Dogs dashing, catching, posing, and dogs riding scooters to surfboards throughout the whole game. Pupperazzi is a comedy game with a pretty clean content concept. In all honesty, I initially wasn’t too interested in the game, until I saw it was on Xbox Gamepass where I tried it for free. To my surprise, I found this game very funny, and it had enough achievement-based gameplay that it was actually quite fun. I know games like this aren’t for everybody, but I thought it was a good romp that didn’t require too much brainpower. So, here we go with my complete thoughts on Pupperazzi.
You know, this game only takes around 2 hours to complete the main story, but I’ll just preface this with the overall purpose of the game: it’s good for your heart and good for your spirit. Oh, and before I go on, I suppose I’d better tell you what it is. Pupperazzi is a dog photography game. That’s the most comprehensive description. It’s uber cute, and def family-friendly, so let me just unleash a flood of heart bubbles next. Here we go, with Pupperazzi.
The Woof, What, When and Where of Pupperazzi
I’ve talked about dogs on here before. Particularly in my review of Doggone Hungry. Plenty of friends before me have played Pupperazzi already too. I was looking up completion times for some wholesome titles recently, and Pupperazzi clocked in around 2 hours, which is about the perfect time for me. If you’re already interested, you could just go play it and most likely finish it in a day, although the actual completion time may vary. I can see some players zooming around weird dog landscapes for days snappin’ photos of all the crazy stuff dogs can do. But I see no harm in that.
Things start off pretty straightforward. You chat with a friendly sea captain dog who shows you the ropes with a scattered “thank ye” here and there. You’ll learn how to frame, zoom, capture, crouch, center, and one of the best mechanics: “dogNET.”
“dogNet” and More
The website dogNET is a place where you can share your dog photos online and earn followers. Followers unlock quests and rewards. There are also a plethora of objectives to complete like “photograph a dog surfing,” or what have you. It adds a compelling reason to keep taking photos and naturally leads to you learning how to have fun with catching special dog moments in the game. (It’s also not bad at some basic photography skill-training for real life in my opinion, as someone who is a casual hobbyist photographer.)
Each DogNet post gets responded to with messages from the community from a few categories of response types, mostly full of praise or tips. Even though it isn’t, and that’s important, it feels real and immersive in a weird but fun way.
The longer you play, the more things unlock and you get some really fun objectives. In addition, there are also many new features unlocked with your progress such as new film type, lenses, the ability to dress up the dogs, new levels of course, and yeah, you can pet the dogs too which is pretty sweet.
Golly That’s Wholesome
The game definitely has a vast demographic, that’s for sure. But it doesn’t matter who you are–unless you’re afraid of dogs I guess, which happens (no judgment)–the game has something for just about anybody interested. The game is really easy on the eyes most of all, and if you need to change the tones of this dog world a bit, there are a selection of alternative filters which will turn the world into a range of different palettes, like the pastel barista theme or super colorful solarized filter.
There is no combat, no feelings hurting, rudeness, or snootiness. The cats are well, cats, the humans are… you’ll just have to see (they’re basically robots, but it’s funny,) plus your character is literally a camera with legs. So, it’s safe to say there’s a lot more focus on cute dogs than anything else. By the way, there are various toys around the levels that you can pick up and throw fetch with or other similar activities. I was fond of the remote control racecar; the dogs got really excited about that and it was fun to watch.
Also, did I mention this? Don’t get too caught up on realism in Pupperazzi because the humor is silly and the dogs seem to have a lot more hobbies than you’d expect.
Here’s a List of Features of Pupperazzi
- Dogs. Dogs everywhere.
- Take photos of just about anything.
- Post any photo on dogNET and gain followers.
- Cool levels with different things to explore.
- Pet the dogs to make them happy.
- Objectives and achievements unlock more content.
- Earn bones to purchase new camera gear at the shop.
- Save your favorite photos in your own album.
- Add photo samples automatically to Puppypedia.
- Cute graphics and an original soundtrack.
- Doggos (of course.)
Keep On Wagging
Anyway, that’s it pretty much. This game is fun and easy to play. I was really surprised at how much I liked it, to be totally truthful. It’s been years since my family had our own dog, but the virtual petting and silly fun that dogs are known for was almost like the real thing.
Pupperazzi is really well thought out and no “bone” goes unturned in the experience. I think you’ll find some joy in playing it if you find the concept interesting. It’d be great for Twitch, parties, or whatever you like. Or just to play on your own. If you do happen to take an interest in it, it’s currently available on Xbox PC GamePass. And I’ll provide ItchIO and Steam links below as well.
Thanks for reading Mr. Dave Pizza. I’m currently working through the best wholesome indies on Game Pass. I’ll keep doing that as much as I can, but I cover all sorts of things from visual novels to major indie releases. So, stop back, have a look around, and please enjoy all the content here!
