Surely you've heard of of Animal Well by now. It's functionally a Metroidvania, up until the game's first ending at least. You explore a fairly large world, obtain new abilities and unlock a central gate by taking down the guardian of each zone, all the while collecting optional eggs which lead the way to additional rewards. During your expedition, you might discover something strange, maybe it's an odd medallion or a peculiar bunny. Perhaps you continue onwards, beat the game and move on. Or perhaps you get this nagging feeling that there's more to find, so you push on, and on, and on into the depths of Animal Well.

I almost don't feel like it's worth talking about the surface layer of this game. It's a good time, the qorld stuns with its unique visual flair and eccentric atmosphere, but I can't say I was ever wowed. There are some clever puzzles, yet the most reqarding aspect were all of the secrets to find in every corner of the map. Eggs are one of the only things I can claim to have found entirely on my own, which I wouldn't normally do with a game that I didn't totally vibe with. The difference here was that this literal Easter Egg hunt was more fun than the moment to moment adventuring. You could path a straight line through the game's main objectives and I truly don't feel as if you'd enjoy the game all that much, though I think it would take an astounding level of ignorance to do something like this on an initial playthrough. Point is, the secrets here are Billy Basso's bread and butter (he made the game, by the way), and by engaging with them constantly, I had a pretty good time beating the game!

and then everything changed.

I don't really want to get too in-depth with the rest of this review. I find what remains of this game truly intimidating to behold, and while there are undoubtedly brilliant puzzles all the way through to the "true end" (if that title even holds up months down the line), they become so ludicrously absurd to solve that I couldn't blindly experience most of them. I respect the hell out of Billy Basso for this, and there really isn't a thing I'd change about the experience, but it's why this won't be my favourite game of the year, or anything like that.

I want to add that I'm not overly fond of the character you play as (maybe there's more to it but the protagonist's design put me off the game before the rave reviews began to drop) and I can't say I care about the world itself. It's gorgeous, and there are cool discovers everything (particularly with the animal interactions), but I personally can't tell you much about what's going on here. I suspect that's the point, and there's some fantastic reveals in the 'postgame', yet I was largely disconnected from the world for a majority of my playthrough. It was just a place that I was passing through, without much attachment beyond that.

I don't want to end this on a sour note, though. Animal Well is well worth your time and money. It's a fascinating piece of art that stands distinctly in its genre, and I don't believe there's anything quite like it. I'm incredibly intrigued to see what else Billy Basso puts out next, as I can see him becoming one of the most respected auteurs in the game development landscape in years to come.