I like going in to games blind these days. It really does make them better experiences. This game was getting a lot of attention and I love Metroidvania's so I knew I had to check it out. After about 3 hours, I decided to put it down for good.
It's just puzzles. Puzzles are my least favourite type of game mechanic. They're the weakest part of every game they're in, and this game is almost nothing but them. I can be totally cool with them if they're well-paced in a game about other things, but that's not the case here unfortunately.
Don't get me wrong, I actually loved the way they implemented some of the items here and were going for a "just figure out how this works, we're not telling you" attitude. Love it.
I also love the theme of it being about animals.
I love the way it looks and sounds.
I kind of liked the sense of exploration, but at the same time it felt WAY too easy to get lost. That's no fun.
The absolute biggest red flag for me, which I realized quickly is...
no combat. Can't do it. If this game had a fun way of either fighting the animals or protecting them from other creatures, I'd probably have stuck with it til the end. Especially because of how inventive the tools you're given are! They're really cool, and could have doubled as fantastic weapons!
I know this is totally a 'me' thing and it's not going to matter to a lot of people, clearly, based on the other reviews. But I'm just pointing out my honest experience with it.
It's incredible that this is made by one person, and I'll probably still end up recommending it to people with an asterisk pointing out that there's no fighting, or real way to test your skills. It's all reliant on problem solving - which I'm sure is totally fine for many.
For me, after a few hours, the flow of this game was as follows:
1. Find something weird
2. Puzzle time.
3. Test some things to figure out how to do it
4. Get it right immediately because it's intuitive (happened often) OR fail to understand and just leave - it's important to note here that because this game is so obtuse it's hard to determine when you CAN do something but just don't understand and when you CAN'T because you don't have the right tool. That's a major issue for me. It's too vague. I like vague, but this is too vague.
5. Wander around some more, see something cool, but then realize you don't know where you are. The map barely helps with this.
6. Puzzle time.
7. Stumble upon a new item
8. Puzzle time.
9. Try to figure out how to get back to that one spot that may have required this item. This could take 1 minute, could take 20.
10. This one's important - potentially redo a puzzle (especially if you happen to die) because for some reason, certain switches reset and others don't.
11. Repeat
Again, the platforming is great. Comparable to other great Metroidvania's. It's just poorly paced because the reward for clearing a puzzle is having another one right afterwards. Let me breathe!
If this game was identical, but had Guacamelee or Hollow Knight combat, it would probably be incredible. I know that probably sounds stupid, but I really do feel like it needs it.
Anyways, I'm glad most of you are enjoying it. It's certainly an incredible accomplishment for one person. I wish I could enjoy it more!
It's just puzzles. Puzzles are my least favourite type of game mechanic. They're the weakest part of every game they're in, and this game is almost nothing but them. I can be totally cool with them if they're well-paced in a game about other things, but that's not the case here unfortunately.
Don't get me wrong, I actually loved the way they implemented some of the items here and were going for a "just figure out how this works, we're not telling you" attitude. Love it.
I also love the theme of it being about animals.
I love the way it looks and sounds.
I kind of liked the sense of exploration, but at the same time it felt WAY too easy to get lost. That's no fun.
The absolute biggest red flag for me, which I realized quickly is...
no combat. Can't do it. If this game had a fun way of either fighting the animals or protecting them from other creatures, I'd probably have stuck with it til the end. Especially because of how inventive the tools you're given are! They're really cool, and could have doubled as fantastic weapons!
I know this is totally a 'me' thing and it's not going to matter to a lot of people, clearly, based on the other reviews. But I'm just pointing out my honest experience with it.
It's incredible that this is made by one person, and I'll probably still end up recommending it to people with an asterisk pointing out that there's no fighting, or real way to test your skills. It's all reliant on problem solving - which I'm sure is totally fine for many.
For me, after a few hours, the flow of this game was as follows:
1. Find something weird
2. Puzzle time.
3. Test some things to figure out how to do it
4. Get it right immediately because it's intuitive (happened often) OR fail to understand and just leave - it's important to note here that because this game is so obtuse it's hard to determine when you CAN do something but just don't understand and when you CAN'T because you don't have the right tool. That's a major issue for me. It's too vague. I like vague, but this is too vague.
5. Wander around some more, see something cool, but then realize you don't know where you are. The map barely helps with this.
6. Puzzle time.
7. Stumble upon a new item
8. Puzzle time.
9. Try to figure out how to get back to that one spot that may have required this item. This could take 1 minute, could take 20.
10. This one's important - potentially redo a puzzle (especially if you happen to die) because for some reason, certain switches reset and others don't.
11. Repeat
Again, the platforming is great. Comparable to other great Metroidvania's. It's just poorly paced because the reward for clearing a puzzle is having another one right afterwards. Let me breathe!
If this game was identical, but had Guacamelee or Hollow Knight combat, it would probably be incredible. I know that probably sounds stupid, but I really do feel like it needs it.
Anyways, I'm glad most of you are enjoying it. It's certainly an incredible accomplishment for one person. I wish I could enjoy it more!
7 Comments
Yeahhh I rarely do absolutely zero research. I only played it because it was on PS+ Extra! I wouldn't have bought it without a tiny bit of research. It's become immediately popular due to it's publisher being the one created by Dunkey (YouTuber). It's the first game that has come from this new endeavour from him so everyone was excited. Seems like the hype has paid off for most! I am looking forward to other games from under his publishing arm, cause this was almost there for me. @redbackloggd
Ah nice, at least you didn't lose out on money.
And lmao, gotta be honest, knowing Dunkey's behind this actually makes me want to stave away from it. I respect the following he's acquired, but not a fan of his review style unfortunately.
And lmao, gotta be honest, knowing Dunkey's behind this actually makes me want to stave away from it. I respect the following he's acquired, but not a fan of his review style unfortunately.
@redbackloggd I get that, but I will say I doubt he's directly involved much at all. I would assume between 0% and 1% involved hahaha. He just made a publishing company which then chose to publish this game by a specific developer. The developer is just one person, too, which is crazy. They did everything themselves!
Why did he go into the publishing business, did he ever indicate?
And honestly, I want to be amazed, but, as terrific a feat as that is, we're seeing that occur so much now with so many great games that I just think we've underestimated the amount of insanely talented people out there haha.
And honestly, I want to be amazed, but, as terrific a feat as that is, we're seeing that occur so much now with so many great games that I just think we've underestimated the amount of insanely talented people out there haha.
@redbackloggd Yeah the fact that 1 person can output something like this or various other games of similar quality really goes to show how insane it is that companies are chasing such insanely high budget games and totally bombing even when hundreds of people worked on it. Also, I don't know much about Dunkey. I don't even watch his stuff lol. The only thing I heard is that he said "My publisher will only put out good games", then people dunked ;) on him for claiming that. And now it seems like it could be the case. Who knows. I have faith. I really think in a position like his you could easily only publish good games. It's really not that hard to see the quality in something imo. Especially if it's had significant development time by the time you're looking in to funding the publishing of it.
Well, I wouldn't go THAT far haha. I get the frustrations with AAA gaming, but at the end of the day, no 1-person/2-person/3-person band is creating a AAA game. That's just not happening and never will. The indie scene is amazing, but it has its own pros/cons.
Lmao, by your review, wouldn't Animal Well indicate that Dunkey failed xD. No, jokes aside, I get what you're saying, but who knows what the future holds.
Lmao, by your review, wouldn't Animal Well indicate that Dunkey failed xD. No, jokes aside, I get what you're saying, but who knows what the future holds.
RedBackLoggd
13 days ago
But yeah, this game seems to be trending a lot lately. What caused it to attract so much attention? Is there a good story behind it?