Dogs have always found a place in video games. Whether it's the likes of Boomer in Far Cry 5 or Dogmeat from the Fallout games, man's best friend has taken on the digital form with great video game dogs over the years. Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home from developer Enjoy Studio takes it one step further, casting the player as a faithful and capable canine.

In Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home, the player takes on the role of Bea, who was sent off on a space adventure but has been separated from her human companion and has to reconnect with them. This means meeting and befriending alien creatures and discovering strange technology in a 2.5D puzzle platformer. Thankfully, Bea may only be a dog, but she has a canine's dexterity and heightened senses to call on to help her quest.

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As far as gameplay goes, Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home puts a lot of emphasis on puzzles. The game's stages generally have a core conceit that the player needs to grapple with, utilizing some of the key skills that the player has either practiced or learned prior to the fact. There's a solid progression system in place, as the player gains skills throughout the adventure as things get more complex.

A lot of these skills are quite basic for a puzzle platformer, and what the player would likely expect, but there are a few surprises here. One of the elements that Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home includes that is rather unique is Bea's various dog senses. As one example, Bea can use her sense of smell to track where to go next, but also to recognise things like dangerous poisons in the environment to avoid. It's well implemented as a gameplay gimmick, never feeling superfluous.

Something that is a little more hit-and-miss is the way that Bea needs to communicate with alien creatures throughout the game. The player can choose from different options, such as barking, wagging the tail, or rolling over, and it relates in a scared, angry or happy response from the alien. Although a clever mechanic in principle, it falls a little flat based around the sheer number of options to test and learn.

From a visual perspective, Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home is quite effective. There are a huge variety of different locations and looks throughout the game, from sterile stations to organic planets, and it truly makes the player feel like they are exploring alien lands. Some of the animations for its characters can feel a little static, but it's easy to overlook this given how great the environments are.

Of course, a game like this is also often driven by the strength of its story. Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home may not have the most complex plot in the world, but it has plenty of emotional strength behind it. Bea's journey and goal to reunite with her human companion is a strong one, even if it lacks the nuance of Stray in of other animal-based games.

Steam Deck s will also be pleased to know that the game runs absolutely fine on the platform. Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home is not the most graphically taxing game, which certainly helps matters, but the quality of the overall atmosphere never stops and the game controls well on the handheld device. In fact, with its puzzle-based gameplay and short levels it works well as a game to play on the go.

As such, Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home is a strong puzzle platformer. There's enough variety throughout to keep things fresh, and it uses the fact that its playable character is a dog effectively. When tied with a decent, emotional story, it's an overall success.

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Space Tail: Every Journey Leads Home is out now for PC and Nintendo Switch. Screen Rant was provided with a PC code for the purposes of this review.