An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs (AKA "Dog Airport Game") is a first-person comedy adventure game by Strange Scaffold, the developers behind Cellular Harvest and "Mr. Bucket Told Me To" from the original Dread X Collection. It released for PC on May 25, 2021.
You and your fiancée are the last two human beings left in the universe. Dogs run airports, along with the rest of society. Deal with alien logic, travel issues, and strange stock photo dogs as you attempt to stay in touch with the person you love, when you both live your lives on the go!
Tropes:
- Achievements in Ignorance: Thanks to a single Dog Engineer at Phobos airport trying to fix a single tram, all trams across the world speed up your movement in all directions.
- After the End: The protagonist and their girlfriend, Krista, were knocked into cryostasis and woke up to find a world run by intelligent dogs, with themselves as the last two humans left alive. There was an alien invasion responsible for this upheaval, but even the aliens were long gone before they awoke.
- Automated Automobiles: Or rather, Automated Airplanes, as all of the planes are capable of guiding themselves to their destinations. There are still dog pilots, but mainly just as a formality, which is why it's alright that they're all completely plastered.
- Collection Sidequest: The game has a built-in "Pupperdex" to keep track of every single unique dog that you've encountered.
- Conlang: With the exception of the front of some vending machines, all of the in-game writing is in an alien language, which is actually an English cypher that can be translated.
- Drowning My Sorrows: There's a Dog Pilot in a secret room at Phobos that's seen drinking not because he enjoys it, or to quell the fear of being a small dog in the vastness of outer space, but to deal with the utter uselessness of his job.
- Fast-Forward Mechanic: In addition to a Bed item that fast-forwards by five hours, airports tend to have a "time booth" that rapidly speeds ahead time when standing in them. This is just because airplanes only allow boarding at certain hours. Sitting down on a bench also progresses time faster than normal, but more slowly than other methods.
- Fetch Quest: Pun probably not intended, but most of the adventure is finding the right terminals and presenting a boarding pass plus one other item (such as a passport, or a dog bone bribe) to get from airport to airport.
- Forced Transformation: One of the dogs you can meet is Rodney, a dog cursed into the form of a human middle manager who spontaneously generates office supplies. His quest line is about him trying to lift the curse by various means.
- Implausible Deniability: Gorby, the souvenir salesman located at multiple airports, doesn't seem to comprehend that the free "space-themed" souvenirs he gives you are Actual Guns, even when told so directly. He also, oddly enough, uses rather worrying statements in regards to them, such as "accidents happen".
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: The protagonist, according to Krista, expressed this in the past when they didn't try to force her to stay together upon learning they were the last two humans. They express the same sentiment when Krista decides to work on an inter-dimensional transport project she may never come back from.
- Long-Distance Relationship: Due to Krista being dedicated to her job working with "R&Dog", and the protagonist's unrestrained lifestyle, the only time they spend together is at airport terminals. However, dialogue indicates that they enjoy the arrangement, aside from some anxiety over accidentally missing a meeting.
- Love Epiphany: During one conversation with Krista, she admits that the moment she realized she went from just "dating" to "in love with" the protagonist was when they woke up After the End, and rather than worry about repopulating the world, the protagonist just said they'd enjoy her company but her happiness should come first.
- No Antagonist: The game's plot is about exploring your relationship with your wife as the two of you meet up at various interplanetary airports. Only two things will give you trouble, and those are are finding your wife at the airport and the relationship itself. Even if you run into Cage Dog, The Dog Who Loves Cages again, he'll just make some veiled threats at you and let you go.
- Noodle Incident: The game begins on the protagonist and Krista's anniversary, where they find themselves in a(n easily-escaped) cage. Apparently, the protagonist had hired "Cage Dog, The Dog That Loves Cages" as the caterer.
- Officially Shortened Title: To quote its description on Steam
, "And call it Dog Airport Game when you get tired of saying the full title, like I did three months ago." - Punny Name: A few of the dogs have names and behaviors that reference media, such as the eccentric and Golden Ticket-giving Willy Dogka, the VERY TALL-hatted Dog Biggadome, and heterochromatic-eyed husky trying to become a musician David Bonie.
- Shout-Out: Because the "Can You Pet The Dog" Twitter account subscribed to the developer's Patreon, you can pet the "Can You Pet The Dog" dog.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: The Information Desk at Marinara Trench repeatedly assures that the large amount of liquid the airport is built over is simply marinara sauce, and not, in fact, Rivers of Blood. It's what they've been told to tell inquirers, after all.
- These Are Things Man Was Not Meant to Know: Or things dogs weren't meant to know, anyways. Training to be an airplane pilot and actually being a pilot both involve being exposed to horrific cosmic secrets on a regular basis, apparently so the rest of the passengers aren't. This is another reason why pilots are drunk all the time.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The protagonist can occasionally react to receiving a weird item, such as an Actual Gun, but plenty of other items they can carry (such as a photocopier, or a coffee cup bigger than themself) don't seem to impact them or any of the dogs.
- Uranus Is Showing: One of the airports you can visit is on Uranus. If you ask for a ticket there, the dog working the booth won’t even try to be subtle about it.
- Video Game Caring Potential: Every dog in the game is pettable. Additionally, while the main "story" is just repeatedly meeting up with Krista, there are plenty of dogs that need help, with the only rewards being their thanks and some funny inventory items.
- What's a Henway?: By completing a rather long Chain of Deals involving a carpenter, a ghost, and a bouncer, the player eventually gets the honor of meeting the most ascended of all canines at Uranus terminal...Updog. And yes, he is aware of the old joke, and does try to work it into conversation.
- Wide-Open Sandbox: The player is free to explore every airport at their leisure, meeting different dogs and finding new items to interact with.
