Animal Well, the first title from Jason ‘dunkey’ Gastrow’s video game publisher Bigmode, has been an undeniable hit, scoring practically perfect reviews across the board. If you’re among those who’ve fallen in love with the game, you’ll be happy to know its creator, Billy Basso, has a second game in the works, but maybe don’t get your hopes up for an Animal Well 2.
Basso recently partook in a Reddit AMA, alongside “business/marketing guy” Dan Adelman, to answer fan questions. Naturally, someone asked Basso if he intends to make another game, to which he answered, “I’m currently planning to make a game that will be in the same ‘universe’ but may not be a direct sequel.” Considering his next project is likely very, very early in development, Basso wasn’t willing to share any further details, such as whether it’ll be another Metroidvania like Animal Well or something completely different.
He also ruled out Animal Well receiving any DLC, saying, “If I do work on something else related to it, it will be a new game.” To be fair, with how many secrets there are to uncover in Animal Well, it’s not like it even needs DLC. It may be disappointing for some, but Adelman provided further context for the lack of post-launch content when another fan asked if more secrets would be added over time: “Billy wanted to make a self-contained game like back in the olden days when things were put on a cartridge and were frozen in time forever. He did have to make some patches here and there for minor issues that didn’t come up during our testing, but beyond that, the game is done.”
Whatever Basso ends up making next, it probably won’t come out for a long time, especially if he remains the sole developer like he was on Animal Well. I’m sure some are hoping for another Metroidvania, but with how much good will Animal Well has generated, I imagine fans will flock to Basso’s next game no matter what it ends up being.
If you’ve not picked up Animal Well for yourself, you really should. You needn’t worry about getting stuck or lost either since the community has been figuring out solutions to the game’s trickier tasks. We also have several guides to help you out, including one for how to sneak up on a squirrel and one for finding all of the kangaroos.
