Pet dogs and kiss cuties in Best Friend Forever

It’s not often a game comes along that makes me lose my entire mind with excitement, the kind of excitement I feel when I see a dog on the street and drop everything to run over and ask to pet it. New Zealand’s newest studio on the block, Starcolt, has done just that with their newest game, Best Friend Forever, and for this, I am eternally grateful.

 
Best Friend Forever bills itself as “the world’s first simulation game to combine pet care and dating”. Just, you know. Not at the same time. Or maybe sometimes at the same time? I know if I were to go on a date, I would want the entire date to be centered around petting and caring for dogs. But that’s just a personal preference.
The game features a diverse cast of singles for you to choose from, all living in the delightfully named Rainbow Bay, for you to choose from. There’s also a diverse cast of doggos for you to choose from, which you need to train and love your dog in order for them to graduate from Paws Academy (I love this! I love it!).
Your four-legged companion will also interact with the narrative, ensuring that dog petting and people loving are entwined in the perfect life scenario. And of course, if you can’t get enough dog petting, there’s an endless sandbox mode where you can just live your best life and pet and care for dogs for as long as your heart desires. There’s even a petting combo streak, a feature I would love to see implemented in more games.
The game is set to launch Valentine’s Day (February 14th) 2020, for Steam, Itch.io and Nintendo Switch and more information can be found at the website which, naturally, uses a .dog URL (pawesome).