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RPS@PAX 2023: Animal Well's subterranean world is both beautiful and unsettling

Friend or foe?

Earlier in the week, Liam and I had the opportunity to chat with Animal Well's solo developer and publisher Bigmode about creating their eerie subterranean world. We then had a chance to go hands on with the PAX East demo, and wow, we were both incredibly impressed. Watch the video below for our enthusiastic impressions:

If we could give an RPS 'Bestest Best in show' award to a game, is would be Animal Well. Liam and I loved the game's dense atmosphere, spider-web of interconnected caverns, and creepy creatures that lurk in the dark. We also liked the lighting effects the game has, which reminded Liam of Octopath Traveler's visual flairs. If I had to compare it to one game, it would be Hollow Knight, which is very exciting.

We have plenty more PAX East indies for you to check out so make sure you have a peruse through our RPS@PAX tag. A couple of our favourites have been chaotic rouguelite Pizza Possum, Resident Evil-like Alone In The Dark, and island exploration game Mythwrecked.

Here are some more Animal Well screenshots because they look great:

A screenshot from Shared Memories' pixel Metroidvania Animal Well, showing a peacock stood on a platform
Creepy statues of a cat, lizard, ostrich (?), and seahorse from Animal Well.
Animal Well is a pixel art Metroidvania that's trying to do something a bit different.
An underground shrine surrounded by capybaras in Animal Well
Image credit: Bigmode

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