New Steam surprise gets ratings and reviews that most games only dream of

Very few people have probably heard of Animal Well until now – unless you are a fan of the YouTuber Videogame Dunkey, who has become known for his funny game reviews. Last year, Dunkey founded his own label called Bigmode, with which he wants to act as a publisher for aspiring indie developers.

And it seems like Bigmode and solo developer Billy Basso have done everything right in their collaboration, as Animal Well has hit Steam like a bomb.

Animal Well is winning the hearts of players and the press

What kind of game is this anyway? Animal Well takes you into a mysterious game world in which you take on the role of a small blob and explore a seemingly endlessly deep well. The game is a classic Metroidvania that emphasizes exploration and puzzle solving.

There are no classic combat mechanics and difficult platforming passages are largely missing. However, the cozy atmosphere is occasionally interrupted because, as the name of the game suggests, the fountain is inhabited by all kinds of animals – and not everyone is happy about your visit.

In the boss fights you have to successfully escape or otherwise outsmart the angry animals before you can continue to explore the world and find out what secrets lie behind the statues, hieroglyphs, etc. that can be found everywhere.

This gameplay principle has been extremely well received by both players and critics: Animal Well can Metacritic currently one Meta score of 91 rating points secure, on Steam the title is even 97 percent positive after around 1,100 user reviews.

If you're curious now: Animal Well is out now available on Steam and costs 22 euros there. You can also purchase the game for PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch, but there is no Xbox version.

It is not yet known which game Videogame Dunkey will release next. But since both Animal Well and Bigmode's first title, the top-down shooter Star of Providence, have received excellent reviews on Steam, it's worth looking forward to as the YouTuber seems to choose his projects very carefully.