How the Pet Gun Works in Ripout

Ripout fails to explain its mechanics well, including how the pet gun works. When you first reload your main gun, you’ll notice it moving. But what does it do exactly, and how do you pet it?

The pet gun is your primary gun throughout the game. So, what makes it different? Why is it so important? Can you upgrade it?

Ripout Pet Gun Explained

The pet gun starts as an assault rifle. However, it has a special trick. Hold down the ‘F’ key and aim at an enemy. Then, press the left mouse button to command your pet to attack. This action temporarily paralyzes the enemy and inflicts significant damage. While your pet is attached to an enemy, you can’t use your assault rifle. Still, you can use your secondary or melee weapon normally. After your pet gun returns, you must wait a brief period before being able to use it again.

Related: How to Unlock Schematics in Ripout

Although your pet deals a lot of damage when attacking an enemy, it has a few more uses. For example, when you command your pet gun to attack a creep, it attaches the creep to you and grants you special abilities. You might get a shield, a claw, a healing ability, or even another secondary weapon that you can fire by pressing “Q.” On top of all that, paralyzing a big enemy is a great way to easily hit its weak points. Note that you can’t have more than one critter attached to you at a time. If you want to keep your current ability, do not send your pet gun to kill another critter. Your ax will probably do just fine.

If assault rifles aren’t your preferred weapon, there’s an option to modify it. With the proper schematics, your pet gun can become a long-range rifle, a shotgun, or even a laser gun. Grind the game and look for schematics so you can mod it to your taste when back in your ship. Schematics can also provide mods that change other aspects of your pet gun, like its damage type.

How to Pet Your Gun in Ripout

Press P to pet your gun in Ripout. The fact that this important command is not on the tutorial is baffling. Jokes aside, although you don’t really get anything from doing this, details like the pet’s legs moving and how your character scratches its chin serve to show the passion and dedication of the developers. The pet gun is a unique mechanic that helps this game feel a bit more distinct from other similar sci-fi horror shooters.