I have seen Doggy Don’t Care GIFs on social media for a year or more now and was excited to finally check out Doggy Don’t Care at PAX AUS in 2025, as it was featured as part of the Indie Showcase winners.

Rotub Games is citing Untitled Goose Game as a point of inspiration and an easy way to explain the basics of the game. When waiting to have my turn playing it, I heard the pitch and compairion given a couple times, but I think it’s more about the animal-and-mischief side of it than anything else, as the game very much feels like its own bit of fun.

Read Now: Doggy Don’t Care Interview – PAX AUS 2025 Indie Showcase Spotlight

In the fifteen-minute demo, I got to run around the house of Charlie, the pug, whose owners had left him alone, and now he was bored and looking for ways to entertain himself. Rocko the Cockatoo also tries to help by giving Charlie and you, the player, badges for completing specific tasks. All of these that I unlocked in my short time were just part of the game’s exploration, and I wanted to smash and interact with as many things as possible.

When you’re first let loose in the home, you can trigger a time trial where you need to run through rings, but some of them go outside. Unfortunately, the sliding door to get there is locked. Bad luck for Charlie’s owners, as you can find a key that unlocks a chest, which gives you a basketball, which you can then throw with all the pug force you can muster at the door and smash your way through.

I think I broke every plate I came across, and tried to abuse physics in the game to make things fall off if I couldn’t interact with them. And that’s the kind of player-initiated fun that I believe the game is going for, and the type of players it’s looking to get the most out of it.

You can also find costumes for Charlie, which don’t do anything, but do let you dress up as, at least that I found a giraffe, another dog, and a unicorn. Which is excellent, and I have no notes.

[Explosion Network attended PAX Australia 2025 with a provided Media Pass.]