After his excellent debut Metroidvania took 7 years, Animal Well's solo dev says his next game shouldn't "take nearly as long"

Animal Well screenshot, captured on PC — (Image credit: Bigmode)

Animal Well's solo developer has said that whatever he works on next shouldn't have the seven-year development time like its predecessor.

Even in a year with massive blockbusters worked on by hundreds of people like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle arriving every month, one of 2024's biggest highlights was a 34MB indie game made by one guy. Animal Well arrived back in May 2024 and has since gone on to become one of the most beloved indie games in recent memory, nabbing nominations for PC Game of the Year, Best Indie, and Ultimate Game of the Year at the 2024 Golden Joystick Awards.

While some may have only heard of the game when it was released onto PlayStation Plus or when YouTuber VideoGameDunkey announced it was the first game his publisher, BigMode would be releasing, Animal Well was a long-awaited release. The game's director (and programmer, artist, composer – everything, really) Billy Basso, started work on the game way back in 2017. After a few convention appearances over the years, the game finally released seven years later, and that was that.

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However, despite how long Animal Well took, Basso has said that whatever comes next shouldn't take as long. Speaking to Wired, Basso said, "I'm back in the good, pure phase where I just get to make something on my own, without sharing it with anybody. I guess I'll relish that for the next few years." He added, "Animal Well took seven years… I don't think this next project will take nearly as long. Hopefully."

While he hasn't revealed what's next for him, he said, "I think it’s something people who enjoyed Animal Well will also enjoy. It will have its own identity." Basso had previously revealed that he's planning to make a game in the same universe as – but not a direct sequel to – Animal Well.