Whether you think of them as loveable pets or disease carrying vermin, rats are creatures that appear time and time again in video games. From muscle-bound brutes to secret gamblers, we've pulled out our favourites to help you learn to love PlayStation’s most misunderstood sewer dwellers.
Ratatouille
What do you mean a real rat can’t be a sous chef in a Parisian bistro? Nuts to reality! This ropey animated movie tie-in may go down roughly as well as a month-old plate of offal, but at least little Remy can whip up a cracking bowl of soup. Last time we looked, no other virtual rodent here could claim the same.
Warhammer - End Times: Vermintide
Imagine Shrek spawned a cross-species kid with an ogre-lusting rat (feel free to do a little sick). The resulting spawn of hell would most likely resemble Vermintide’s enormous Rat Ogre. Though these muscly brutes are super-strong, they’re also spectacularly dim, and can only focus on one foe at a time. Hope it’s someone else.
Metal Gear Solid 4
You don’t mind if we cheat a tad here, right? MGS4’s Rat Patrol Team 01 may be light on actual fuzzy cheddar-scoffers, but this special forces unit does have the right name. Yay? At least Meryl and co. help Old Snake battle the deadly Haven Troopers – no jokes about sinking ships here.
The Bard’s Tale
And here we thought olde-timey wandering poets went about composing verses, not offing gigantic, fire-breathing rats in cemeteries. Ah well, who are we to correct this daft PS2 action RPG’s hey-nonny-nonsense? Even better, it has a pub called The Drunken Rat. Two pints of (preferably rodent-free) ale, barkeep.
Dark Souls 3
In real life, rats make swell pets. In the darkly gothic realm of Lordran? Man, do they ever need stomping with a shoe the size of a bungalow. The massive, deeply unpleasant Royal Rat Authority hangs out near Ordeal’s End. Annoyingly, you can’t co-op this toothy bugger, though at least he’s an optional boss.
Overcooked
Forget food critics or health inspectors: rats are a chef’s ultimate enemy. Remy was the exception, not the rule. As if the cuddly cooks of this entertainingly silly indie didn’t have enough kitchen nightmares to deal with already, cheese-nicking vermin are never far away. (And when Team OPM are in the kitchen, chaos ensues even before the rats show up.) Hey, come back with our duck á l’orange!
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Talion hunts these hairy toerags to earn Mirian. Bag four Mordor Rats – they’re usually hanging round camps – and then treat yourself to some juicy health and weapon upgrades.
Hitman: Blood Money
Awww. Would you look at those adorable gambling junkies. Agent 47’s wonderful Curtains Down opera hit contains a bizarre Easter egg: poker-playing rats. Silently whack a few workers in the basement and the chrome-dome killer earns the Rat Club keycard, which can be used to open a utility room housing the card-loving rodents.
Dishonored
Kill, my pretties. Kill! Corvo’s Devouring Swarm is perhaps his most disgustingly unhygienic superpower. With a quick flick of the wrist the badass assassin summons a pack of plague-ridden rats that swiftly make a meal out of Dunwall’s corrupt guards. Personally, we’d rather get stabbed in the spine by old Skeletor Face.
This article originally appeared in Official PlayStation Magazine. For more great PlayStation coverage, you can subscribe here.
BioWare veterans place their new sci-fi space adventure Exodus on two crucial RPG spectrums: Skyrim to Final Fantasy, and Dragon Age to Mass Effect
Xbox boss Phil Spencer says there are "no red lines" preventing Microsoft games releasing on PlayStation, but it's too early to make decisions about Halo on PS5
