If you’re a Fallout 4 fan, you might have heard the very sad news that the real-life inspiration behind virtual pupper Dogmeat recently passed away. Called River, she was a big, gorgeous German Shepherd who not only helped bring Dogmeat’s likeness, animation, and personality to life, but an important part of the dev team behind the post-apocalyptic RPG game. Now, fans and modders are showing their love for River with in-game tributes.
Modder Mangaclub has created a lovely memorial to River in the form of a statue that you can craft at a workbench and place where you’d like in your game. It’s a weathered stone statue, with a German Shepherd – presumably based on Dogmeat’s mesh – sat resting on top of a plinth, as a mourning figure in robes sits beside it. It’s a really touching tribute to the real-world doggo, and you can find it at Nexus Mods here.
Elsewhere on the site, creator Sirucus has uploaded a simple name swap mod that lets you rename Dogmeat to River in case you’d like to honour her in another way. It is an excellent name, after all.
Over on Reddit, fans have been posting images of their own various tributes. NachoMilano has used Mangaclub’s mod and had their own Fallout pupper pose next to it (below), while KittinKanin has shared a bunch of great snaps of their Dogmeat’s adventures in the game.
You were a friend first and a companion second. Thank you for all you did for us River. from fo4
Users FrankieDaniels1969 and Sarjager have posted images of some dog house memorials to River, which are decorated with her name and candles. And there are plenty other commemorations elsewhere on the game’s subreddit.
In memory of River. Here’s some of my Dogmeat screeshots. from fo4
If you’d like to read more about how River helped bring Dogmeat to life, you can read CapyGames studio director (who formerly worked on Fallouts 3, 4, and 76) Joel Burgess’ moving tweet threat about her at that link.