Oh No, I Spent Eight Dollars on Digital Animals

The cute little guys do capitalism

Yes, of course I spent money on this. How could I not? PS5 screenshot captured by the author.

Ubisoft has augmented their single player games with cosmetic microtransactions for something like a decade, but I’ve never been tempted to buy any of them…until now.

The recently released Assassin’s Creed Shadows is completely packed with content for all you “can I pet the dog?” gamers out there. You know who you are. Also, I know who you are because I’m one of them. This is far from the first time Ubisoft has made excellent cute little animal friends you can interact with. The earlier games in the Assassin’s franchise had birds that you could scout the land with (sadly now gone in the new installment), and Assassin’s Creed III had tons of great animal petting, including random farm animals you could feed. Last year’s Star Wars Outlaws had Nix, a friendly little alien guy who helped you out and was comically adorable. Far Cry 6 featured a crocodile and a chihuahua who could join in your adventures.

Shadows carries on this proud tradition in a big way. You can find dozens of animals all throughout the land. Some are non-interactive wild creatures that are just there for some fun background movement and world detail, but others are “pets” that you can walk up to and interact with. Your character will shut down their entire vengeance quest with a quick tap…