking simulator aspects with run and hide gameplay for a short, horror-infused experience that has minor replay value thanks to different endings.

The game is set in 1990s Argentina, where a spate of missing dogs seems to be linked to the mysterious Umbral Corporation. With no-one willing to help, a young boy decides to take it upon himself to go looking for his lost dog, Tomy. Ending up at a local clinic run by Umbral, courtesy of an anonymous phone call.

What awaits inside? For the kid, hopefully, it’s Tomy. So, armed with his favourite tennis ball, the player must navigate the shadowy halls and find the dog.

So, what’s going on inside? Experiments, of course. After all, this game is inspired by the likes of Resident Evil and Silent Hill (it also cites Alien: Isolation as inspiration – which makes sense later in the game). Experiments that have resulted in some sort of ‘god like’ dog demon thing which now stalks the halls.

The first half of the game is about discovery, meeting the big bad of the game, and a basic introduction to the run and hide mechanic. The second half of the game is about escape. Finding switches, four in total, that unlock the exit and avoiding the monster who will chase you and kill, should it get hold of you. On lower difficulties, it’s fairly easy to avoid, on the hardest difficulty, it becomes quite challenging to avoid as it’s faster than you and you have limited stamina.

Regardless, it’s not a difficult game to get to grips with, and while the first playthrough will take around an hour, subsequent playthroughs can be wrapped up in the less than 20 minutes. In one case, thanks to a glitch that saw all the switches pushed already, I was able to complete the game in less than 10 minutes.

Short doesn’t mean bad though, and Canine is not a bad game by any stretch. It promises low-ploy visuals that are reminiscent of the PS1 era, simple and intuitive gameplay, horror that borders on the extreme (from a low ploy visual perspective) and minor replay value, as previously mentioned. With there being a good ending and a bad ending. The former gained by escaping and rescuing Tomy, the latter gained by escaping and abandoning your best friend.

I liked it, aside from some frustration that came via the highest difficulty. The initial part of the game is suitably atmospheric, and the second part creates tension and, should you be caught by the monster, a suitably loud and obnoxious jump scare happens. Nothing groundbreaking, but in the context of what the game is, I thought it delivered.

You can tell effort was put in and that the developers both love and respect the franchises that inspired it. From the letters and notes dotted around that you can read, to the shotgun that you can’t pick up, to the safe room, and even the roaming baddie who has some of the brains of a certain Xenomorph. It feels like a love letter to retro horror, and that helps make it one to remember.