I love puzzle games, they're probably one of my favorite genres just in terms of the raw enjoyment I get out of playing them. So I won't be the first to say that Animal Well is pretty good! The art style, music, vfx, and visual design in general are honestly a masterclass and make the game exceptionally fun to look at and explore around in. The critical path for this game is also exceptionally good and fun and I did also go on to get the "true" ending.
All that being said... I can't say this game is perfect. It could be a case of too high of expectations, but when everyone lauded this game for it's "deep layers" and stuff... I was expecting something like Void Stranger, Tunic, or even The Witness, where your fundamental relationship with the game changes as you grow to understand things that were always true, you just didn't know them yet. Where Animal Well fails for me then, is that that moment never came. I kept expecting some shocking revelation, and yet no such revelation truly existed. Perhaps this is just a case of mismatched expectations.
Animal Well is a metroidvania more than metroidbrainia. Where the early game puzzles make clever use of the items you are given, the late game puzzles fall into one of two categories. Either you don't have the item yet or the only way you'll figure it out is if you're some kind of mad wizard or have a veritable army of puzzle solvers all working on the solution. I think the former puzzles aren't very good or interesting because it's mostly about hoping you remembered where items were useful, or retreading the map AGAIN to find them. I would say I was pretty lucky as all in all I managed to take pretty good notes about where things that looked out of place were, but if I didn't... Well. I just don't think it makes for very compelling design.
Now the latter of those two puzzle types I think are pretty interesting! some of the truly esoteric puzzles sound really cool and unconventional! I won't knock them for what they are, but I think if every puzzle game had puzzles like that I'd give up on the whole genre. The reason being is that there is hardly anything in the game itself to imply their solution at all. Tunic as a counter example has a handful of complex optional puzzles at the end, however the in game guidebook provides plenty of hints to imply their solving. A single person can go in and using only the resources provided by the game solve all of the puzzles within. I don't think I could say the same for Animal Well.
All that being said, the game is and will remain a standout hit from this year and I absolutely think it's worth playing. I would recommend it to any puzzle fan.
All that being said... I can't say this game is perfect. It could be a case of too high of expectations, but when everyone lauded this game for it's "deep layers" and stuff... I was expecting something like Void Stranger, Tunic, or even The Witness, where your fundamental relationship with the game changes as you grow to understand things that were always true, you just didn't know them yet. Where Animal Well fails for me then, is that that moment never came. I kept expecting some shocking revelation, and yet no such revelation truly existed. Perhaps this is just a case of mismatched expectations.
Animal Well is a metroidvania more than metroidbrainia. Where the early game puzzles make clever use of the items you are given, the late game puzzles fall into one of two categories. Either you don't have the item yet or the only way you'll figure it out is if you're some kind of mad wizard or have a veritable army of puzzle solvers all working on the solution. I think the former puzzles aren't very good or interesting because it's mostly about hoping you remembered where items were useful, or retreading the map AGAIN to find them. I would say I was pretty lucky as all in all I managed to take pretty good notes about where things that looked out of place were, but if I didn't... Well. I just don't think it makes for very compelling design.
Now the latter of those two puzzle types I think are pretty interesting! some of the truly esoteric puzzles sound really cool and unconventional! I won't knock them for what they are, but I think if every puzzle game had puzzles like that I'd give up on the whole genre. The reason being is that there is hardly anything in the game itself to imply their solution at all. Tunic as a counter example has a handful of complex optional puzzles at the end, however the in game guidebook provides plenty of hints to imply their solving. A single person can go in and using only the resources provided by the game solve all of the puzzles within. I don't think I could say the same for Animal Well.
All that being said, the game is and will remain a standout hit from this year and I absolutely think it's worth playing. I would recommend it to any puzzle fan.