Animal Well

Animal Well is a 2024 Metroidvania puzzle-platformer video game developed by Billy Basso as Shared Memory and published by Bigmode. The player controls an unnamed blob creature and explores an underground animal-filled labyrinth which incorporates nonlinear platforming and puzzle solving. The game is presented as an interconnected set of rooms, or flip-screens, with 2D pixel art. No plot or backstory is given, and the game world is filled with puzzles and secrets, including some puzzles that require groups of players working in collaboration or several playthroughs to solve.

Billy Basso developed Animal Well, his first solo work, over the course of seven years. He planned the game as he developed it by inventing mechanics and deriving puzzles from their interactions. The design aesthetics were inspired by gardens and urban areas around Chicago, as well as his own artwork. Basso developed the entire game himself, including the underlying engine; he partnered with Dan Adelman after four years of development to handle marketing, and partnered with Bigmode a year later as their first published game, after YouTuber Jason Gastrow (videogamedunkey) saw Animal Well at a festival.

Animal Well was released for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Windows in May 2024, and for Xbox Series X/S in October. It released to critical acclaim, especially for its aesthetics and layered puzzles, and was featured in several lists of the best games of 2024. It won Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction at the 28th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, and was nominated for numerous categories at multiple awards ceremonies, including at the Game Awards 2024, the 25th Game Developers Choice Awards, and the 21st British Academy Games Awards.