These are computer games or physical games where the player character is inherently a nonhuman animal, and that is important to the story and play. Try out the perspective of a house cat, a dinosaur, a bee hive, or even a tick!
For protagonists who are other sorts of nonhumans than animals, see my other collection: "Nonhuman protagonists."
This collection is part of a series of curated collections of itch.io creations for alterhumans.
Medium: Solo journaling game.
About: You are a dusky moorhen (Gallinula tenebrosa). Your neighbors are other wild animals of the wetland. Make friends with the humans who visit.
Keywords: bird, avian, rail, wild, Australia
Medium: Computer game.
About: You are an Australiasian gannet (Morus serrator). "While on Mana Island, you will be playing matchmaker and helping the other animals on the island find true love, perhaps even finding it yourself! ... We were inspired by the real Nigel the gannet. In our opinion, the story of Nigel was a beautiful love story that deserves to be heard by a larger audience."
Keywords: bird, avian, seabird, wild
About: You are a member of an intelligent species that evolved from wild animals that lived near humans: rats, roaches, crows, cane toads, raccoons, and geckos. Humans are long extinct, and you are an anthropologist.
About: You are a cat.
Keywords: mammal, domesticated, feline, felid
Medium: LARP (Live Action Role-Play) or lyric game.
About: You are a wolf.
Keywords: mammal, canine, canid, wild
Vibe: Comedy
You are a dinosaur. "This is a dino-themed hack of Tunnel Goons by Nate Treme, created for the second annual July Sixth Park Dinojam. It uses Tunnel Goons' streamlined system to create a world where dinosaurs live and adventure together. It includes six playable dinosaurs - ankylosaurus, austroraptor, pachycephalosaurus, parasaurolophus, stegosaurus, and triceratops (don't worry, there are descriptions!) - along with six dino professions, and even dino equipment!"
Content: Unrated.
Medium: Computer game.
About: You are a dog (Canis lupus familiaris). Protect your human in a haunted forest.
Keywords: domesticated, mammal, canine
Content: Unrated.
Medium: Computer game. Platformer. "The game uses the [constructed] language 'toki pona' in some places. This is to give most players the vibe of an imported game where you cant read anything, but you figure it out anyways. (you do not need to know the language to play)"
About: You are a small rodent-like mammal. Run from dinosaurs during the great extinction.
Vibe: Spooky, mysterious, retro
About: You are a North American opossum (Didelphis virginiana). As a programmer 'possum, you need to find the bugs in the code, and luckily you eat bugs for breakfast.
Keywords: mammal, marsupial, anthropomorphic
In this TTRPG about a family camping trip, you can play as a family member or as their dog (Canis lupus familiaris).
Keywords: mammal, canine, domesticated, non-anthropomorphic
Medium: Tabletop role-playing game for 2-3 players and one game master. Character creation and adventure with dice rolling and dice stacking.
About: You are a cat (Felis catus). All the cats in your clowder have opted to get prosthetic claws that use futuristic technology to grant you powers. Use them to go on a cyberpunk heist.
Keywords: mammal, feline, domesticated, feral anthropomorphic
Content: Unrated.
Medium: Solo TTRPG.
About: You are a dung beetle (Scarabaeinae). Rolling a dung ball is your job that you do for a living. Will you fight for your worker's rights?
Keywords: invertebrate, insect, wild, feral anthropomorphic
Content: Unrated.
Medium: Computer game.
About: You are a dung beetle (Scarabaeinae).
Keywords: invertebrate, insect, wild, non-anthropomorphic
Content: Rated G.
Medium: Letter-writing game for two players.
About: You are a mouse (Mus musculus) writing to your roommate, the human who moved into your cottage.
Keywords: mammal, rodent, mice, wild, anthropomorphic
Content: Rated G.
Medium: Physical game for two players.
About: You are a raccoon (Procyon lotor). Show your love for one another as you sort through the recycling.
Keywords: mammal, carnivora, wild
Medium: TTRPG for two players, no GM.
About: You are a badger (Taxidea taxus) and a coyote (Canis latrans). You are friends who cooperate together to get food. The players can talk, but your animals can't talk in-game, so you have to figure out other ways to communicate and work together.
Keywords: mammal, carnivora, mustelid, canine, canid, wild, hunt, non-anthropomorphic
Content: Unrated. Body horror and death.
Medium: Interactive fiction created with Twine.
About: You are a parasitic wasp. You're looking for someone to love and share the joy of parenthood with: someone to lay your eggs in, which will kill them. This game was recommended by Dialog Tree: A Dating Sim Zine as a weird and well-crafted example of the genre.
Keywords: invertebrate, insect, anthropomorphic
Content: Rated G.
Medium: Solo journaling TTRPG.
Length: The instructions are two pages long, including cover.
Story: "You are a hermit crab [Paguroidea] who has grown out of their shell. It is time to find a new one, however scary that may be." This is a metaphor for transition.
Keywords: invertebrate, crustacean, marine, wild, non-anthropomorphic
Vibe: Reflective, anticipatory, cute.
Content: Rated G.
Medium: Computer game. It can run in your web browser. This game is complete and playable, but it's listed as in development because the creator had more ideas about what to do with it.
Story: You are a bat. Eat fruit and bugs in your forest... which is being cut down. This game is based on science facts about bats and their importance in the environment.
Keywords: mammal, chiroptera, wild, flying, non-anthropomorphic, life cycle
Content: Rated G.
Medium: A computer desktop utility. This isn't a game, but I feel like it belongs with the animal protagonist games.
About: "Replace your ordinary mouse cursor with its eternal nemesis: the cat paw."
(Felis catus.)
Keywords: mammal, feline, felid, domesticated, non-anthropomorphic
Vibe: Whimsical.
Content: Rated G.
Medium: Computer game.
About: You are a house cat (Felis catus). Knock things off shelves and make an adorable pest of yourself to wake up your human.
Keywords: mammal, feline, felid, domesticated, non-anthropomorphic
Vibe: whimsical, mischief
Content: Rated PG just because of one swear word on page 7. Otherwise this is completely the sort of game that my most fun teachers might have handed out when I was a kid.
Medium: A solo journaling tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG).
Story: You are a bittern, a bird with a long neck. Cause mischief for the humans who visit your wetland, and deal with the consequences. As a player, you learn about the relationships between plants, animals, and humans in wetlands in Aotearoa. The author of this game is indigenous to that place. Any money from this or his other games will go to his top surgery fund.
Keywords: bird, avian, heron, wild, feral anthropomorphic
Vibe: Mischief, wistful, fun. Tongue-in-cheek grouchiness. Each play-through reaches a happy ending and a positive message about nature and the humans who protect and restore natural places. An antidote to environmental misanthropy.
Content: Rated G. Meant for young children.
About: You are a mouse (Mus musculus). Explore and learn about nature.
Keywords: mammal, rodent, wild, mildly anthropomorphic
You are a cat (Felis catus). A tabletop role-playing game inspired by the Warrior Cats series.
Keywords: mammal, feline, domesticated, feral anthropomorphic
A solo journaling TTRPG about being a hungry house cat (Felis catus).
Keywords: mammal, feline, domesticated
Content: Unrated.
Medium: Micro-TTRPG.
Story: You are a cat (Felis catus), and also a divinely-empowered god-king who rules over a city.
Keywords: mammal, feline, domesticated, anthropomorphic, fantasy
Content: Unrated. Content warning that this goes into depth about the death of an animal, based on a historically real and ethically questionable science experiment on a dog.
Medium: Collaborative storytelling. Reviews say the game design is solid and structured well.
Story: You are a dog (Canis lupus familiaris). Each player plays as an aspect of a dog as she dies in space.
Keywords: mammal, canine, canid, domesticated, non-anthropomorphic
Vibe: Very sad, painful, devastating.
Content: Rated G. Friendly for all ages, though it is about animals eating one another and laying eggs.
Medium: Computer game. It runs in your web browser.
Story: You are a European paper wasp (Polistes dominula). Forage and build your hive. This is realistic and based on research about that species.
Keywords: invertebrate, insect, wild, non-anthropomorphic, life cycle
Content: Rated G, as far as I've seen.
Medium: Computer game.
Story: You are a coyote (Canis latrans). The forests and meadows around you are replaced with an urban landscape. Adapt to survive your new environment.
Keywords: mammal, canine, canid, wild, non-anthropomorphic
Content: Rated PG because of mentions of blood and animal reproduction, though it would be acceptable in a children's science class.
Medium: A short interactive fiction story created in Twine.
Story: You are a tick (Ixodidae). This game is a mostly accurate description of the life cycle of these arachnids. It wonders what their perspective might be like. Ticks are deaf and blind, and can spend years waiting for a mammal to pass by so that they can drink blood.
Keywords: invertebrate, arachnid, wild, non-anthropomorphic, life cycle
Vibe: Patience, anticipation. Terse, clinical. Repetitive.
