Before getting into it, I think it's important first to note the impact of this game. A game by a lone dev picked up by a fresh publisher in the form of youtube funny man videogamedunkey. When Dunkey put out the video announcing the publisher Bigmode he basically said he's tired of the bullshit from big companies and wants to put up games he thinks are legit good and not just marketable or whatever. He put his rep on the line to prop up small devs with good games and holy shit I think it's working.

Animal Well is an incredible game. A no combat metroidvania some are dubbing a "metroidbrainia". I don't particularly see it but hey. Noting again that the game is made all by one guy doing the music, puzzles, graphics, hell even the engine was built all by Billy Basso. It's also worth noting I find it to be impressive full stop and not just "impressive for being done by one guy" like this outshines games done by bigger studios for me.

Everything about the visuals sucked me into the game world. The details in the pixel art add a richness throughout the environment putting various animals in the backgrounds while also keeping the foreground simple enough to know what you can platform onto but not dull looking. The color palette through the game is a sort of dull neon overall like a forgotten Lite Brite set someone lost in a storm drain. The water present throughout the game (you are in a well, after all) reflects and refracts what's in the environment above it and all that coupled with the sounds throughout set the tone of like sorta creepy but not too bad. At first anyway.

So I heard this game started as survival horror and then expanded and became what it is. If that's the case, you can definitely tell Basso kept some of the ideology intact throughout the dev process. The atmosphere aside there are also encounters with animals throughout the game that are just sudden and definitely frightful. I'd say borderline jumpscares but they feel earned just by nature of how everything is set up. You'll just enter a room and something will be there and you might not even notice at first since there's animals everywhere in the backgrounds and stuff too but then once in a while there are some that'll just GET YA and it's frightening but effective. Hell even some of the background animals are eerie and give a vibe of being watched. It's a good time.

The puzzles are kinda the core gameplay here and I think they're all pretty great. To start with, the game isn't just like "oh go platform around and then find a puzzle to do" but rather every new screen you move to is something to figure out. It all flows well together with an abundance of secrets to find too and while there are are like some rooms with blatant THIS IS A PUZZLE it overall never really feels inorganic.

I would say the organic feel gets stronger as you go on too. Like a typical metroidvania you acquire various tools to help explore the well or aid in movement. These tools too are all things that could be considered like trash or items lost somewhere. They're all familiar things like yo-yo or tv remote or even something like a slinky which again adds to the overall atmosphere of the experience by providing familiar items. Each one is pretty unique in its function as well and as you find them you revisit areas you've been before and try out a new item and can find new paths or even ways to use the item for traversal or in puzzles you might not have though to do at first.

Everything really does just click together too. The challenge in the game is fairly consistent, ramping up as you go deeper into one of the four big domains of the well. Nothing ever feels too challenging or frustrating and I think it plays well (sorry) to the mostly chill feel of the game. The only point where I found myself frustrated was trying to solve a puzzle the completely wrong way and that's just how one would get trying to force a square peg in a round hole.

One thing I wanna mention also is how I appreciate the game not bogging me down with story stuff. This is a simple exploration based game where you find your way out of where you are. No dialogue anywhere trying to explain everything. Hell there's not even any blatant like 2deep4u weird things that happen. Sure you could derive meaning from things in the environment and such but that's just how art is in general. It's just refreshing having an experience that holds its own with the gameplay alone and doesn't feel a need to extract extra intrigue with a narrative.

Animal Well is a wonderful experience through and through and one I won't forget anytime soon. It's immersive exploration and fun mechanics kept me going the whole time and there's tons more secrets to explore that I didn't really pursue enough. I found all the eggs to find but there's so much more hidden throughout. After finishing the main path I spent a few hours trying to glitch out of the map to get an item that lets you freely fly through the environment and walls but ultimately gave up.

I loved this game and will definitely replay it at some point or revisit to roam around but for now I'm satisfied and onto the next one. Recommended to fans of good video games and those who love to explore!