Animal Well
Main game
4.10 average rating based on 311 ratings
- Developers
- Shared Memory
- Publishers
- Bigmode
- Events
- Indie Arena Booth Hybrid 2022, BitSummit PUNCH, +6 moreIndie Arena Booth Hybrid 2022, BitSummit PUNCH, Xbox Partner Preview October 2024, Nintendo Direct [JP]: Partner Showcase + Indie World Showcase - 8.27.2024, Indie World Showcase 4.17.2024, BitSummit Let's Go!, Nintendo Indie World Showcase April 2023, Day of the Devs 2022 less
- Platforms
- Nintendo Switch, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S
- Genres
- Adventure, Indie, Platform, Puzzle
- Themes
- Action, Horror, Mystery, Survival
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Animal Well?
A true indie gem
One of the most complex and deep metroidvanias I've ever played.
Not sure what the story is (or if there's even a story) but Animal Well is basically one huge puzzle. No guidance, no nothing - it's just you, your brain and your instincts. Really fun cracking this game open, and after 12 or so hours I still haven't found everything.
I will say the game has too much content for its own good, and some of it isn't fun to find - just too well hidden. But I can see myself going back to find all the eggs (and maaaaybe all the bunnies) to get the "true ending." Not sure I'll ever replay it from scratch, though.
The visuals are interesting and have a certain style and appeal. The sounds are also pretty good, though they do not stand out as much.
Overall, a true indie gem and a fantastic game.
Like a weird dream
I actually rolled credits on this a couple of weeks ago, but I was undecided whether I’d go back to try for some
It’s comforting, strange, beautiful, and creepy at all once. The art style is one I have a huge weakness for, and while I wish there was a bit more music, what there is really sets the tone and the sound effects are great too.
I’m generally fairly poor at puzzle-heavy games, so I’m quite proud of myself that I reached credits without using a guide. Ultimately though I’ve decided to not proceed getting the
However, it has been very entertaining watching the YouTube videos of all the crazy stuff people have found, and it would seem like not everything has been discovered yet!
Video Game Art
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version
This is a gorgeous game. It's simple, but not easy, and yet allows for so much more after you've beaten it.
Beautifully haunting puzzlevania
I'm not a huge metroidvania fan, but I love myself a good puzzle game and this one is one certainly.
Aesthetically the game comes off as a minimalistic one-man pixelart-project, emphasized by the laconic sort of character you're playing, which seems to be little more than a faceless blob out of bubble bobble.
The dark blue colour palette and eerie music pair perfectly with the mostly cute but often enough slightly frightening animals you encounter in the well.
To replace combat with puzzle is one thing, but what makes Animal Well great is that it celebrates a game mechanic which has become part of the standard reportoire of metroidvanias but unfortunately became totally trivialized in the process:
Backtracking with newly acquired abilities. In other games of the genre and even in Hollow Knight it is a simple hard lock in the map which simply indicates that the foreseen way of proceeding is geographically seperated from the end of the former chapter.
In Animal Well, the abilities can be used in various seemingly creative ways in all parts of the map, making it scratch on the surface of an immersive sim mechanic.
USP of the game is also it's various layers …
I'm not a huge metroidvania fan, but I love myself a good puzzle game and this one is one certainly.
Aesthetically the game comes off as a minimalistic one-man pixelart-project, emphasized by the laconic sort of character you're playing, which seems to be little more than a faceless blob out of bubble bobble.
The dark blue colour palette and eerie music pair perfectly with the mostly cute but often enough slightly frightening animals you encounter in the well.
To replace combat with puzzle is one thing, but what makes Animal Well great is that it celebrates a game mechanic which has become part of the standard reportoire of metroidvanias but unfortunately became totally trivialized in the process:
Backtracking with newly acquired abilities. In other games of the genre and even in Hollow Knight it is a simple hard lock in the map which simply indicates that the foreseen way of proceeding is geographically seperated from the end of the former chapter.
In Animal Well, the abilities can be used in various seemingly creative ways in all parts of the map, making it scratch on the surface of an immersive sim mechanic.
USP of the game is also it's various layers of depth if you explore the additional content, which I ofc don't because I never do.
I don't know if the price tag is justified but I don't mind spending my money if it goes directly towards a passionate one man-indie dev project.
Oh and btw: I just decided that puzzlevania is okay to say, while metroidbrainia is totally cringe. Jump in on the train!
Gobelin_Powa's review of Animal Well
8/10 Ce jeu est une dinguerie. Les énigmes te retournent le cerveau, tu te dis comment c'est possible d'avoir pensé à tout ça. Evidemment, selon les couches de mystère que l'on veut percer, le jeu est impossible à faire seul c'est clair. Mais les vidéos autour de ce jeu et de ses mystères sont géniales. J'ai quand même trouvé les 3/4 des oeufs, ai fini le jeu de façon classique, mais je me régale de voir et revoir comment les mystères qui entourent le jeu sont décryptés.
So apparently I was missing out on a huge postgame item upgrade because
I did technically roll credits on this, but obviously there's plenty of game after that and I don't feel like I can really give a full review of the game until I've played the rest. Unfortunately, between the fact that I didn't utilize marking the map as much as I should have and now there's one particular item somewhere and I have no idea where because I've filled in the whole damn map seems like (it's 1 of 9, ifykyk), and the fact that I found like 6 eggs and then there was a power outage before I could save, I'm just kind of dispirited. Honestly I think I'll have to come back to this in like 1-3 years and just start over form the beginning, knowing what I know now about using the map. Map early, map often!
p.s. There was a lot about this that reminded me of Axiom Verge 2 in terms of how it approaches the metroidvania design, but I wish it had as many fast travel points as that game because the way they do it here is real tedious.
Knowing how I play metroidvanias and my ability to miss secrets that drive me mad...
Animal Well gives me the sense I'm in for trouble.
I'm all for it.
Neon Indian - Era Extrana
Justice - Justice
Yes, I loved Animal Well.
but did I love it enough?
Meh. The platforming was fairy irritating and imprecise. I am so tired of 8-bit pixel art graphics for Metroidvanias. The final straw was the
An intriguing and mysterious Metroidvania. At first I was slightly turned off but once I got a few upgrades it was more interesting. I liked having a lot of small puzzles in each of the rooms to figure out how to make progress. My big gripe is the platforming feels a bit too slippery and not as precise as I want for some of the early areas
I found the rabbit, but the rabbit hole keeps growing :s this game is fenomenal, i ruined a couple of surprises for myself by watching a little bit of gameplay, but now i'm far past that and i've had so much fun finding eggs and mechanics by accident, i've screamed "WHAT" out loud 4 times so far, it's pure madness. The only things i don't like so far is that there are permanently missable collectibles, and that i can't play Zelda's Lullaby in the flute because it doesn't reach high enough notes.
Finally got 100% on this (by my definition, which means all the achievements), and went ahead and looked up the crazier secrets that were still hiding from me. Game is insane. wingdings has never been so important. People are still trying to figure some stuff out, apparently.
Definitely a GOTY contender. I felt that on an individual puzzle-by-puzzle basis, nothing really stumped me or impressed me too much, but when taken as a whole package it's such a perfect exploration experience and the vibes are IMMACULATE.
How did I manage to miss an achievement with a 100% unlock rate
Layer 1 done
Not sure how far into the game I'm actually gonna get, but I definitely wanna try to get the whole map and get as many eggs as I can (maybe all if possible?).
I'm slowly starting to feel the same way I did with Baba, where I know I'll get to a point where I'm not smart/crazy enough to continue solving the meta puzzles in the game, but I'm having fun in the meantime.
I can't tell if I like this game or not. When it's going well and I get into the flow of things it feels good to play but every so often you run into a challenge that is just obtuse and the logic seems weird. Granted, other folks might walk into those puzzles and recognize it instantly so I don't wanna bear down on it too much but personally there's a strange friction I run into and especially if I haven't found a save point near that challenge I spend more time running through safe areas and redoing platforming or whatever is on the way... That's pretty lame.
So far I think my only critique would be that for a game like this I personally feel like a Celeste style "every room is check-pointed" would be better, or just more abundant save points. I think the repetition of screens and challenges is getting a bit grating.