Animal Well is not just a good game. It's a special game.

It is an experience that made me feel like I was 10 years old again playing alone in dark room a video game trying to understand what the heck is going on.

The artstyle, the dark atmosphere, the cryptic story, the sense of exploration, the variation and difficulty of the puzzles, the insane number of secrets, the rewards - all done perfectly.

This is the first time after a long, long time that I trully want to 100% - without a guide. Because I have to see how deep the well actually goes...

A metroidvania so good it made me like metroidvanias

A top indie puzzle game, on par with titles like Ori and Hollow Knight. While the collectibles aren't as rewarding compared to other games, the sense of satisfaction from exploration is top notch.

just do yourself a favor and play it.

This animal well goes very deep

It's a very well-type game

Cool game, got pretty far without spoiling myself.

Animal Well is a mechanically great game, with literally nothing else going for it outside of hype and meta-gaming. It should win 2024 GOTY, but only because it's been an abysmal year for games.

It's also incredibly overhyped and a tad overrated.

This is an amazing metroidvania, with gorgeous graphics and artistic style. The world building, atmosphere, and platforming are top tier.

But it's difficult as hell, esoteric as ♥♥♥♥, and has literally zero story or lore. I wish there was something here, an overarching story, even if it was a simple one. But the game is just a bunch of un-connected, really fun, platformer challenges.

Don't get me wrong, there is a GOAL. Get the four flames. But there is no explanation why, nor reason to do anything outside of "to do it."

The "end-game" is also incredibly lame. It's frustrating and un-fun, and you would never be able to do any of it on your own without outside knowledge. This is a literal design choice, and I think it's a bad one. There are so many things that are just literally never explained to you, and unless you cheated, you would have no way of knowing about them. It's engagement bait for "lore youtubers".

I would give the game an 8/10. It is good, but I personally have to dock points for the complete lack of narrative and some bad design choices.

only gets better

Amazing game but one with multiple layers, the average platformer enjoyer should simply beat the game, the average Metroidvania enjoyer should try and get most/all of the eggs, but the final layer is basically only for dedicated puzzle players, extremely deep and multi layered ones that are too vague for me to try and figure out.

Tools are used well, subverting the usual Metroidvania upgrades and with multiple uses.

Music is very sparse like a certain game everyone compares everything to, but this shifts focus to the atmosphere.

Visually it’s simple but also complex, beautifully animated and looks amazing on OLED (which you should be on in 2024).

Finally it’s pretty cool that a big video game creator used their influence to publish an actual video game. And I hope for more in the future.