Animal Well is an undeniable passion project brimming with personality; evidentially shown through the immaculate presentation, the ominous yet inviting atmosphere, and the intuitive but thought-provoking puzzle design. The amount of freedom provided to the player is astounding and often grants the sensation that you're breaking the game even though it's obviously intended and meticulously crafted to feel that way. The only sore spot for me were the boss encounters as I didn't feel like they encouraged ingenuity and creativity from the player in the way that the rest of experience does.

Um tempo atrás eu lembro de ter ouvido "Busca e Ação" como uma boa definição para o que entendemos como metroidvania, e Animal Well prova que realmente, ir de encontro com um level design não tão linear pode ser benéfico para a atmosfera do jogo.

Me senti perdido muitas vezes, mas a sagacidade entre os encontros e quadros de puzzle me seguraram por todo o tempo. Entretanto, ainda sinto que o jogo perde a mão em ter tantos coletáveis (que acabam sendo importantes para um "final verdadeiro" e um ARG mais pra frente) o que fez que me sentisse fora de uma conversa legal, mas que pedia demais pra eu participar.

No mais, como que o estrupício do VideogameDunkey botou as mãos em uma joia tão interessante quanto essa?

I think the core of Animal Well is pretty fantastic and I had a pretty great time getting through to the "normal ending". While platforming can be demanding of the player that may not expect it coming into this game, I found that the puzzle design + sense of discovery to be too strong for it to be that much of a deterrance.

With that being said, I didn't have any strong desires to continue for the "True ending" once I finished the core of the game. After playing games like this and Tunic, I realized that I don't care for games where they hide a good majority of its content outside of the core experience (Nothing makes my eyes roll more than hearing "NOW THE REAL GAME STARTS"). I know a lot of folks can get really nitty gritty and spend a lot of time poking around in this game but I felt quite satisfied with the main journey.

Aesthetically fantastic.

Animal Well is a game I heard nothing but good things about and now that I’ve played it I’m right there with everyone.

The world is weird but very cool to explore. Puzzles are fun to figure out as you unlock new items.

My main issue with the game is I don’t like it when games hide the true ending behind finding all the collectibles. In my case I only got the normal ending and decided that was enough for me but that still says a lot about the how good the game it earning a 9/10.

a really big surprise that I didn't expect to like as much as i did. I think Animal Well basically skyrockets into the top echelon of indie games. the first thing that sticks out to me is the artstyle. the color pallette and the pixel art really gives this world an eriee yet sometimes calming atmosphere. it really is a huge highlight of the game. i also want to point out that this is one of the rare games that doesnt involve combat at all. it is purely puzzle/exploration based. I really like this choice and I think it helps give the feeling that the player character is outmatched by his environment. but that slowly changes as you go through the game and start to collect the game's many items. A lot of these items have a primary use along with a secret alternative that can be super rewarding to discover. finding out i could ride on the frisbee was a mindblowing moment that opens up so many opportunites. even after "beating the game" you continue to collect item after item (a suprising amount) that even greater expands your capabilites. the wolf boss was a standout moment for me, and probably the biggest challenge I've encountered so far. the sprite for the wolf is so offputting and when it is chasing you there is this droning noise playing in the background that never failed to give me anxiety. a big part of this game is the amount of content there is after you "beat" the main objective. there are 64 eggs to collect and 20 or so secret bunnies to find around the map. I havent even begun to dig into the bunnies, but I have collected around 50 of the eggs. I hope to one day go back and find the rest of them, and maybe even start looking for the bunnies.

One of the coolest games I’ve ever played. The traversal tools are so unique and fun to use, and the world is a joy to explore (the first 2-3 times lol). After that exploration becomes a bit tedious once you’re hunting for the few collectibles you missed, but the puzzles are so clever and well thought out that it’s easy to forgive this nitpick. I got the true ending but had to tap out there, everything after that feels way too complex for me but I’m excited to watch YouTube videos from people smarter than me!

Started playing this a few days ago just to give it a try! Now its 3 days later and I just 100%'d it. The world of it all feels so special and alive, all breathing and flowing as one. Soul nourishing stuff, even the super obscure secrets hidden in here that you'll definitely need to Google cause they weren't really expected to be found just make it all the more special. Seriously, I almost teared up at one little obscure detail. It's a singular world made by and for Billy Basso, and we're all just living in it. Not one to miss :)

Animal Well as an experience is better than Animal Well as a game. That doesn't mean Animal Well isn't a fun game, but it's not the kind of game that works nearly as well past a first playthrough. For most people, that's perfectly fine. You play through a game, find its secrets, and then quit. But for a game that actively encourages you to experience it, then continue to experience it again and again, the cracks begin to show pretty evidently.

Animal Well is a puzzle platformer metroidvania. You, some little slime dude, are dropped into the world with no information other than...well actually, just no information. A key element that brings out Animal Well's unique charm is how completely informationless you are and remain throughout the entire duration of play. No matter how far you get, no semblance of real narrative or lore is ever dropped on you. This combined with the game's stellar art and ambience gives the player a rich and mysterious atmosphere as they play. It's dripping in atmosphere all over, and it is gorgeous. On the other hand, though, the utter lack of information makes for a playthrough that's full of questioning. "Why am I doing this?" "What's my goal?" "Is there any reason for me to be here?" You aren't ever given any answers, and outside of the game-given goal of "getting the four flames", there is zero forward momentum within the game to drive a player. This is a divisive thing though, for some people, the intrigue will outweigh their need for answers. For me, however, I found it very difficult, especially after specific events to become very engaged with the game and its utter lack of clues. Depending on how long you play, the lack of anything other than your own ambition will set in harder and harder.

The best way to showcase the dichotomy of the game's failings (in my eyes) is through the game's three "layers". Layer 1 is collecting the four flames and reaching the credits. When you play through Layer 1 of this game, you will have gone through a majority of the screens, collected a decent amount of hidden easter eggs, and maybe glimpsed some deeper things, but not many. After reaching the credits, you enter "Layer 2" where your goal (if you continue playing) is to find any screens you missed, collect all the remaining easter eggs, and maybe find something new...hopefully. In this layer, the mostly filled-in map will be to your detriment. The remaining pieces of the game are harder and harder to find, and the retreading of screen after screen in search of an amorphous "second ending" of some kind will push any thoughts of fun out of the way. If you play genuinely blind, this is where things start to decline fast. And then you hit "Layer 3", the cryptic, unknowable, super-duper secret post-game puzzles that are designed specifically for sickos. For only certain people will this entertain, for me I turned the game off. The reward of more cryptic and more hidden puzzles after solving a bunch of cryptic and hidden shit isn't very rewarding. At no point do I learn anything interesting about the world or what's going on, and my only driving motivator to continue engaging with it is to "find secrets for secret's sake". At some point, the egg cracks. Many tout this game's insane depths as some sort of selling point and huge intrigue, but I find it quite the opposite. I really enjoyed playing through the metroidvania layer, finding new tools to utilize, and solving quick byte-sized puzzles. The different puzzle-solving tools are incredibly unique and interesting, combined with thoughtful level design and it becomes a fun experience.

But that's it. The best example of Animal Well's desire for you to replay what is essentially a game you are continually replaying just to find another secret is the fact that there is a reward you get for beating the entire game without dying and without saving. Sure, you could definitely argue that this is just a challenge for enthusiasts, but in a game so seeped in mysteries, are you really going to deny that people might unintentionally expect more clues for some deeper secret after beating the game deathless?

I know that this review is pretty harsh, but don't get me wrong, I think Animal Well is a fun game. I just don't think it's one I will really think about going back to. There is such a thing as too cryptic. And beyond the deeper puzzles, Animal Well just doesn't have enough going for it for me. It was fine, but...that's it...

Hit credits after about four hours or so and thought to myself "this was a nice short little game, I wouldn't mind grabbing the rest of the collectibles before moving on". Like five sessions, ten hours, and several pages of notes and ciphers later, I can confidently say that I've had my fun here - and that is to say that there are still more things left to find!

This game's got layers, man.

If you like games like Super Metroid or Tunic and are looking for a densely atmospheric puzzle adventure, this is not a game you should be missing. With a few more fast travel points and a little less platforming precision in some areas (if you found all the bunnies, you'll know what I'm talking about), this would be an easy five star for me. But even with those few minor shortcomings, it's on my 2024 Game of the Year shortlist and I am confidently inducting it into my indie game hall of fame. I can already feel that this'll kick off another wave of indie game fever for me like Outer Wilds did a while back, too.

TL;DR: Animal Well is a fantastically unique experience from start to finish and it is absolutely worth all the high praise you've been hearing.



...still can't believe a donkey published this game...

Animal Well ranks alongside titles like Tunic or Environmental Station Alpha as one of my favourite deep exploration puzzle games.

Animal Well has its priorities straight compared to other games in the Metroidvania genre. The focus is solely on exploration, freeing itself from combat as the main mode of interaction. I often find games of its type exhausting to 100% because upon returning to an area, the repeat combat encounters create friction against exploration. In contrast, traversal in Animal Well requires little effort, especially as you gain more abilities. The game is keyed into exploration and discovery and so has shed away the excess baggage of its genre.

That’s not to say there's nothing to do but look around. There are many obstacles, puzzles - and of course animals - that require you to use the various items you collect. The core premise of the Metroidvania genre is gaining abilities to further exploration, but I find a lot of games use a very tiring "lock and key" approach - blue bombs for blue doors. Instead, the abilities you gain are multifunctional and overlap each other in their usage. Additionally, the puzzles and traversal problems are often agnostic to how you solve them. Not having the “correct” item may be compensated for with ingenuity or acrobatic skill. In exchange for opening the game to sequence breaks and unintended solutions, Animal Well presents an honest version of exploration, one where you’re allowed to use their tools creatively to overcome obstacles.

Aesthetically speaking, the game radiates a quaint, slightly eerie charm; the rectangular pixels mimic the image of a real CRT, along with a dark, muted colour palette that creates a calm yet sometimes unsettling atmosphere. There's a clear focus on making this analog world feel tangible; chains and vines swing dynamically, even physically simulated clouds of smoke waft around corners. Even the concept of a world populated nearly entirely by ordinary animals is so pleasantly mundane and grounded, compared to other video game worlds. When you do find something otherworldly, it feels that much more out of place.

Dipping into the unknown is, to me, the true appeal of this game, and it doesn't begin until after the credits roll. Without spoilers, there are little threads all over the map for you to pull; layers of depth to peel back as you comb over the map again and again. Because of the lack of friction in exploration and the sheer number of mysteries for me to solve, I found myself highly motivated to go as deep as I could without any outside help, and I was consistently rewarded for my perseverance up until the final layer of puzzles.

If you commit to seeing everything in this game for yourself, there will come a point where you must go outside the game and get help. This is by design. An undeniable part of the experience of playing Animal Well is the community effort that went into solving its hardest puzzles, and by the time I played the game, that community effort had completely crystallized into online guides that give you all the answers.Here’s the problem - Animal Well is a game that will exist in perpetuity and continue to be available for purchase, but at least a part of it only exists as that social activity around its release. To me, it feels like a piece of this game is essentially dead. Admittedly a small enough piece that I wasn’t dissatisfied with the amount I was able to solve on my own, but enough to feel some regret. I won't deign to pass judgment on if this is the "wrong" way to make a game, I can only report my experience.

I think I hated Animal Well. I think I loved it, but I also kinda hated it.

Let me start right off the bat by saying I'm typically not a fan of games that contain zero hand holding and refuse to explain anything. I'm a filthy casual; I like being told what to do and having a sense of direction, just so long as the game doesn't do it too much. So by that rationale, someone like me ought to reject Animal Well outright. Right off the bat it's as esoteric as can be. There's no context given to the player, no story, no lore... nothing. And after a short linear introductory area, it opens up in all directions, leading to an immense feeling of being overwhelmed. I go one way, eventually come up against a puzzle that I'm either too stupid to solve or lack the required tool to do so, and so I go somewhere else. This is the kind of game design that keeps me up at night.

But you know, when all is said and done, Animal Well's overall design is pretty damn impeccable. The game is esoteric, but it isn't unfair, and the difficulty of the puzzles is well balanced for the most part. All my sessions involved some level of frustration sure, but I was never stuck for too long, and to counter that, there were also lots of eureka moments that left me feeling pretty pleased with myself. I had little patience for something like The Witness, which felt like an endless bombardment of puzzles with zero downtime in between, but something about Animal Well kept me pressing on. While it's mostly cited as a 'Metroidvania', Animal Well to me also has the DNA of the cinematic platforming genre, which I appreciate. Games like Another World and Flashback, which switched things up on a frequent basis with their mixture of puzzle solving and trial-and-error platforming, added some necessary diversity to proceedings. And this is what Animal Well has in spades. When you enter a room you haven't visited before, that room will often present it's own unique challenge to the player. It could be a puzzle, it could be an exercise in pure dexterity, or it could be a rare boss encounter. The point is that you never know what's around the next corner, and that design ethos keeps things fresh and exciting. It also doesn't hurt that the game is gorgeous to look at. The eerie subterranean world of Animal Well is rife washed out splashes of colour, warm hues and little details placed everywhere. For anyone who appreciates some choice pixel art, this game is a veritable feast for the eyes.

Full disclosure - I reached the end credits with 29 eggs. Part of me wants to do the post-game stuff, because I know there's a lot more to discover, but at the same time, I'm eager to move on and check off something else that's on my backlog. I've read some people say that Animal Well doesn't truly begin until you've reached the end credits, so I don't know whether I've officially 'completed' it or not, but I feel content with what I've played. I also don't want to risk hating the game completely because I spent half an hour trying to use both a frisbee and a bubble wand in order to reach a collectable... again. Best to quit while I'm ahead.

A fun, bitesized metroidvania with a vibe all its own. It was very addicting to explore this lovably weird game, especially with the wonderfully cute power-ups you get to further your progress.

I've got a couple of criticisms but my overall feeling is very positive. There's not a lot of meaningful backtracking, a new power-up rarely opened up new paths all across the map, and sometimes I felt the punishment for failing a puzzle was a bit too harsh. I don't know how to feel about the dog chase, it was frustrating to complete but I felt very accomplished once I'd done it. Maybe the controls for the power-ups are a bit too finicky for that part but I did appreciate the challenge.

Despite the lack of backtracking I did love the progression through the map, I never really mind when the journey through a metroidvania is a bit more linear. I also really appreciated how every power-up got a couple of dedicated puzzle rooms to explore all of its mechanics. The puzzle design is top notch.

I can see myself replaying this in the future, just to experience this wonderful vibe again for a couple of hours.

Animal Well presents a world like a puzzle box, each newfound area and item like a hidden drawer popping out - surprising, mind-bending; expanding upon the physicality and believability of the structure rather than detracting from it. It gives the player just enough to get going and trusts them to figure the rest out for themselves, allowing the construction of a deeply intimate relationship with the world. This lack of guidance is both what makes the game work and also what almost made me drop it way too soon.

I never really managed to finish Fez. I currently have 3.8 hours registered on Steam divided across 3 or 4 separate playthroughs, the first from 2015 (when I originally bought the game) and the last from 2021. After the first few steps, when I find myself face-to-face with a large and incomprehensible world, I get overwhelmed and stop dead in my tracks, never giving myself the chance to understand it. My first few sessions of Animal Well lasted less than 30 minutes and were separated by periods of 5 or more days. I enjoyed its little quirks and figured a couple of things out, but I felt very little sense of progress. I slogged through it until I stumbled upon one of the game's 4 major collectibles, after which I had no difficulty finishing the game in two more sessions.

A lack of guidance and affording the player a high level of trust result in an experience that is deeply dependent on the player's intrinsic motivation to see the world through and discover its mysteries. There's an argument to be made that I'm at fault for never finishing Fez, that modern game design tendencies wore out my capacity for wonder and left me to rely on objective markers and experience points to keep me engaged. I did, however, have a much easier time with other similar games (what I'm taking to call puzzle-box metroidvanias).

Outer Wilds and Tunic are a wonder to explore. I feel they make the initial attachment to the world way easier - Outer Wilds with its guiding characters and simple tutorial, Tunic with its manual and initial linearity - all while sacrificing none of the depth they eventually reveal. I had a problem with engagement when making Candle Prick, my little sokoban that's turning two years old in November. I thought the puzzles and mechanics and discoveries by themselves were enough to keep players coming back, but I found over and over and over again that people were quickly growing tired of them, with nothing else to break up the experience. Though I was initially resistant to adding story elements to a game that I felt spoke for itself, a little cutscene at the start and a world map divided into different little areas did wonders, if not to make the puzzles themselves more interesting, then to make sure people didn't drop the game before they got to them.

I loved Animal Well for its creative items, weird mysteries and astonishingly beautiful visuals. It creates a very strong case for the power of building an engine from scratch, the way it escapes from so many videogame conventions. It also made me think about the power of motivation when building something that expects players to explore by themselves. This is an easy recommendation from me.

The opening hours of Animal Well dish up “best game moments of 2024” at an astonishing rate, though towards the end I still grew a little exasperated with the puzzle-platformy-ness of it all.

Just not my favorite genre, only because “am I bad at jumping or do I not have the tool to get there yet” is not a thought I enjoy mulling over 100x per hour, no matter how great the game is otherwise. Yet, the undeniably bonkers-level quality of the puzzle design here kept those dark thoughts at bay way longer than usual.

That’s all to say that, after the credits, I was happy to put it down instead of going into secret bunny sicko mode, but I immensely enjoyed my time with it. Can’t go the full 5-stars, but it is the most easily recommendable game I’ve played in years. Please check it the eff out before all your obnoxious friends spoil it to hell and breakfast for you. It’s truly a delight.

Definitivamente o melhor jogo do ano até agora. Um jogo de puzzle encapsulado como um metroidvania, que te engana em primeira mão, mas já em seus primeiros 10 minutos já te deixa entender exatamente (ou quase) o que você vai jogar dali pra frente.
É interessante ir pra Animal Well sem saber de NADA, porque todo o jogo é uma grande sopa de mistérios inesgotáveis a serem descobertos. Desde um simples buraco na parede até uma música de flauta ou uma mola que cai. Um game que está o tempo inteiro te apresentando coisas novas, em situações diferentes, mas sempre com um appeal interessante o bastante pra te deixar com os olhos grudados na tela.
Claro que a sua brilhante identidade visual com aquele antigo filtro CRT e uma paleta de cores frias, aliado a um sound design são os principais responsáveis por conseguir dar ao jogador a sensação de estar em um lugar muito antigo, não tocado pela humanidade. Repleto de animais estranhos, solitários em um ambiente isolado e cavernoso. Ecos, sons estranhos, água gotejante. É uma delícia só andar por aí e ouvir o que o game tem a te mostrar.
Se eu tivesse algum ponto de crítica, são alguns momentos de perseguição que eu acho que acabam frustrando um pouco, mas o loading é tão rápido e a movimentação tão boa com os itens, que rapidamente tu refaz teus passos.

No fim, Animal Well é um grande jogo de puzzle escondido atrás de um metroivania super competente com gráficos lindos e que está sempre renovando sua atenção com cenários e quebras-cabeças inventivos. Amei!

It took me around 5 or 6 hours to hit the credits, and that time was filled with "a HA!" moments where I discovered something new and peeled back another thin layer of this rich world. It reminded me of my first time playing Outer Wilds in that way. Animal Well has a richer atmosphere than most other titles out there and the fact that one guy made this truly blows me away. I found quite a few eggs and I know I could dive way deeper into this world but I feel satiated with my experience. I'll probably check out some deep spoiler videos once people have really cracked this wide open.

FEZ and Tunic taught me how to go easy on myself for not getting every puzzle without assistance, and this game was finally the point where I could appropriately recognize it was one of those types of games and just call it when my brain started to hurt too much.

Now, that probably sounded pretty darn scathing, but it's more of a compliment. This game's design is proven to be uniquely refreshing from those last two, because although I like FEZ and Tunic, Animal Well REALLY knows how to keep the cogs oiled. I think most people who are interested in a game like this will really appreciate how transparent it is about teaching you the fundamental systems with case-use scenarios bundled in with each introduced element and mechanic, while leaving the details to your curiosity (which is a flame that the game has plenty of firewood to stoke.) Although I felt like the other two games approached these concepts mostly well, it sometimes feels like cryptographic walls are ran into a bit earlier than I'dve wished, which felt only somewhat deflating in Tunic but REALLY hurt my enjoyment of getting FEZ's anticubes.

This game's harem of secrets are lovingly nested throughout the entire map, and the exterior level design surrounding the riches somehow doesn't buckle. It's kind of like the platonic candy bar. The nougat and caramel inside are the substance that most players will crave, but damn if that chocolate shell isn't a sight for sore eyes. The game is absolutely beautiful notably in the shader/VFX department.

I see many people online already have the appetite for more after a wrung-dry save file. Sequel or no, it's really great to see people experiment more with this genre, this game is firm evidence that there could be a bright future for galaxy brain indie puzzlers.