Once I started playing Animal Well, my next week was dedicated to it. I simply couldn't stop playing it. At a surface level its audio and visuals instantly hooked me. Its neon-tinged cave seeming cozy yet foreboding; its delightful sounds already laying the groundwork for Fez comparisons. Seconds into playing it I could feel all the attention to detail that went into every animation and effect. As I collected items and realized they were all toys, and saw their unique physics interactions, I was filled with joy for multiple reasons.

After hitting credits once, I immediately kept playing, continuing my egg hunt. I can be somewhat hasty in games filled with secrets to give in to external hints too quickly (see my Void Stranger review), but I was determined here to hold out as long as I could. Time and time again I felt so much satisfaction as I found more hidden eggs, until finally my collection was complete. I should also say that this sense of satisfaction also happened during the main playthrough of the game multiple times as well. This sense of discovery is truly something Animal Well excels at.

Though the game requires a lot of backtracking to try to recontextualize places to reveal secrets, I always found myself happy to return to the search, because I kept feeling rewarded for it. I find this quite a triumph, as I know that I could just as easily have considered this lazy padding in a game where it wasn't as well executed. The fact that it kept me running around its map, convinced I would be able to discover its secrets on my own, and entertained all the while, is really the highest praise I can give it.

A religious, philosophical discussion with cinematography that reminded me of Yorgos Lanthimos. It gets weird at times, but I honestly wish it got a bit weirder. The puzzle design feels quite dated, being somehow both quite simplistic but also frustrating with a lack of feedback at times, but they don't take up too much of the game's short playtime.

I switched the audio language over to Russian early on and really enjoyed the performances. The story had some interesting thoughts, and I never quite felt it becoming pretentious, which is a concern with material like this. A good quick game.