What an absolute delight. 2D metroid-style platformer is about as saturated a formula as it gets in the modern indie scene - especially throwing a pixel-y aesthetic on top - but this game's take on it doesn't feel rote for one second. The depths to its secrets are of course a big contributor to this but as much as anything it's the items you acquire and the ways they can be used that breathe life back into this approach. They aren't rigid in design, rather they have multiple uses and encourage playful experimentation in how they could help you traverse or manipulate your environment.
For example the discus you get early on. You can throw it hit far away objects like switches or breakables, bounce it off walls, it can distract animals that might be dangerous otherwise etc, but you can also throw it and just fucking jump on it to carry you across long distances! When you realise you can do that it feels great and the game is full of those moments. The room layouts and the puzzles they contain are tightly designed yet are always pushing you to be unconventional. If you think you have a complete grasp on the options available to you and how the game might want you to use them then you likely actually don't. Smart use of the items in conjunction with each other could probably lead to some insane sequence breaks in the right hands (hell, I think I even stumbled upon one myself and I'm no speedrunner in the lab). It edges away from your Metroids of the world and closer in the direction of something almost Immersive Sim-y in how it wants you to think creatively.
Leaving combat out was a great choice. The game isn't devoid of friction - there are many instances of antagonistic presences or hazards which up the stakes, on top of sometimes testing your platforming skills. But for the most part moving around the map is relaxed which is ideal for this approach. As much as people seem to look at Animal Well's surface facets and make this comparison, it is not Rain World. Yes it was also teeming with little details and secrets but exploring in that game was about surviving a cruel ecosystem more than anything else. Everything in AW - including the titular animals themselves and how you relate to them in gameplay - is in service of exploration and discovery first and foremost.
That's where the joy comes from. As cool as they are, it's not the existence of all these obscure puzzles and 50-page forum thread-spawning secrets that make AW special. It's that the same ethos behind those things is present throughout the totality of the game in aspects both big and small. Even moment-to-moment gameplay, moving around and juggling items, is imbued with that same sense of 'ooo how about this'. And whether you go deep or just play until you're satisfied with what you've found you're ultimately still having the same experience. Been ages since the act of simply finding a new room has been this invigorating. Deserves all the praise it's been getting. I really love games, they're so fucking good
For example the discus you get early on. You can throw it hit far away objects like switches or breakables, bounce it off walls, it can distract animals that might be dangerous otherwise etc, but you can also throw it and just fucking jump on it to carry you across long distances! When you realise you can do that it feels great and the game is full of those moments. The room layouts and the puzzles they contain are tightly designed yet are always pushing you to be unconventional. If you think you have a complete grasp on the options available to you and how the game might want you to use them then you likely actually don't. Smart use of the items in conjunction with each other could probably lead to some insane sequence breaks in the right hands (hell, I think I even stumbled upon one myself and I'm no speedrunner in the lab). It edges away from your Metroids of the world and closer in the direction of something almost Immersive Sim-y in how it wants you to think creatively.
Leaving combat out was a great choice. The game isn't devoid of friction - there are many instances of antagonistic presences or hazards which up the stakes, on top of sometimes testing your platforming skills. But for the most part moving around the map is relaxed which is ideal for this approach. As much as people seem to look at Animal Well's surface facets and make this comparison, it is not Rain World. Yes it was also teeming with little details and secrets but exploring in that game was about surviving a cruel ecosystem more than anything else. Everything in AW - including the titular animals themselves and how you relate to them in gameplay - is in service of exploration and discovery first and foremost.
That's where the joy comes from. As cool as they are, it's not the existence of all these obscure puzzles and 50-page forum thread-spawning secrets that make AW special. It's that the same ethos behind those things is present throughout the totality of the game in aspects both big and small. Even moment-to-moment gameplay, moving around and juggling items, is imbued with that same sense of 'ooo how about this'. And whether you go deep or just play until you're satisfied with what you've found you're ultimately still having the same experience. Been ages since the act of simply finding a new room has been this invigorating. Deserves all the praise it's been getting. I really love games, they're so fucking good