Best Animals in Party Animals (& How to Unlock Them)

Party Animals has been out, what, a week? And yet, already hundreds of thousands of fledgling brawlers and co-op lovers are aiming to obtain those top-shelf Animals for their collections. There’s the standard dog, Nemo, and a fairly wide variety of other rubbery beasts and furry critters — all of whom you can get your hands on right from the get-go. But you know, that’s barely scratching the surface, as there are actually several—dozens even, of additional Animals and cosmetics to unlock on top.

So, who’s actually worth unlocking, and which skins and general cosmetics will give you eternal bragging rights in the online realm of Party Animals? Well, if we had to call out the top five in the entire game and slot them on a leaderboard of some sort, then we’d opt for these. Best Animals in Party Animals? We’ve got you covered.

Barbie

Don’t let the name fool you; Barbie is one heck of a tough gorilla, and not to mention the iron weight who has the actual power to annihilate most other characters on the board without so much as flicking a wrist. Grumpy, yes — but who’s to say that the best of the bunch aren’t a little, shall we say, miserable?

You can unlock Barbie right at the beginning of the game, so if you’ve been panicking about being stuck with Nemo for the duration of your brawling career — don’t. Sure there are a number of great outfits to slap Barbie in, but so long as you keep the standard skin in mind, you should be able to bring home a few wins just through brute force and intimidation alone. Probably.

Bacon

Whoever thought up the idea of naming a portly pig Bacon understood the assignment, and then some. Peel back the skin and cutesy smile, though, and you’re actually left with an absolute unit of an Animal, and not to mention one of the trendiest (thanks, Punk Rock Pig), too. And yeah, while Bacon can’t move around the board particularly fast, he can, more or less, wield items with greater ease. That is, of course, providing you’re able to position those rubbery arms correctly, anyway.

The good news is, you can get ahold of Bacon relatively early on in the game, so you needn’t worry about slugging through hundreds of hours to be able to make good use of his abilities. To get your hands on Bacon, you need only reach Level 10, after which the weirdly adorable punk rocker will pop up to join your brawling endeavors. Simple.

Bruce

Clearly Recreate Games had a slight obsession with Pixar’s Finding Nemo when they chalked up the names for its characters, hence the Corgi, Nemo, and the killer shark, Bruce. And while there isn’t a Dory (yet), there is more than enough to chew through as the teeth-wielding kingpin of the big blue — so that’s a start.

Unfortunately, you’ll need to put in a bit of work in order to unlock Bruce, as he is, at this moment in time, only available to purchase from the Item Shop. And that’s just the standard skin, too. But if you can afford the spare Nemo Bucks, then be sure to give it some food for thought. Sure, a lot of other Animals have more bark than bite, but Bruce just has both — and not to mention the teeth to back it up.

Tiagra

Because who wouldn’t want a friggin’ tiger on their team, right? It certainly beats an otter, anyhow. And while there are no major perks for using Tiagra in battle, there is at least something of a wow factor that not many other Animals claim to bear (yes, we’re looking at you, Otta.)

You can get ahold of Tiagra by checking out the Item Shop—an in-game storefront that, rather annoyingly, hosts all of the best Animals and skins in Party Animals. If you can spare the time and effort, though, then it’s also worth considering the Warlord Tiagra outfit, which can be unlocked with Surprise Eggs. Again, it won’t give you any immediate advantage in battle, but it certainly looks cool.

Uni

Arguably one of the most adorable Animals in all of Party Animals (and that’s saying something, man), it’s Uni, the wobbly unicorn with all the colors of the rainbow strapped to its head and a clumpy fist to boot. Let it be said that Uni isn’t exactly built for speed, but the sheer size of the mythical creature is enough to keep other Animals at bay — more so when there’s a shovel wedged between the pudding gloves.

At the time of writing, you can get your hands on Uni just as soon as you start out in Party Animals. That isn’t to say there aren’t any special skins with a lavish price tag to get ahold of, though. You can unlock additional skins and outfits for Uni by checking in with the Item Shop and offloading your Nemo Bucks.

Will There Be More Animals?

As luck would have it, Recreate Games has already made it clear that there will, in fact, be more Animals joining the roster over the coming weeks, months, and years. Matter of fact, there’s already one in the pipeline—a Cabbage Dog, of all things, that will become available to the public at some stage in the not-so distant future. So that’s a good start, at least.

For more updates on the Party Animals debut, don’t forget to check in with Recreate Games’ official social feed here. You can get your hands on a copy of Party Animals on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC today. Oh, and it’s also available on Xbox Game Pass and Game Pass Ultimate, too.

So, what’s your take? Do you agree with the top five Animals? Have you found your favorite character in Party Animals yet? Let us know your thoughts over on our socials here.