Animal Well is a must-play if there has ever been one. The game should offer a great experience for fans of the Metroidvania genre and total newcomers to the genre alike. While it has many of the familiar trappings that have made the genre stick around for so long, it also adds something interesting and new with its setting and game mechanics.
It's now one of my favorite games like, ever. the puzzles are so goddamn clever, it had so much stuff thought out, and it's 33 MEGABYTES, it's truly amazing how ONE person did the gorgeous art, the puzzles that really stick out from different games, the amazing sound design and music, the WHOLE GAME ENGINE. after finishing everything from this game i was left amazed and already kinda sad that all of it ended, but if you were like me and starving for content i did find tunic and fez after it which give kinda the same itch.also i just want to talk about the **** reviews i found, one of them talked about "outdated" backtracking being ass, My brother in christ you're playing a metroidvania, also the puzzles can get a bit extreme at times, but they're still doable to some degree (except some), also **** (which is official) states that no, we did not find everything, which is interesting to say the least.
tldr: i LOVE this game
Animal Well is a Metroidvania mixed with puzzles. It's very unique, beautiful and challenging. The soundtrack, effects, pixeled art and puzzles, make it a masterpiece. It is simple and well done.
After a few hours it really starts to be felt that this game would benefit from more atmospheric music, for longer periods. Minus that, I have no complaints about this lovely indie gem.
Animal Well is stubbornly traditional in keeping you in the dark as you embark on your adventure, but that's firmly to its credit as you unravel the mysteries sprinkled around its map. Puzzles involving animals, toys and mechanical devices demand creative thinking, while the sense that nothing is quite as it seems never lets up. This is an endlessly inventive Metroidvania with unfathomable depth.
Animal Well is an extraordinary Metroidvania with a dense atmosphere, as well as creative puzzles and platformer passages that often lure players out of their comfort zone.
What a completely pleasant surprise. Thr first thing that captures your attention are the amazing pixel graphics mixed with modern fog and transparencies. The next thing that hooks you is the gameplay. So many different and unique tools. The next thing that hooks you are all the secrets and mysteries. So, so many deep unique puzzles. It very much reminded me of Tunic in that way. A game which I also adore. If you consider yourself a true gamer this game is for you! It's truly legendary!
Beautiful game with an amazing atmosphere and some decent puzzles. However, as the difficulty ramps up near the end, the game goes from clever and fun to being overly fiddly and extremely frustrating. By the time I finished the first ending I basically had enough. Also a bug where an item was picked up during the credits but did not end up in my inventory essentially stopped me from playing the game any further. If you like metroidvania's and games where you die over and over to complete a difficult objective (think Elden Ring) then you will love this game, otherwise I would be wary.
Well made exploration puzzle platformer. While it did have some clever vibes reminiscent of older games like Solomon's Key and Adventures of Lolo, the lack of an overall narrative or purpose beyond just solving the puzzles didn't hold my attention for longer than the first couple of hours. It feels like an expensive tech demo/pet project at the $25 asking price. I'd only consider picking it up when it's below $10 on sale.
Technically, it works well. The platforming is precise. Everything else is poor. Blurry graphics, an even blurrier map, too much backtracking, weak level design, the whole game world looks the same. It’s a shame, so many poor indie game developers can’t sell their games and this happens to be the critical darling. I don’t get it.
Generic and pretty forgettable, it's as if the developers had thrown 10 indie puzzle platformers into a blender and then called it a new game.
Don't let the paid reviewers tell you otherwise, try it yourself, it's cheap so you won't be losing too much.
Why is it that 90% of the games being highly rated by """critics""" are mediocre at best? it's almost like a red flag at this point, never fails.
SummaryExplore a dense, interconnected labyrinth, and unravel its many secrets. Collect items to manipulate your environment in surprising and meaningful ways. Encounter creatures both beautiful and unsettling, as you attempt to survive what lurks in the dark. There is more than what you see.