It's like Hollow Knight but with more puzzles instead of fighting and I loved exploring it, felt rewarding.

I reached the credits with 40 eggs and I'm going to keep going because I LOVE EGGS.

EDIT: Got all the eggs and raising half a star because there was still so much to discover, and there is still more! The layers of secrets and fun things to discover in this game make it something really special.

Game starts amazingly good but gets increasingly sour over time and leave you with a bad taste in your mouth.

Spoiler warning ahead so DO NOT read any further if you intend to play it.

I've heard this game is similar to TUNIC in the way it tricks you into believing it's a simple [genre] game (here a platformer) while constantly pulling subtle tricks on you during the entirety of it's playtime, and ultimately ending with a game within a game where you have to solve out-of-the-box meta puzzles. I absolutely ADORE this kind of games, but in my opinion Animal Well fails in that regard with mind bogglingly cryptic puzzles that almost makes no sense and will make you backtrack serval time through every room in the game to look for that one tile that has now become breakable with the new item you just found. Repeat this process every time you find a new one.

Not to say everything is bad about it, the fake ending went rather smoothly and I enjoyed my time with it, and MOST of the "true" ending egg-hunt made sense to me in the way they're solved. Unfortunately it's not solving them that are the problem, but rather finding the puzzle in the first place. A lot of the mysteries that felt satisfying to solve were hidden in plain sight in areas you revisit often, and when you finally notice the subtle clue you feel real good about it. But then there are the bullshit "hit that one tile with that one specific item that's located in that one secret room you never even thought to revisit". Secrets hidden inside secrets that are way off the beaten path. After my 10th revisit of the map I gave up and looked up the placement of the remaining 3 eggs that eluded me.

But that's not the end of it, because despite reaching the "true" ending there are SO MANY of these unsolved mysteries, that you just know there's more. Behold: the secret TRUE ending where you have to find 16 hidden bunnies. This is where the game completely dropped the ball in my opinion.

It starts very nicely with a "tutorial bunny" that clearly visible in the starting area and fairly innocuous to reach. A bit out of the way but all it takes is to get there. Fairly misleading because NO other rabbit is found this way, rather they are the most cryptic puzzles i've ever found in a video game.

There is this one rabbit that requires you to beat the "true" ending, solve an additional puzzle that you might not even realize it's there, then find an hidden room and PRINT OUT A PHYSICIAL PIECE OF PAPER IRL and make an origami out of it, which will give you a secret code. Look i'm not against these meta puzzles but let's be honest here: who actually figured this out completely on their own? Out of the hundred of thousands of players this game will get i don't even think a 100 of them could.

Then you have this one rabbit which ask you to do some very intricate platforming on bubbles, where you must not fall of at any point because "the floor is lava" i guess, from point A to point B that spans serval rooms. Absolutely NOTHING is telegraphed or explained. You just.... have to do that, out of nowhere, for some reason, on a part of the map that's already been traversed countless times and solved, that has seemingly nothing more to offer. But you just HAVE to guess you have to bubble-jump across serval screens and then use the remote near a receiver so you can change the state of a door in the room you started in, and then die so you respawn inside the wall and access the bunny area. What kind of puzzle design is that even? How do you come across this except some sheer luck that you probably couldn't even begin to understand what you even did to trigger that rabbit?

Ok not cryptic enough? What about that one LED panel you can draw on pixel by pixel. You never seem to get any clue on what to draw here. Guess what? turns out when you collect 32 eggs and use the spinny top on a completely unmarked location on the ground, you get one randomized piece of the complete pattern, out of 50 total. It is then your job to go on the internet and tell other players the pattern you got so you can collectively solve the puzzle together.

Look, I get it, ARG type puzzles are popular and can be fun to collectively solve with other people, but the problem with those is that you have exactly one week after the game is released to participate, and then it's solved. You had to be there on release day otherwise you missed out. You will never experience solving those puzzles, and you can't solve them on your own. So all you can do is straight up google the solution and input the secret code in the game, without any thinking or puzzle-solving on your part.

This game hasn't been out for a full month yet and I've already been robbed of the true experience it could have offered, which frankly feels like shit. I spent 8 hours trying to progress anything in this game after reaching one of the endings and most of it was completely wasted time cause there is no way to do it yourself, and looking up hints will straight up show you the full solution.

I usually don't mind having one super cryptic "ULTIMATE" puzzle that requires the collective effort of the internet to solve, but legitimately half of the game's cool content is hidden behind this, and if you're reading this review you're already too late to experience it. I had a great time for the first few hours but now it just feels bitter and sour, I'm ending this playthrough on a bad note.

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 :)

L'atout principale de ce jeu est le niveau de détail que les dev ont fournis, le simple fait de démarrer le jeu et de voir que chaque effet se retranscrit dans la manette est bluffant et m'as directement accroché. J'ai pu jouer a ce jeu avec la mannette ps5, ce que je recommande vivement, elle est utilisé a fond dans ses capacité et peut de jeux en profitent, donc voir un indé en prendre pleine possessions, chapeau !
Les mécaniques de gameplay se complémentent super bien entre elles et on découvre que nos compétences ont des effets secondaires que l'on attendais pas toutes les 10 minutes.
Le jeu ne dure que 4h pour l'histoire principale, les collectables sont un peux compliqué à trouver sans soluce, mais venant d'un metroidvania, normal.

Le seul point négatif pour moi serai les boss qui n'ont pas beaucoup de profondeur, sont peu nombreux et se répètent parfois entre eux.

Melhor metrovania que já joguei e com certeza o mais único.

O jogo vai direto ao ponto, é fluido, criativo e agradável de jogar, é perfeito como ele explica como funciona os itens e como eles devem ser usados sem dizer uma palavra, é impressionante. Ao perceber que algo me despertava a atenção, marcava no mapa. Após pegar um item ou descobrir melhor como poderia utilizá-lo, conseguia voltar e completar. É extremamente gratificante ter esse momento de epifania ao compreender que um item pode ser usado de determinada forma e lembrar que um objeto/estátua/símbolo que era estranho agora tem funcionalidade. É um backtrack que não parece cansativo, por parecer que está explorando um novo mapa.

Ele é muito mais do que um metrovania comum, ele tem tanto conteúdo escondido e secreto que provavelmente vão descobrir coisas novas ainda para o jogo. Se você é apaixonado por esses jogos que envolvem mistérios e puzzles articulados, esse jogo é para você e ainda que você só queira um metrovania novo para jogar e parar no primeiro final, ele também é espetacular.

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.

Had been anticipating this game for a long time and it did not disappoint. The main game is already a really thoughtfully designed Metroidvania, but the post game elevates the experience of Animal Well to another level. I managed to get 60 if the eggs without a guide but looked up the last couple which were hidden behind an item mechanic I had not yet figured out. I also managed to stumble upon 5 of the bunnies throughout my search of all the eggs. While I'm sure this game has more to offer if I want to keep going digging for secrets, I feel satisfied with what I was able to achieve on my own. This will definitely be one of my favorite games of the year.

Animal Well is a great example of a game that excels at outgrowing its confining boundaries. Its haunting simplicity invites you to find secrets and solve clever puzzles, which there are a lot of!
It was made from scratch by one guy (Billy Basso!), and that's the most impressive aspect of it all
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...apart from being exactly like Halo 2 and 3 combined.

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 Hit New Indie Metroidvania game seems to come around every year, often living up to the quality of the genre's early masterpieces. Animal Well manages to stick out thanks to its focus on exploration and puzzle solving, as well as its mysterious atmosphere. It's worth checking out, even if you're feeling fatigue from the crowded genre.

The main story's puzzles of Animal Well feel meticulously play-tested, leading to a near-perfect balance of difficulty. At no point in the "standard" playthrough did I find a puzzle too obscure or unfair to solve, but I still constantly felt accomplished when solving them. Aiming for the true ending felt a little more frustrating, mostly due to the repeated exploration of the map rather than the difficulty of the tasks required.

For true sickos, the additional hidden postgame content offers incredibly meticulous and obtuse puzzles. I would absolutely never be able to solve the majority of them without a guide, but they are fortunately entirely optional, even for achievements.

The weakest parts of the game are its handful of boss battles. About half of them are fun, the other half annoying. They're such a small part of the game that they don't spoil the rest of the experience.

There's been a lot of great search action games over the past ten years. I don't know that Animal Well is among the greatest of these types of games, but it is one of the most unique. For the most part, it's entirely puzzle driven. There are some defensive maneuvers that the player can take, but there is no straightforward combat mechanic. By the end of it, I had convinced myself that its secretly a horror game - it's not outright scary, but there are many times when the atmosphere can be very creepy and weird. Also, I dig the look of it. It's pixel art but its not the type of pixel art that tries to evoke an older system (e.g., NES or SNES) - rather, it's kind of like a high res Lite Brite.

I took a two month-ish long break from video games to read all of One Piece, and now I am back. What a great game to come back with.

A completely puzzle focused metroidvania with hardly any combat, puzzles and collectibles that feel satisfying, and a good sense of style, Animal Well is certainly with anyone’s time who likes the sound of those things.

I will say that traversal through puzzles or rooms you have already solved can be frustrating (partly for me because I am dumb and misunderstood a shortcut/warping mechanic.)

That’s my main complaint really. I didn’t feel like 100%ing it, like some other metroidvanias, but honestly I can’t put my finger on why. I feel like I should want to, whatever that means.