How can I explain a game that I got the platinum trophy for and found every item, egg, candle, and everything it asks you to get yet still have no idea what’s going on story wise and barely scratched the surface as far as finding all the secrets? A game where I feel like I know so much about yet somehow know very little. It is hard to explain but I also think most people that have completed it will understand.

Animal Well is a uniquely wonderful experience that was made for serious gamers as it doesn’t tell you anything and refused to hold your hand or coddle you. If you’re new to Metroidvanias this is not where to start but if you are experienced in the genre I can’t recommend this game enough.

The number one thing that in my opinion this game does better than anything is it’s very unique clever puzzles. Very few games have made me think to myself “damn that was a clever design” but I felt I was thinking that in every few rooms in Animal Well. The puzzles and traversal forces you use not only your brain but every item at your disposal. Some puzzles make you use multiple in quick succession at the proper timing. Some have many solutions. Some will have you so stumped you start believing you don’t have the correct item yet. But every single one is designed wonderfully. The mystery in this game is unbelievable. Every single small detail seems to have a rhyme and reason to it. Nothing is wasted. Yet still the game remains a mystery even as the credits roll. The maker of the game has said it may take years before everything in this game is figured out and while that sounds crazy I believe it. Another thing that stood out to me was the art. I understand it is devolved graphics but that doesn’t mean anything to me. It just feels right for some reason. It fits with the mystery and I honestly feel like better graphics could possibly take away some of the things that make this game great.

The only real negative I have is a few of the items are absurdly difficult to find. But at the same time it adds to the mystery so can I really count that as a negative.

There are many games better than Animal Well. There are even many Metroidvanias that are better than Animal Well. For me this a rare case of a game though. It isn’t so much about how good of a game it is. It isn’t about the gameplay, or the art, or the music, and it surely isn’t about the story, as again, seriously wtf is going on. What Animal Well should be judged by to me is less the game and much more an experience. I know a lot of my feelings on this may sound like a mix of cliches and confusions. I hope I’ve made some sense. But it really is a game that’s a lot easier experienced than explained. One thing that I am certain of is you owe it to yourself to experience Animal Well.

Like honestly while the games style and animations are admirable for its attention to detail and expressive animations, i really disliked playing this game and I really forced myself to get all P ranks and achievements. At times its loud, flashy and in your face and that really wore me down, to where I got more enjoyment after muting the game and playing my own music. Gameplay goes from fluid to janky depending on the levels and, call it a skill issue, the jankiness making getting some P ranks annoying to get. The game's music also annoys me to no end, while some lowkey tracks are passable, the noisier tracks are what get to me, they sound like compressed walls of sound with as much thrown into it to sound intense for that sole reason, comparable to the likes of Homestuck (very sorry). While i gave the game a fair chance im really gonna leave it at "its not for me" as much as i hate using that as an excuse for not liking something, its fitting here

I'm just going to rewrite this after finishing the game cause my smooth ass brain formed wrinkles and I ACTUALLY BEAT IT. To preface my puzzle experience is very minimal i've 100%'ed games like Tunic and The Witness, with a sprinkle of hidden object games but other than that its not my genre of choice. Now I see Simogo, the LEGENDS of making good games put out cryptic teasers and eventually a trailer for their new puzzle game coming off of the momentum of the goated Sayonara Wild Hearts. So i picked it up day 1 and expected a leisurely tour through this manor solving logic puzzles and im stuck. So ya the game threw so much at me I got tangled in all the notes and I got stuck, this wouldnt be the first time this would happen also, but the moment I untangled my thoughts and progressed was euphoric. As im solving these puzzles, im floored at the visuals, sounds and vibe this game just emits. The puzzles themselves I really wanna make myself feel better and say they are hard, but even though some are easier than others they are really fun to figure out and solve, especially the later ones. The story is soaked in this thick veil that you can only see blotches and that process of making out whats going on isnt the easiest as its hidden behind cryptic wording and out-of-order sequencing, but piecing it together is as satisfying as everything else this game has. Oh and the godlike Trio (Jonathan Eng and Daniel Olsen and Linnea Olsson) coming back to create a phenomenal soundtrack is the cherry on top. This is a contender for GOTY for me, even of all time to be honest and it comes from major Simogo bias but even that aside, this game knows what it wants to bring to the table and its made to perfection, or simply just another banger by Simogo

Billy Basso, you beautiful bastard, you did it. How did one guy make this?

I've always been a victim of hyperbole. The internet told me that Animal Well was making people feel things. I listened to YouTube reviewers describe it as a game that reminds you of what gaming is all about. I read tweets calling it an obvious front-runner for GOTY and one of the best, most unique games in a very long time. I'm not about to say those people were speaking disingenuously--I truly believe the 5/5 reviews--but I do think that Animal Well is at its best when its understated and allowed to silently speak for itself.

Not unlike your biological mother, Animal Well is a short, tight, and gorgeous experience that manages to rapidly shift between quaint charm and instinctive terror at the drop of a hat. How Basso managed to jump scare me with a kangaroo that many times is beyond me. A friend described the artstyle as "Neon Wet" and that's probably the best short hand I can give for the game's look without really taking away some of its magic. Just go play the game if the visuals even remotely interest you.

Like all the best horror-adjacent games, your combat options here are extremely limited. Unlike those same horror games, Animal Well takes that lack of offensive capability and uses it to empower you. You are challenged to pause, and contemplate, and plan, and observe--to ask yourself "wait can I do that?" And you usually can. It takes a special game to offer you that sort of reward to meet your effort.

I'm not done with Animal Well. I rolled credits but there's so much game still here (think Fez or Tunic), but I do think I'm at a point where its socially-created hooks aren't as deeply in me. I can sit with it now and enjoy it. That may be how I should have approached the game from the start.

If you plan to play the game, I recommend that you don't go too quickly. Poke around. Mess with things that look out of place and let yourself consider Billy Basso's first game as its own world rather than a "GOTY contender" or "reason to game again." Be a little pensive dude and let yourself get swept up in it all. It's worth that.

One of the rooms in this game has the shape of a heart and is full of capybaras, and if that doesn’t prove to you that this is the clear GOTY of the year of the decade of forever so far then I don’t know what will.

Despite being a highly anticipated game for me, probably one of this year’s releases that excited me the most this year… I had no fucking clue what Animal Well really was. By that I don’t mean that ‘’I didn’t know what to expect’’, there have been a ton of games I didn’t have expectations of what they would be prior to playing them, but at least I had a small idea what they were about, their mechanics, and overall ideas. But with Animal Well, I had no clue about how it could even play like.

It was supposed to be a Metroidvania? Is it Puzzle-Platformer? Or perhaps an immersive-atmospheric experience? Maybe a highly experimental take on open spaces and secret finding? I didn’t really know before I hit ‘’start game’’ to be honest, and yet, even before that point there was something that called me, that fascinated me. This world of blues and greens seen through the lenses of an old CRTV is an aesthetic I didn’t know I missed this much, or maybe is that it’s done so effectively here; the surround sound and flickering lights that accompany such abandoned yet beautiful looking structures and the nature that melds perfectly with it… I don’t know, it reminisces of feelings and memories I don’t think I can properly put into words, but still filled me with a desire to explore this rabbit hole.

Well, I finally played it, and I have finally found the answer to all of those questions that once plagued me:…

…Yes.

Animal Wells is an experience that feels like it takes inspiration from a million different places and ideas, and yet it molds them together to create something unlike any other game I can think of; is the idea that surrounds the ‘’Metroidvania’’ genre distilled in its purest form, yet it’s far from being simple.

The well is a place of few words; none of the areas have a proper name, there are no NPCs to chat with, and it’s not like the small slime-like creature we play as has a mouth to begin with. The only text present is one found in menus, small one-word prompts, and the name of the items, and that’s more than enough… because the rest speaks for itself. Each area and the animals that live in them chant a different song, each room a part of a puzzle of their own; I didn’t know for them to have a name for places to stand out vividly in my mind, like the Lake of the Cranes, or the Giant Bat’s Cave, or even smaller locations like the Peacock’s Palace or the Disc’s Shrine. The world of Animal Well may be quiet, but everything speaks volumes, like visting an abandoned virtual zoo: every encounter with a new-found critter, whether friendly or aggressive, every new interaction like distracting dogs using the disc, or every major tense moment like running away from the Ghost… Cat? Dog? I actually don’t know which of the two is supposed to be, nor do I need to know that the entire sequence and puzzle is an amazing highlight and super satisfying to overcome completely on your own… No wait, that’s also the rest of the game!

Managing to create a world that feels so well thought-out and designed so every puzzle feels intuitive, while at the same time offering such fun to use and multi-purpose items that can break open the game completely and taking ALL THAT into account is honestly worth getting up and applauding. The Bubble Wand is the clear star of the show for me; being able to create temporary platforms is already a game changer, especially when pairing it with fans and wind currents, but then you realize you can ‘bubble hop’, as I like to call it, by pressing the action and jump button both at the same time and completely bypassing many parts and sections that otherwise would have required other actions, and best thing is that even if it seems that it breaks the game at times, the dev clearly accounted for it since some rooms have passages too thin for you to maneuver or create bubbles or even animals like hummingbirds that immediately pop them once you make one. I normally wouldn’t like when a game makes a tool completely useless for the sake of a puzzle, but in here it makes total sense and balances out the moments were you make out your own path with pre-designed puzzles this amazing, and it’s not like that’s the only tool that lets you get creative anyway.

The moment you get any item, about two seconds is all you need to realize the possibilities it can offer, yet, as in the rest of the caverns, nothing is ever spelled out; you yourself and your own imagination and problem-solving are the ones that need to overcome the challenges this wildlife imposes; I’ve never felt so rewarded in such a long time than when using the Yo-Yo effectively, learning the code to fast travel to the main hub with the animal faces —which remind me of a certain game, I think it starter with ‘’Super’’ and ended with ‘’2’’… can’t put a finger on it tho—, or skipping completely the Ostrich escape sequence and its puzzles, near the bowels of the map, by using the Spring, Yo-Yo and myself. It honestly comes really close to feeling like the levels in Mosa Lina, now that I think about: you have incredibly useful tools that serve a clear purpose, but ones you can also use whichever way you like to, only with the difference that Animal Well is an already built, profoundly engaging and interesting world, and using all this arsenal while interacting with the animal and the curse that seems to affect the well is amazing, and little things like fall or water damage aren’t taken into account to incentivize and reward experimentation even more than it would have otherwise.

If I had to point out a flaw, and one that may honestly be a ‘’only me’’ thing, is the inconsistency with how it handles some switches and shortcuts. While I get and really enjoy some gauntlets of puzzles, he fact some of them reset, like the ‘’On and Off’’ switches, reset every time you teleport or get out of a room, just makes things a tad more annoying, in contrast to how the yellow door switches stay activated even if you don’t press them all or die, which makes other rooms kind of a joke and strips them from the tension found in the boss encounters, for example. I understand that this won’t be that big of a deal for many people, but when the rest of the game is so impeccably designed and each room amounts to so much, these little annoyances are noticeable.

A game that otherwise… I still don’t think I can say I've come close to experiencing all of it. In a way, it’s kinda interesting to have played this so close after beating Fez for the first time, because while both of those games have a similar sense of wonder and are brimming with secrets, that game created its mysteries through the tools you can find within a same room and code-finding through a fragmented world , while Animal Well is an ecosystem on its own, with the complete freedom that entails. Even after finding out what dwelled at the bottom of the well, it's insane how much there’s for me to find, not only the Eggs, but I’m convinced there are things that I haven’t even seen yet, and I know for sure that there are far more items than it seemed at first.

At this point, it shouldn’t be a secret that one of the things I love the most in games, or in any form of art for that matter, is when they give so much food for thought, letting the imagination run wild and feel so massive and grand even if their locations are small; Animal Well is only a 30 MB game, and it’s the perfect representation of all this, the wild desire to explore, to have fun, and to fear the unknown, even when it's scary as all hell.

I’m obsessed with Animal Well, and its ambience, roars, and silence speak to me in a way few games do, and I’m happy to see that’s a sentiment already being shared by so many people.

I don't know how anyone can make a departure look cool, but Zero finds a way. Mega Man Zero 2; a slight improvement over its predecessor, but still fumbles in certain areas. Weapon grinding has been reduced, the bosses are fun to fight against, the music is far more memorable than the first, and the levels are decently well designed... in the first half because the second half has its fair share of moments. Screen crunch is still prevalent throughout Zero 2, as enemies sometimes pop up out of nowhere, giving you little time to react like with the robot fishes at the beginning of Poler Kamrous' stage and those damn spike balls that can be found in multiple areas.

Zero has access to multiple forms in this game allowing him to perform certain abilities while playing through missions. These are unlocked by doing various things like defeating 50 enemies in a mission to obtain the X Form for example, that increases the damage of the Buster Shot and can fire more bullets at a time. These forms vary in power, defense, and speed; encouraging replayability in New Game+ playthroughs as each has distinct strengths and weaknesses. I can sort of say the same thing with the EX Skills, but these require getting an A or S Rank when clearing levels for the first time. At least the ranking system has a purpose rather than just bragging rights, but I don't think it's something you should worry about in your first playthrough. If you're curious, try getting at least a few skills to help you out like I have, but the basic sword slashing and elemental weaknesses are more than enough.

In exchange for the Triple Rod, we have the Chain Rod. Great as a weapon, but not great as a grappling hook. It feels unintuitive as the hitbox for this thing is utterly bizarre, leading to occasional moments where the rod should've clung onto ceilings, but didn't register for some ungodly reason. It's even worse when the game requires you to use it to reach across spikes and bottomless pits like in the final level, so I had to execute this cautiously. If this had some fine-tuning, I'm sure the Chain Rod would've been a worthy replacement, but it was more of a mixed bag than anything. The same thing applies to Elpizo; the main antagonist of Zero 2. He has decent motivations, but found him to be utterly predictable given his antagonistic nature and cocky demeanor toward Zero in the beginning; so I didn't feel anything toward the end when we encounter him. His fight is cool though, and I do love his voice lines, so that's some praise I could give.

There's not much more for me to say about Mega Man Zero 2. It ameliorates some things that were present in the first game, but at the same time, created its own set of problems that could've been fixed with minor adjustments, but I still enjoyed it for what it is.

Final Codename: Wounded Warrior