Hello everybody and welcome to the first episode in 2026 of Digging Up Positivity!

In this episode we have quite some animation news, an interview of the man behind The Friendliest Skunk, a really awesome video game, and of course a ton of charities by our wonderfully weird fandom!

Update 4/18/26: The convention announced their expansion plans in more detail in mid April 2026 here

When Anthro New England had its fourth year in the Westin Boston Seaport Hotel last month, it was obvious to attendees that it had outgrown the space that it occupies. When moving into the Westin in 2023, after being in the Boston Park Plaza hotel for a few years, there were 3,548 attendees. By 2026 they have more than doubled that, to 7,284. All the event space in the Westin had already been contracted out in 2023, and there isn’t additional space to grow in the hotel. Yet the convention needs more of it.

At the end of closing ceremonies, the convention hinted at expansion, telling attendees to wait for an announcement later in the year. Flayrah has been given exclusive information, in a series of interviews, on the plans the convention has for the future of the convention. While not finalized, it gives a glimpse into negotiations and plans often kept hidden from public view by organizers.

GOAT (trailer) is a computer-animated sports-comedy film from Sony Pictures Animation, released in February 2026. Directed by Tyree Dillihay and Adam Rosette, it's 100 minutes long. I don't even like sports, and I really enjoyed it! Rotten Tomatoes currently rates it 83% / 93%. I'd definitely recommend going to see it before Disney's Hoppers steals the limelight.

Taking place in a world of anthro animals (yay!), the manager of the struggling Vineland Thorns basketball roarball team recruits a new player named Will, a goat played by Caleb McLaughlin. Will has dreamed his whole life of becoming a pro, and is up against a ton of discrimination for being physically small on the court. But mostly it's the other members of the team who are their own worst enemies - and Will's arrival is the catalyst that starts turning things around.

Time estimate: 28 - 34 hours (Thomas [Fox] Playthough)
Available: XBox,Steam
Game Type: Narrative based Slice of Life RPG with resource management elements
Elements of Game not Reviewed: Bob [Panther] Playthrough, combat elements

Back to the Dawn is a computer game where your character Thomas, a fox journalist, ends up in prison by a corrupt mayor looking to quash a story about a facility plant polluting a nearby community that the politician’s relatives “allegedly” have some stake in. Your imprisonment comes 21 days before the re-election campaign that will ensure his corruption will remain for many years to come. In this game and story you will need to lead Thomas on his mission to prove his innocence, or perhaps find a way to flee the prison and corrupt metropolis that has put a target on his back.

This is a life simulator RPG mixed with time and resource management. You’ll need to play to your strengths to acquire items and information that can help you on your journey to freedom, all while the system wants to break your mind and body so that you give up or give in.

You can also play as another character who acts as an NPC in Thomas’s quest. Bob the black panther is an undercover officer who is assigned to the prison and has an entire quest unique to him. I did not play that to review however.

Everyone loves Steam Next Fest here at Gaming Furever! Our staff goes through the entire list of games published in the Fest to find and list each and every one that features anthropomorphic character(s), or features animals as a focus. This time, we went through all 3450+ games to get to this list of 370+ games. We could've missed a couple, but we hope this is an all-encompasing list for this season's available games! Almost every one has a demo, so go have fun and wishlist the ones that pique your interest!

We have an actively updated Furry & Animal Games & Developers List over at @GamingFurever on Twitter and another List over @GamingFurever on Bluesky that you can follow and get constant updates for lots of indie titles with TONS of lovely furry characters!

If you're a developer of any of these games, feel free to hit us up on email over on our Contact Us page!