The player can rescue a companion dog to assist in combat. He can be temporarily incapacitated with audible pain noises but cannot be permenantly killed through gameplay. Bodies of dogs are frequently found throughout the game world. These are often positioned for emotional impact. Narrative subplots involve dognapping and chemical experimentation on both dogs and wolves. The player is frequently forced into combat with both wolves and hostile dogs. Friendly dogs exist in the world that can be pet, but may turn hostile due to accidental damage by the player and can be injured or killed. The player can command their NPC partners to fight with hostile wildlife so that they don't have to directly.
The player is frequently attacked by hostile wildlife that they usually need to defend themselves from, and multiple missions involve hunting or roadkill.
Though sparse, snakes may be encountered anywhere in the wilderness and inside some structures. When the player is near one, it will rattle and hiss. If the player gets too close, the snake will bite causing momentary loss of player control and a blurry and discoloured screen.
Bees nests can be encountered across the map at certain points, shooting them and getting too close will bring up a promo to swat them away or take damage.
Occurs often, there are multiple sequences in holland valley where the player character or npcs are kidnapped by main antagonists and restrained, and the opening sequence of the game ends with the player character handcuffed within dutch's bunker
one of the cult leaders holds your head down underwater to baptize the player in a 1st person perspective. other npcs can be seen going though this from 3rd person.
The player is frequently kidnapped and tortured for narrative purposes. The story implies that a large number of the enemy combatants had also been kidnapped and drugged into compliance, so killing them is very questionable. The player will encounter these kidnappings in progress and can intervene to stop them.
you play as a police officer stepping in to stop the cult, but aside from being the 'good guys' they aren't really glorified or the 'winners' so to speak