Hi I’m Lara and when I’m not writing about video games I’m usually petting a dog. Thankfully, both of my true passions in life have finally come together thanks to Studio Cacti and its Dog Petting Simulator.
Dog Petting Simulator is a game in which you pet dogs. Shocking right? Maybe not, but it’s wholesome AF and it’s all you need in life.

Studio Cacti’s official description for the game reads as follows: “Dog Petting Simulator is a first person indie game that emulates a highly realistic experience of the universal human dream: walking around a park all day and petting some playful pups.
“The game’s demo will include Eddie, the energetic and playful Parson Jack Russell, Momo, the sweet and sleepy Shiba Inu, and Ben, an older, yet just as loveable hound ready for your pets.

“Dog Petting Simulator is developed by Studio Cacti, a small team of students at The Animation Workshop, Denmark. It began as a self study project with the intention to building a playable game using Unity and Maya, and to expand our knowledge on both programs, as well as the game development pipeline.

“We hope to develop the game further after graduation to include many more dogs, and many more unlockables.”
The game – which has a playable demo version available right now – currently has a five star rating on itch.io, which isn’t surprising really because this is a game where you PET ALL THE DOGS!
One very impressed reviewer said of the game: “I love animals but sadly don’t have a dog in real life, so this was perfect. The controls are via keyboard and mouse (I used my laptop trackpad and arrow keys); there is no controller support as far as I could tell.
“The graphics are nicely done, and the blockiness is part of the charm. There is a scoring system for petting the dogs, and because of my OCD I felt compelled to keep going until I reached 100 on the first dog, and then of course I had to get a score of 100 for each dog after him, lol.
“This is such a lovely, wholesome demo and well worth playing. Thank you very much, and my best wishes to the developers.”
It’s even been verified by Twitter’s @CanYouPetTheDog account, who has confirmed that yes, you definitely can pet the dogs.
Download the free demo for Dog Petting Simulator on itch.io right now.
Featured Image Credit: Studio Cacti