YouTuber Dunkey’s publishing company is releasing its first game on May 9

YouTube sensation Dunkey, aka videogamedunkey or Jason Gastro, has added game publishing to his resume. He started a company called Big Mode last year, which is releases its first title on May 9. Animal well is a side-scrolling Metroidvania platformer coming to PS5, Nintendo Switch, and PC. There is a trailer that shines with retro games.

Dunkey didn’t make that play. Big Mode is a publisher, not a developer. A company called Shared Memory is behind it Animal well, which is just a solo developer named Billy Basso. He was worked on the game for seven years and his hard work is evident in the trailer.

Animal well seems to lean a little towards psychedelia. There’s a brilliant color palette, a synth-rich soundtrack and, of course, a giant white cat that takes up the entire screen. It also looks like there will be difficult platforming sections and the kinds of power-ups that populate the Metroidvania genre. In any case, this looks like another delicious appetizer before Hollow Knight: Silksong eventually released in 2087.

While Basso has yet to release any games on his own, the the developer is working on Octodad: The Deadly Catch and Bugsnax, by the way. As for Dunkey, he’s a YouTuber, but with pretty good taste. He knows his stuff and likes to break up bad plays. If you’ve ever seen a meme that pissed off the beleaguered PlayStation Knack mascot, 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 big plans for the future, including bullet hell shooter named Star of Providence. Big Mode also accepts requests from developers, but not if the game involves “NFT, crypto or blockchain”. If only Starbucks had such pretentious taste.