A low-key indie game from solo developer Billy Basso, Animal Well shot up to far greater notoriety when it was acquired by popular YouTuber videogamedunkey's new independent publishing company Big Mode. Through dunkey's earnest hype over the last year and a half, his massive fanbase were ready to explore the latest well type game.
Right off the bat I appreciated how well optimized this game was for PC. Somehow it only takes about 30 MB of space, and didn't heat up my gaming laptop at all so I could comfortably play on my lap in bed without a stand. That set-up worked out great, because for the bulk of its initial runtime, Animal Well is the cozy atmospheric sort of exploration platformer that's really nice with headphones on and lights off.
The visuals and sound design are immediately striking. Between the gorgeous environmental art style and neat visual effects, along with really excellent foley effects throughout the whole experience, it's an easy game to just vibe out to. Every sound effect is really satisfying and new screen delightfully unique.
The gameplay has been called Metroidvania by many but without traditional combat. I was a little trepidatious when the game left me to my own devices for fear of getting totally lost in the rooms and not sure where to go next, but the world design of this game is coherent and varied enough that I never really felt that way. You'll eventually realize Animal Well basically has a "central area" that at any time is fairly easy to get back to, and which you can branch off from on various exploratory journeys to the four flames you are looking to collect in order to unlock the final area.
You play as a little blob guy who jumps through the environment and along the way you'll encounter various animals of both the hostile and helpful variety. Some are cute and some are downright creepy, with some poltergeist-esque creatures lurking at various spots around the map. Discovery is the name of the game in Animal Well and I enjoyed seeing the various creatures calling this labyrinth home.
As you make your way through Animal Well, you'll pick up various new tools that will help you reach new areas and which also introduce new puzzle mechanics. There are a lot of traversal brain-stumpers as well as various button and lever puzzles which are fairly intuitive. At times this sort of puzzle was growing a bit tedious for me, but overall they generally aren't so difficult as to be very frustrating for long. I appreciated how (with a few exceptions) the game generally is careful not to let you get too deep in any one direction before you have the necessary tools to tackle its challenges.
The difficulty starts to ramp up near the end of the game, where your platforming abilities and prowess with switching tools and using them effectively and quickly is put to the test. I got particularly stuck on the ghost dog (cat?) segment for a good while, easily the most frustrating and difficult portion of an initial playthrough. I really thought this part of the game asks a bit too much of the player dexterity wise. I was playing on keyboard (not the recommended way to play) so I was fumbling with the keys a bit, but even so this section is ruthless and requires patience and trial-and-error under pressure which wasn't fun for me.
I also wasn't very impressed with the final area of the main game, with a freaky final boss that is rendered unthreatening by an item you pick up right at the end. Of course, Animal Well knows lots of players will be interested in its copious post game content and I'm sure it offers bigger challenges there. It's cool that players who wish to scour every inch of this world will be rewarded greatly for doing so, but there's also an ending and credits roll in place for players who just want to see the game's main ideas and have a solid 6-8 hour adventure.
Animal Well is a strong first published title for Dunkey and an impressive feat for Billy Basso, whose hard work and loving craft for the game over many years makes it something special and unique. While I had my frustrations with Animal Well in some of the later areas, it was still a very fun time and an easy recommendation.
Right off the bat I appreciated how well optimized this game was for PC. Somehow it only takes about 30 MB of space, and didn't heat up my gaming laptop at all so I could comfortably play on my lap in bed without a stand. That set-up worked out great, because for the bulk of its initial runtime, Animal Well is the cozy atmospheric sort of exploration platformer that's really nice with headphones on and lights off.
The visuals and sound design are immediately striking. Between the gorgeous environmental art style and neat visual effects, along with really excellent foley effects throughout the whole experience, it's an easy game to just vibe out to. Every sound effect is really satisfying and new screen delightfully unique.
The gameplay has been called Metroidvania by many but without traditional combat. I was a little trepidatious when the game left me to my own devices for fear of getting totally lost in the rooms and not sure where to go next, but the world design of this game is coherent and varied enough that I never really felt that way. You'll eventually realize Animal Well basically has a "central area" that at any time is fairly easy to get back to, and which you can branch off from on various exploratory journeys to the four flames you are looking to collect in order to unlock the final area.
You play as a little blob guy who jumps through the environment and along the way you'll encounter various animals of both the hostile and helpful variety. Some are cute and some are downright creepy, with some poltergeist-esque creatures lurking at various spots around the map. Discovery is the name of the game in Animal Well and I enjoyed seeing the various creatures calling this labyrinth home.
As you make your way through Animal Well, you'll pick up various new tools that will help you reach new areas and which also introduce new puzzle mechanics. There are a lot of traversal brain-stumpers as well as various button and lever puzzles which are fairly intuitive. At times this sort of puzzle was growing a bit tedious for me, but overall they generally aren't so difficult as to be very frustrating for long. I appreciated how (with a few exceptions) the game generally is careful not to let you get too deep in any one direction before you have the necessary tools to tackle its challenges.
The difficulty starts to ramp up near the end of the game, where your platforming abilities and prowess with switching tools and using them effectively and quickly is put to the test. I got particularly stuck on the ghost dog (cat?) segment for a good while, easily the most frustrating and difficult portion of an initial playthrough. I really thought this part of the game asks a bit too much of the player dexterity wise. I was playing on keyboard (not the recommended way to play) so I was fumbling with the keys a bit, but even so this section is ruthless and requires patience and trial-and-error under pressure which wasn't fun for me.
I also wasn't very impressed with the final area of the main game, with a freaky final boss that is rendered unthreatening by an item you pick up right at the end. Of course, Animal Well knows lots of players will be interested in its copious post game content and I'm sure it offers bigger challenges there. It's cool that players who wish to scour every inch of this world will be rewarded greatly for doing so, but there's also an ending and credits roll in place for players who just want to see the game's main ideas and have a solid 6-8 hour adventure.
Animal Well is a strong first published title for Dunkey and an impressive feat for Billy Basso, whose hard work and loving craft for the game over many years makes it something special and unique. While I had my frustrations with Animal Well in some of the later areas, it was still a very fun time and an easy recommendation.