Bethesda and Xbox have donated $US10,000 to the Humane Society in honour of River, the real dog who inspired Fallout 4’s beloved Dogmeat after his heartbreaking death last week. Is somebody cutting onions? I’m not crying, YOU’RE CRYING!
While Dogmeat has taken many forms throughout the series because, you know, dogs can’t live for centuries, the most recent iteration of the beloved character was based on an IRL good girl – River.
River was the pet of Fallout 4’s lead level designer Joel Burgess, who tragically left us back in June – breaking gamer hearts worldwide.
“I said goodbye today to River, who most of you know as Fallout 4’s Dogmeat,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Heartbroken doesn’t cover it, but I won’t eulogise her here. For twitter, I thought it’d be appropriate to look back at her impact on that game.”
Burgess then went on to share a lengthy Twitter thread about her contributions to the game, focusing on the joy she brought to others, rather than the sadness of her passing.
River attended countless meetings; but not just to be poked, prodded, recorded and filmed as reference – her biggest job was just to BE with the team.
The more they bonded with her, the more they saw Dogmeat as a character – a friend. pic.twitter.com/JLpV3006cK
— Joel Burgess (@JoelBurgess) June 27, 2021
Much like the character we all know and love, “her intentions were pure, but her judgment wasn’t always perfect.”
Following her heartbreaking death, Xbox and Bethesda donated $13,448 to the Montgomery County Humane Society in her honour and shared a link so gamers could also pay their respects in the form of a charitable donation. However, it now appears the Humane Society website has crashed (which we can only hope is a result of all of the good boys getting adopted).
While River undoubtedly gave more than $13,448 worth of value to Bethesda, Xbox fans and gamers worldwide through her in-game likeness and all-round good dog vibes, it’s nice to see corporations following through by doing something nice in her honour. You truly love to see it.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go spend the rest of the afternoon crying.
Leave a Reply