The US animal welfare association People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) asked the developers of the video game God of War Ragnarok to predict the “Peta fashions“, a game mode that excludes animal abuse.
In a video published on its social channels, the association focuses on a battle at the end of the picture that sees the two protagonists Kratos and his son Atreus against a gigantic wolf named Garm.
What might appear to be a battle between humans and a monster is actually framed as a story of animal suffering, Peta’s video makes clear: Garm was chained to the cold and frost for a very long time, without water and without food.
“All dogs deserve a home and a warm place, even those twenty meters tall [Garm in realtà nel videogioco è un lupo, ndr]; if you’re cold, he’s cold”. The video then reminds that dogs should neither be kept tied up nor left in an open-air pen.
It’s not the first time Peta has tackled the subject of violence against animals in video games. In March, he had made a ironic video full of animal rights tips applicable to Elden Ring. In 2021 he had criticized the developers of Ubisoft because they had introduced cockfighting in Far cry 6. For decades, the organization’s attention to the possible abuse of animals in video games has been maximum: there is even a series of Peta video games, with some original titles and some parodies of successful games.
God of War Ragnarok is the sequel to an action-adventure game developed for the Playstation by Sony’s Santa Monica Studio. It came out in early November and has already set a record, selling more than five million copies in its first week.
Even if the Peta fashions, the association’s initiative can still push the many video game enthusiasts to reflect on animal rights. Encouraging them to respect them in the most important context: that of real life.
