Spoiler Alert: Revealing important details or plot! Don't let this spoil the surprise of Animal Well, this personal project that was over seven years in the making, the game is completely different! So it's worth trying it out for yourself!
You are an eggman. You wake up inside a large turnip. The world around you is foreign, with a strange, bright air. Yet there is a familiarity to it. A squirrel near you calls out to you to chase it, and withered reeds sway in an invisible breeze. You begin to find comfort in this strange world, devouring smaller turnips and discovering plants that act like little sparklers or dynamite to ward off creatures that wish you harm. It is a simple life you have found, living among the ducks and kangaroos and monkeys of this strange world. Yet, beneath the surface of the Animal Well lies something. Something that will transform you from a simple eggman into a paranoid, note-taking, conspiratorial lunatic. You have been warned.
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Animal Well is cunning in its presentation. At first, it's a simple 2D exploration game with no combat whatsoever. Your goal? Hard to tell, beyond some vague markings on a large map. It seems to be a very simple take on the Metroidvania genre, with basic, switch-based puzzles blocking your path.
But as you explore this world, its secrets unfold before you in surprising ways. In ways so addictive that it might take days to explain, but I realize I have to in order to convey why this is one of the most inventive games of the last decade.
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We'll start with the basics. As with any Metroidvania, there are tools in Animal Well that will allow you to traverse more of the map. One of the first tools you get? A bubble, which you can then use to jump higher. In other words, it's your version of a double jump. And yet, this simple bubble hides techniques within it that aren't immediately obvious. For example: You can stand on a bubble and use it to descend like an elevator. Press down on the analog stick, and you'll accelerate your descent. But jump once, and the bubble pops. Perhaps, you might be wondering, are there more ways to use this tool within the world of Animal Well? Maybe those strange mouths at the end of the sewers appeal to your bubbles?
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Animal Well will have you gripped by the “what if I try this?” It’s a quiet, strange game that doesn’t offer much in the way of help, but through clues in the environmental design, you begin to interpret the language of this world. Animal Well is a Swiss Army knife of video game form – on the surface, it might tell the time, but if you delve a little deeper, there’s a surprising amount of intricate complexity hidden within. There aren’t many games that follow this model, really, but fans of Fez, Tunic and Outer Wilds will feel right at home here.
Like other games of its genre, Animal Well has a rich visual style that is unique. The dense pixel art design has few equals in the way it brings the world and its inhabitants to life, with rustling bushes and airy ghosts swirling through the strange and sometimes unsettling landscapes. All of this is set to an ethereal soundtrack that is both welcoming and haunting. The art, music, and game design all come from a single, very dedicated developer, Billy Basso, who makes this feel like a true passion fully realized. And much of that passion went into creating puzzles that would take a single normal person (read: me) weeks, months, or an eternity to solve.
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But the smartest thing about Animal Well is that it's relatively easy for most players to finish without much help. The challenge of getting to the end will take you about six hours. The game actually gives you a timer after the first time you beat it. It has plenty for the perfectionist, because your timer will be able to read up to 30 hours, with plenty of mysteries still to be discovered.
It's hard to describe the captivating appeal of Animal Well's first few hours, but it's even harder to talk about the game without mentioning the postgame. That's where Animal Well really starts to show its true colors as a puzzle solver and a hunter's dream of climbing. But it's good to know that at least some will walk away satisfied after the end credits, unaware of the further depths that await them if they really start filling in the dark spots of their map.
I have no doubt that within a week of Animal Well's release, the game will have been solved mostly by online addicts trained to decipher exactly the kinds of mysteries that lie within. And yes, those who play afterwards can have the experience of having things fed to them on wikis and guide pages everywhere.
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But you suggest another path.
Find a friend or two and make a blood oath to solve as much of Animal Well as possible between you two, without asking for help online. The real magic of this game is sharing discoveries and theories with friends. Yes, an online person could tell you the mystery of the eggs without you having to work it out yourself, but you have to refuse to experience the sense of satisfaction that few games can offer. It harks back to the early days of Zelda, when the oldest of us were trying to figure out what the hell “ Dodongo doesn’t eat smoke” meant. Think of it as a test, a badge of honor you can wear when you’re 30 hours in and you’re stuck with that random rabbit mural. When that happens, know that you’re truly one of us.
Animal Well was released yesterday, May 9th, on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5 , and Windows PC via Steam.
Source: polygon
