Back in 2022, popular YouTuber videogamedunky announced Bigmode, his publishing arm. On Sunday, it was announced that Animal Well, the first title published by the company, would hit PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch on May 9.
The game was entirely developed by Billy Basso, who created the code, art, music, and design of the puzzle platformer.
“I started development on Animal Well seven years ago and spent the majority of my evenings and weekends since that time working on it,” said Basso in a new statement. “I quit my day job about 2 years ago to finish the game and couldn’t be prouder of how the game turned out. This has been my passion for a long time, and I’m so excited to finally share it with the world.”
On the game’s Steam page, Animal Well is described as a “dense atmospheric puzzle box world with attention paid to every detail.” Players will need to collect items used to manipulate the environment and interact with different creatures to progress through the indie Metroidvania.
YouTuber Jason ‘Dunkey’ Gastrow has over seven million subscribers on YouTube and has been a consistent voice in the gaming community for over a decade.
“One of the core themes of my channel has always been to slam dunk soulless cash grabs into the garbage can and lift up and praise the truly inspired works of art in this medium. I want Bigmode to act as my seal of approval, which is something that I do not apply lightly,” said Gastrow.
“I’m not looking for creative control over your games, but I do want to be involved. I’m sick of sitting on the sidelines waiting for great games to appear. Now I want to get in there and help make it happen.”
Animal Well will be released on May 9 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch.
