YouTube sensation Dunkey, aka videogamedunkey or Jason Gastrow added game publishing to his resume. Last year, he founded a company called Big Mode, ie It releases its first title on May 9. Animal Well It’s a side-scrolling Metroidvania platformer that will appear on PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PCs. There’s a trailer absolutely dripping with retro-gaming goodness.
Now, Dunkey didn’t make this game. Big Mode is a publisher, not a developer. A company called Shared Memory is behind it Animal WellBilly Basso is a solo developer. He was working on the game for seven years and his hard work is evident from the trailer.
Animal Well seems a bit psychedelic. There’s a blistering color palette, a synth-heavy soundtrack, and of course, a giant white cat that takes up the entire screen. Challenging platforming sections and the types of power-ups that populate the Metroidvania genre are also seen. Anyway, this looks like another tasty appetizer before Hollow Knight: Song of Silk finally released in 2087.
Although Basso has yet to release a game of his own, worked on the developer Octodad: Deadliest Catch and Bugsnax, among others. As for Dunkey, he’s a YouTuber, but with pretty good taste. He knows his stuff and loves trashing bad games. If you’ve ever seen an angry meme of beleaguered PlayStation mascot Knack, Dunkey probably had something to do with it.
Animal Well It is the first game published by Big Mode, but not the last. The company has big plans for the future, including a bullet hell shooter named Star of Providence. Big Mode is also accepting submissions from developers, although the game doesn’t include “NFTs, crypto, or blockchain.” If Starbucks tasted great.
