A new mod for Fallout 4 allows the player to swap their human character form for that of beloved canine sidekick Dogmeat, complete with a dog-sized Pip Boy.

Although the Fallout series is chock full of interesting an memorable characters, it's the loyal animal companion Dogmeat that is perhaps the most important of the lot. With the canine ally playing an important role in a number of games in the series, Dogmeat even picked up an award for Top Video Game Dog at this year's World Dog Awards. Now, a new Fallout 4 mod allows the player to take on the role of Dogmeat himself.

The mod, from Nexus Mods user and creator Abbalovesyou, grants the player the chance to enjoy the game from the beginning as Dogmeat - or any other wasteland-dwelling dog. Rather than the usual player-created Bostonian, Fallout 4 instead begins in a somewhat more hirsute manner. The player's usual combat choices are also amended, with the canine player character instead having a selection of different bite attacks.

Players may find it a little odd to hear the main character's voice coming out of the canine, rather than Dogmeat's trademark barks and growls. The bizarre nature of the mod certainly has its own charms, however, with the player character even being granted a dog-sized Pip Boy, which unfortunately doesn't work in a first person view. The player's dog-of-choice can even meet up with the real Dogmeat, giving the proceedings the feel of a post-apocalyptic Homeward Bound.

It's not the first time that Dogmeat has been the focus of the modding community. Some of this fan-made content has tried to improve the player's experience, such as granting the dog companion a backpack to increase Dogmeat's storage space. Meanwhile, another mod made an aesthetic change to make Dogmeat look like the white wolf Amaterasu from Okami.

Although allowing players to make a canine character may seem like an odd choice for a mod, it's far from the weirdest choice that modders have chosen to create. In fact, Bethesda's action RPG has proved to be quite the muse for a number of budding mod creators. Perhaps one of the best, and most terrifying, mods available is one that changes deathclaws into Thomas the Tank Engine.

Although this mod is currently only available to PC players, it hopefully won't be long before console players can get in on the fun. Bethesda is expecting to roll out official mod support for PC at some point in April, with console functionality following at some point in the future. When that content finally makes it to consoles, there will hopefully be even more wonderful mods available to players.

Source: Nexus Mods (via PC Gamer)