2024’s best Metroidvania Animal Well might not get a sequel, but its creator wants to make another game in the same 8-bit universe
May. 26, 2024Whatever’s next hasn’t been “pieced together yet”
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In a year already bursting with killer Metroidvanias to sink into, Animal Well managed to tower over its competition and became the year’s second-best-reviewed game when it came out earlier this month. Now, as players are mopping up the minimalist world’s last remaining secrets, the game’s creator is turning his gaze toward an Animal Well follow-up, which may or may not be a proper sequel.
Animal Well takes players across a sparse, knotted world full of wildlife to unravel both one-and-done puzzles and mysteries that linger throughout the entire game. One of the game’s most elaborate mysteries, the time capsule, was solved by dedicated players without datamining, a feat that creator Billy Basso found “extremely impressive” in hisAMA on the Nintendo Switch subreddit. “They solved it legitimately way faster than I ever could have imagined.”
With the game’s biggest headscratchers out of the way, all eyes are on whatever Billy Basso does next, and thankfully for fans of the 8-bit labyrinth, that might be another game set in the zootopian world. While the game might receive some “minor bug fixes” via updates, “there will never be any DLC for Animal Well,” according to Billy Basso, “If I do work on something else related to it, it will be a new game.”
The solo developer then revealed he’s “currently planning to make a game that will be in the same universe but may not be a direct sequel.” What that means is anyone’s guess - Another genre? A new perspective? A different playable critter? - though Billy Basso said he “cannot say” anything more.
“There is lore that I had in mind while making the game, including some very specific details that the community hasn’t pieced together yet,” Billy Basso added, so players better grab their toys and descend into the well once more - there are still Easter Eggs to hunt down there, and they might even clue us into whatever’s happening next in the Animal Well kingdom.
After making a game with a file size so tiny it was dwarfed by its own PS5 background, Animal Well’s developer says “I didn’t do anything clever.”
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Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that’s vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he’ll soon forget.
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