Before the first bell of Wrestlemania XL has even rung, WWE has a new champion.
18.03.2024 - 16:03 / engadget.com / Lawrence Bonk
YouTube sensation Dunkey, aka videogamedunkey or Jason Gastrow, has added game publishing to his resume. He started a company called Big Mode last year, which is releasing its first title on May 9. Animal Well is a sidescrolling Metroidvania platformer that will show up on the PS5, the Nintendo Switch and PCs. There’s a trailer that’s absolutely oozing with retro-gaming goodness.
Now, Dunkey didn’t make this game. Big Mode is a publisher and not a developer. A company called Shared Memory is behind Animal Well, which is just a solo dev named Billy Basso. He’s been working on the game for seven years and his hard work shows from the trailer.
Animal Well looks to lean a bit into psychedelia. There’s a blistering color palette, a synth-heavy soundtrack and, of course, a giant white cat that takes up the whole screen. There also looks to be tough platforming sections and the kinds of power ups that populate the Metroidvania genre. In any event, this looks like yet another delicious appetizer before Hollow Knight: Silksong eventually releases in the year 2087.
While Basso hasn’t released any games on his own yet, the developer did work on Octodad: Deadliest Catch and Bugsnax, among others. As for Dunkey, he’s a YouTuber, but one with pretty good taste. He knows his stuff and loves trashing bad games. If you’ve ever seen a meme taking the piss out of the beleaguered PlayStation mascot Knack, Dunkey probably had something to do with it.
Animal Well is the first game published by Big Mode, but not the last. The company has major plans for the future, including a bullet hell shooter called Star of Providence. Big Mode is also accepting submissions from developers, though not if the game includes “NFTs, crypto or blockchain.” If only Starbucks had such discerning taste.
Before the first bell of Wrestlemania XL has even rung, WWE has a new champion.
Amazon is offering another decent batch of games to Prime members at no extra cost for the month of April. Leading the bunch is Fallout 76, a multiplayer take on the post-apocalyptic franchise. There’s also the hack and slash adventure Chivalry 2 and around a dozen more.
In light of the recent early access launch and success of co-op comedy horror title Content Warning, developer Landfall has released its first major patch for the game to help fix a number of issues. While it’s far from a major content update, the patch addresses smaller issues faced by players, including reducing hard drive usage for recordings, and the option to invert mouse settings. Several new items have also been added.
While some fans may be concerned about the remake, developer Saber Interactive has promised that the project is progressing smoothly. Following the surprise announcement that one of Bioware's most beloved RPGs was receiving a ground-up reimagining for modern hardware, the fandom struggled to contain its excitement. Despite a teaser trailer dropping in 2021, the studio has yet to share an official update on the game in nearly three years, leading to speculation that it had been canceled due to tumult behind the scenes.
Smash-hit co-op horror game Content Warning is now a certified viral mega-hit, with over 6.2 million players claiming the game for free at launch.
Dredge, the sinister fishing game from Black Salt Games and publisher Team 17, has donated $100,000 New Zealand dollars to the New Zealand Whale and Dolphin Trust as it celebrates its first anniversary and teases that there's more to come for the wonderful indie horror game.
Dragon's Dogma 2director Hideaki Itsuno has shared that the game's most devastating feature was being considered as early as the series' 2012 original.
It’s been a whirlwind of a year for Toys for Bob so far. The Activision-owned studio behind Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, and Skylanders was one of several studios to be impacted by Microsoft’s mass layoffs earlier in the year, but earlier this month, it was announced that Toys for Bob was separating from Activision and Xbox and going back to being a private, independent studio.
Spyro studio Toys for Bob has reportedly reached an agreement with Microsoft for its first independent game.
Skylanders, Spyro and Crash Bandicoot developer Toys for Bob has reportedly reached an agreement with Microsoft for its next game.
has just been released, and along with it comes a large, open-world map filled with content. The original, released in 2012, took place on the sprawling island of Gransys, which was quite big in its own regard. That said, ups the ante and features an even larger map, taking place in the two new regions of Vermund and Battahl, with a host of other new locations and towns added to the game.
The religious themed INDIKA will be available on May 8th, 11 Bit Studios has confirmed. The game has been developed by Odd Meter Studio. INDIKA is puzzle based narrative game where players take on the role of Indika who may have the power to change God’s plan, though the question will be are her actions actually having any impact.