History CompanionCube / VideoGames

*** [[CreepyChild Tiny Tina]] has two stuffed bunnies rigged with explosives whom she affectionately refers to as Mushy Snugglebites and Felicity Sexopants. Her comments regarding them are disturbingly, explicitly sexual. Also, two of the guests for her tea party sidequest are Sir Reginald, a jar with a varkid in it wearing a top hat with a monocle and mustache taped to the front, and Princess Fluffybutt, a doll with a grenade for a head.

* Some ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'' players treat slime molds as pets rather than [[EatTheDog as food items]].

%%* Near the end of ''VideoGame/BionicCommando 2009'', it is revealed that [[spoiler:Spencer's missing wife was killed and her brain was integrated into his one companion for the whole game, his bionic arm]]. He is in severe denial after this reveal, probably because he sees it as ridiculous as it is. The twist was severely criticized by multiple reviewers, and thus is a perfect example of handling a Companion Cube poorly. (Administrivia/ZeroContextExample; how does he treat the arm itself like it's sentient ''before'' the reveal?)

* The Janitor from ''VideoGame/{{Kindergarten}}'' calls his mop "Mr. Sweepy" and is implied to consider it a close friend. [[spoiler:In the secret ending, he has his final words with it before he's obliterated by lightning like the other characters.]]

* In ''Roots of Pacha'', Acre's youngest daughter Ata plays with one of her hammers and imagines that it's her best friend. [[ICallItVera She even calls it "Hammer".]]

* In ''VideoGame/RootsOfPacha'', Acre's youngest daughter Ata plays with one of her hammers and imagines that it's her best friend. [[ICallItVera She even calls it "Hammer"]].

* In an early scene of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'', Nero and Kyrie talk about Nero's "Red Queen" sword as if discussing a female.

* Mr. Bear, Penny's teddy bear, from ''VideoGame/AdvanceWars: Days of Ruin''. Since Penny is utterly, ''utterly'' AxCrazy, Mr. Bear comes off as rather... [[DemonicDummy sinister]] in the process.
-->'''Penny:''' Penny likes you... but Mr. Bear '''HATES YOU'''!

* ''VideoGame/MadMax'' plays this for comedy and then for drama with Chumbucket's love for the Magnum Opus, the car he builds and maintains for Max. He speaks of it like a treasured friend, always referring to it as "she", and makes a few sexually charged allusions to working on it when Max isn't around. One character lampshades how he talks about the car like a girlfriend. Ultimately, [[spoiler:Max reveals that he doesn't care at all about Chumbucket and plans to destroy the Magnum Opus to kill his nemesis Scrotus. Chumbucket sits on the hood, pleading with Max not to kill his precious Magnum Opus, but Max ignores him.]]

%%** Danny St. John's weapon of choice is a rifle, which he lovingly refers to as "Charlotte".

''VideoGame/Portal2'' carries on the tradition by including several other Companion Cubes with updated designs, first in the early test chambers, where [=GLaDOS=] taunts you by destroying one, then reveals that she has "entire warehouses full of them", and ''then'' destroys another when you try to smuggle it out of the test chamber, which you would never think to do if she wasn't giving you hints about it. At the very end, [[spoiler:she gives you back the original Cube, charred from its trip to the incinerator but otherwise apparently intact]]. Likewise, the Cube has several less noticeable cameos, including the occasional cube flying through pipes and one falling into the incinerator after [[spoiler: [=GLaDOS=]'s reactivation]]. [[YankTheDogsChain You can't save it.]] If left alone for a while, the cube actually starts to "sing" to Chell.
* Murasaki from ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'' has her stuffed-bear-thing Bebeby. This is PlayedForDrama, as a [[FreudianExcuse tramatic childhood]] means that Bebeby is pretty much the only person who she trusts not to betray her and isn't ashamed to show her face to. She sees Bebeby as a ''very'' close surrogate sister, and attempting to harm it will almost certainly lead to a FreakOut, followed by Murasaki's Root of Calamity activating, which is an excellent way to get yourself killed.

* [[ICallItVera Sasha]], the Heavy Weapons Guy's minigun in ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', as seen in the ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHgZh4GV9G0 Meet The Heavy]]'' video. The ingame taunts involve him hugging the gun saying things like "Kiss me!" and "You did well!". There is also a similar unlockable gun, Natascha. It is [[{{Pun}} heavily]] implied that the Heavy is having an affair with this gun. Seriously.
** The Sandvich, which comes from the same update as Natascha, appears to be getting the same attention as well, with lines such as; "What's that, Sandvich? KILL THEM ALL!? GOOD IDEA!" It even got [[http://steampowered.com/v/index.php?area=app&AppId=5073&cc=CA its own video.]]
** Meta-example and not to the same degree, but frequent Engineer players will often grow attached to buildings that manage to survive multiple player deaths.
** It is also revealed that the Heads in meet the Soldier are the Soldier's companion cubes.
** According to supplementary comics, the Soldier also thinks he's part of a regiment where the other members are just bits of painted wood, but he's assigned them all distinctive personalities and talks to them as if they're real.
** One Valve-made comic has a photo of the Heavy sleeping in his forest cabin, with Sasha lying next to him on a smaller bed. The Scout lampshades this odd situation.

* The L-Block from ''VideoGame/{{Tetris}}'' won the November 2007 Website/GameFAQs character battle. And the day after its victory, the site's daily poll was a "bonus" battle between the L-Block, the Companion Cube, the Paddle from Pong, and the ?-Block from ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' [[spoiler:Question Mark Block won.]]
** ?-Block is also the highest rank a Website/GameFAQs user can achieve, other than that of a mod or admin.
* The ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' character Alice Margatroid and her army of dolls. She is even attempting to make them sentient, though hasn't had much success so far.
** Though fandom sometimes makes her Shanghai doll and less often Hourai doll somewhat sentient. And then there's Medicine Melancholy, a sentient doll youkai. She and Alice are seen speaking in a background shot in the official manga, though nothing comes of it.
* [[MonsterClown Sweet Tooth's]] motivation for entering the first ''VideoGame/TwistedMetal'' tournament was to find his lost best friend, Crazy Harold the Wacky Lunch Sack. Yes, it's just a paper bag.
** Somewhat lampshaded by Calypso, even. The sheer ridiculousness of the wish completely blows his mind.
* Aida, of ''VideoGame/UnrealIITheAwakening'' fame, has a magnum pistol which she calls Grace. She's even more emotionally attached to the ammunition, judging by how few bullets the game gives you for the damn thing.
* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'':
** Molly holds a special fondness for her ice climbing pick, which she names "Hilda."
** Danny St. John's weapon of choice is a rifle, which he lovingly refers to as "Charlotte".

* ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'' has [[BlackMagicianGirl Annie's]] stuffed bear Tibbers. Overlaps with PetMonstrosity since he's actually a flaming demon bear who was ''[[ForcedTransformation transformed]]'' into a teddy bear by Annie's magic. Her ultimate ability lets her turn Tibbers back to normal and unleash him on her enemies.
** Oriana's ball is a straighter example.
** There's also Rumble's battle suit, Tristy.
** Jinx also has some sort of relationship with Fishbones the rocket launcher. Her jokes involve her [[ConsultingMisterPuppet talking to it and it "talking back."]]
-->'''Jinx:''' Hey Fishbones, should we blow something up?
-->'''Jinx (as Fishbones):''' You might inconvenience people and hurt their feelings.
-->'''Jinx:''' You're the worst weapon ever!
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'', this is [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Ellis's]] relationship with Jimmy Gibbs Junior's [[CoolCar stock car]].

-->'''Loone''': So smooth and ancient...
* ''VideoGame/MadMax'' plays this for comedy and then for drama with Chumbucket's love for the Magnum Opus, the car he builds and maintains for Max. He speaks of it like a treasured friend, always referring to it as "she," and makes a few sexually charged allusions to working on it when Max isn't around. One character lampshades how he talks about the car like a girlfriend. Ultimately, [[spoiler:Max reveals that he doesn't care at all about Chumbucket and plans to destroy the Magnum Opus to kill his nemesis Scrotus. Chumbucket sits on the hood, pleading with Max not to kill his precious Magnum Opus, but Max ignores him]].
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', Zaeed flat out loves [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9-dLzzQuVM "Jessie."]]
** Tali talks to her combat drone as if it's a loyal pet.
* The cardboard box from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' is referred to repeatedly as if it were a person.

** In the world record attempt on the largest number of video game cosplayers in one area, at London Expo 2008, the Box (brought along by a ''VideoGame/MetalGear'' cosplay group) was counted by the Guinness team as a character.
** In the fourth game hiding in the box increases the rate at which Snake's psyche meter refills, implying that he finds it comforting to be in there. The trophy for it in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosBrawl'' even notes that Solid and Liquid Snake have "a deep affection for cardboard".
* Some ''VideoGame/NetHack'' players treat the custom-named ---Bane items or random artifact items of popular use like pet in the same manner as in ''VideoGame/{{Angband}}'' above.
* In ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'', in the Laboratory Room (Door 8), examining the testing dummy enough times will result in Junpei feeling sorry for it, and giving it the name 'Science Boy.' Similar to the ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' example, to solve the room you have to [[spoiler: burn the mannequin. Examining it again before letting Clover out of the room (which is pouring with smoke from the burning dummy) will result in Junpei caring more about Science Boy.]] And upon leaving, you have to endure another of Junpei's puns:
--> '''Junpei:''' (So long, mannequin... You may not have been a real man, but I always thought of you as kin...)
* Kel in ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' has a pet rock called Hector. Partway through the game he realizes that he has dropped Hector, and panics. Later you can find Hector, who has started a family of rocks, and Kel can take not only Hector, but his son, Hector Jr.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Paradigm}}'' "superhero" The Cone (TM) has a wife who's just a mannequin in a wig. He even talks for her.

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' has the TropeNamer, the Weighted Companion Cube, an inanimate block with hearts printed on it. [=GLaDOS=]'s comments indirectly invite the player to see it as a living thing and empathize with it, up to the point where she requires the player to "euthanize" it. She later tries to guilt-trip you for killing the Companion Cube. Doug Rattmann's graffiti seen scribbled in behind-the-scenes sections of the testing facility show that he mourns the loss of his Companion Cube. The ''Lab Rat'' comic reveals the cube actually ''talked'' to Rattmann due to his schizophrenia, and it gave surprisingly helpful advice. The whole thing is a humorous way to teach players that they'll need to carry the cube through several puzzles in order to complete them. One of the developers has stated that he based the use of the trope on a declassified CIA document which stated that people in isolation would bond with inanimate objects.
* ''VideoGame/Portal2'' carries on the tradition by including several other Companion Cubes with updated designs, first in the early test chambers, where [=GLaDOS=] taunts you by destroying one, then reveals that she has "entire warehouses full of them," and ''then'' destroys another when you try to smuggle it out of the test chamber, which you would never think to do if she wasn't giving you hints about it. At the very end, [[spoiler:she gives you back the original Cube, charred from its trip to the incinerator but otherwise apparently intact]]. Likewise, the Cube has several less noticeable cameos, including the occasional cube flying through pipes and one falling into the incinerator after [[spoiler: [=GLaDOS=]'s reactivation]]. [[YankTheDogsChain You can't save it.]] If left alone for a while, the cube actually starts to "sing" to Chell.
* Murasaki from ''VideoGame/SenranKagura'' has her stuffed-bear-thing Bebeby. This is PlayedForDrama, as a [[FreudianExcuse tramatic childhood]] means Bebeby is pretty much the only person who she trusts not to betray her and isn't ashamed to show her face to. She sees Bebeby as a ''very'' close surrogate sister, and attempting to harm it will almost certainly lead to a FreakOut, followed by Murasaki's Root of Calamity activating, which is an excellent way to get yourself killed.
* ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'' -- Serial Killer Walter [[spoiler: believes that Apartment 302, where Henry lives, is his mother, and that he has to kill 21 people to "wake" her]].
* In ''VideoGame/SilentScope EX'', one of the bosses is piloting a helicopter with a human-sized stuffed bear in the gunner's seat (named Teddy). The game gives you an obvious weak spot, the boss's head. However if you get a headshot on the bear instead, which you have 3 second window of opportunity in the beginning and the bear's head is a bigger target than the boss's, the boss instantly dies. Also instead of the shot-through-the-skull image, the image is of the bear's head.
* In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', several of the [[SanitySlippage Aspiration Despiration]] animations seem to involve your Sim talking to an inanimate object when their Aspiration meter gets too low. For example, a Knowledge Sim will start taking lectures from a volleyball wearing a mortarboard hat, while a Romance Sim will try to [[EverythingHasRhythm dance with a mop]].
* ''VideoGame/TheStanleyParable Ultra Deluxe'' introduces [[spoiler: the Stanley Parable Reassurance Bucket as one of the new features the Narrator comes up with for ''The Stanley Parable 2''. It's a seemingly ordinary bucket that the Narrator assures us introduces a soothing feeling in Stanley no matter what bizarre things happen. He describes Stanley as being somewhat obsessed with the Bucket, and bringing it along alters several endings, including making other characters (including the Narrator himself) [[ArtifactOfAttraction fall under the Bucket's sway as well]].]]

* The enchanted pyrite parrot in ''VideoGame/TalesOfMonkeyIsland'' is getting this treatment.
** [[CatchPhrase "It's me, Guybrush Threepwood, Mighty Pirate!"]]

* In ''Jolly Rover'' James goes a bit mad after three weeks in a locked room and has conversations with a painting of a woman, which he names Beatrice.
* In ''VideoGame/KillzoneShadowFall'', although it is not mentioned outright, the Assault Class has an automaton combat assistant named the "Buddy Drone". In addition, in the previous installments, some other automatons, particularly the Air Support Drone (especially the Helghast variant) have designs somewhat similar to faces (as in cars, in real life). In Shadow Fall's campaign mode, the OWL also has many "pet" characteristics, with some forums on Reddit dedicated to fandom of it.
* The 2007 [[YouMeanXmas Crimbo season]] of ''VideoGame/KingdomOfLoathing'' had the Bulky Buddy Box as a prize for fighting the Crimborg Elves -- a reference to the Weighted Companion Cube.
** Earlier Crimbo seasons offered the Pet Rock and the (non)functionally identical Toothsome Rock.
** The Sombrero and Bloodfaced Volleyball as well, though they do do things...somehow. (though at least Sombrero is partially justified by being combined with a chicken's ghost.)
** The Blood-Faced Volleyball is a direct ShoutOut to ''Film/CastAway''. Though the game will reject any attempt to name your volleyball companion any form of "Wilson".
** The Teddy Bear (and its Borg version) may qualify for this, since they don't actually do anything except block hits and get the stuffing knocked out of them. And you can name them endearing names.