Balatro developer bestows the 'very prestigious Golden Thunk award' on Animal Well, says it's so good it makes him 'feel like an imposter'

GamesFPSCall of DutyCall of Duty: Black Ops 6Balatro developer bestows the ‘very prestigious Golden Thunk award’ on Animal Well, says it’s so good it makes him ‘feel like an imposter’When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Shared Memory)

Large room with Cheshire Cat face in Animal Well

“My very prestigious Golden Thunk award for Game of the Year 2024 goes to Animal Well,” LocalThunk says in anX post. “Animal Well was an engrossing experience. Dripping with style secrets, and making me feel like an imposter in this industry as a dev, Billy Basso created a true masterpiece.“Basso repliedto this with an award of his own for LocalThunk: “Nicest Most Humble Dev of the Year.” Everyone wins when you’re nice.

After releasing mid-last year, Animal Well rapidly became themost acclaimed metroidvania since Hollow Knight. It was one of the best-reviewed games onSteamlast year, sitting at an impressive and “overwhelmingly positive” 96% rating with over 17,000 reviews. I played a bit myself last year, and while I loved all the visuals, I wasn’t entirely convinced it was onHollow Knight’slevel or even the best metroidvania I played in 2024—that award has to go toUltros. Sorry!

The runners-up for the Golden Thunk award included Mouthwashing, Ballionaire, Nova Drift, Arco, and Dungeons and Degenerate Gamblers, which some players accused of being a Balatro clone. “People mistakenly wrote this off as a Balatro clone, but this was announced before my game ever was,“LocalThunk says. “A beautifully synergistic and strategic deckbuilder, I have sunk dozens of hours into.”

“I didn’t even know this was a horror game when I started playing it at 11pm one fateful night,“LocalThunk says. “I was hooked instantly, and both the world it created and the poignant message woven into the game stick with me vividly months later.”

Last year was a great one for indie games, but after all is said and done, we can’t forget to include Balatro in these celebrations. The poker roguelike that came out of nowhere didn’t just manage to hook most of the PC Gamer team,snagging our 2024 Game of the Year award, but has managed over 90,000 positive reviews onSteam. So 2024 was a pretty successful year for LocalThunk as well.

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