Animal Well Review: Lovingly Made, But Demanding

Animal Well is a 2D metroidvania where you play as a brown blob exploring a vast underground world with puzzles, creatures, and secrets. Released in 2024 by Billy Basso and published by Bigmode, it received critical acclaim and strong sales, partly due to promotions by YouTuber videogamedunkey. However, there are quite a few complaints about the game online. This Animal Well review argues that, while the game is meticulously crafted with deep layers, its required time investment may be too much for some players.

Animal Well Review: What is the Animal Well World Like?

No Animal Well review is complete without mentioning that it is a Metroidvania. This means that it involves large, interconnected maps, non-linear exploration, and ability-gated progression. The game drops you in the middle of the map, allowing you to progress in any direction.

The world is filled with barriers, visible or hidden in walls, that require abilities or items unlocked later. This results in a lot of backtracking involved to progress and find secrets.

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Animal Well’s world seems post-civilization, with crumbling, overgrown architecture and machinery. The theme conveys feeling small in the dark, trapped deep in a well, struggling to escape.

Many animals you encounter are much larger than you, forcing you to hide by escaping through small nooks and crevices in the walls and floor. The game uses this to great effect to create cozy or claustrophobic atmospheres, depending on the situation.

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What is the Story and Gameplay?

There isn’t much in the way of an overarching story or a narration told to the player. The player’s objective is instead to simply explore the world and discover as much as they want. Like many games, such as Elden Ring, Animal Well gives little to the player in terms of guidance or instruction. It prefers to nudge you in certain directions, encouraging you to figure things out on your own.

The game revolves around this structure. One example I love is the mouse wheel room, where you use the green yo-yo to make the mouse turn the wheels the other way. The game doesn’t tell you directly; instead, it sets up a puzzle that requires the yo-yo to reach a switch.

This leads players to naturally use the yo-yo in front of the mouse. A secret passage hidden behind some spikes nearby can also be destroyed with the yo-yo. Through this, the game rewards experimentation, creating a positive feedback loop that encourages further exploration.

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A Wellspring of Sound and Atmosphere

All of this is complemented by the charming sound design. Simply existing in the world feels very satisfying. Many of the crisp sound effects scratch an itch in your brain that makes you want to hear them again. This is especially true for your character’s movement – I can’t get enough of the retro “boing” whenever you jump.

The game uses music sparingly, mainly on the main menu screen and in pivotal moments. This benefits the game, as having to hear the same songs while backtracking could get grating. Instead, you can focus on small details like distant creature calls or rushing water in a nearby cave.

All of these combine to create a world that feels unique and alive – as if it were breathing. It is clear that this design is intentional – without creating a world that you would want to stay in, players would feel bored having to engage in the core gameplay loop of exploring, unlocking new abilities, and backtracking through them to discover new areas.

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Criticism: Where Am I?

Unfortunately, one of the most noticeable aspects of Animal Well is how easily it can become confusing. The game offers very little guidance, choosing not to explain its mechanics, objectives, or even the overall structure of its world. The game often lacks a clear sense of direction, especially early on, leaving players to figure things out entirely on their own. While this design choice helps create a strong sense of mystery and player agency, it can also make progress feel unclear and disorienting.

The map design plays a big role in this confusion. The world of Animal Well is highly interconnected and maze-like, with many similar-looking rooms and hidden pathways. Players may find themselves wandering in circles, unsure whether they’re making progress or simply revisiting the same locations. Players eventually get used to it and learn they can place markers on the map to find their way, but early on, this can put them off until they discover the feature.

Many Animal Well reviews note that it can be especially frustrating when advancement depends on noticing small visual cues or remembering paths discovered much earlier in the game. In particular, people often get lost after obtaining the bubble wand because they don’t realize they need to jump on the bubbles.

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Help Me Find My Way

Something that would really help the game be more approachable is a key to what the different symbols on the map represent. It would really help early players check their maps for missed routes/secrets and cut down on backtracking time. In case you were unaware, here is what the different symbols stand for:

Pink dots: Fruit for replenishing lost health

Blue dots: Fruit that increases your total hearts

White dots: Fast travel nodes

Grey dots: Switches

Red vertical lines: Locked doors

Brown vertical lines: Ladders

Telephones: Save points

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Animal Well Review: Lovingly Made, But Demanding

Despite this, I understand that Animal Well does not aim to appeal to everybody. It is a painstaking labor of love that aims to reward a particular type of player – namely, they who are willing to put the time and effort into uncovering all of its little hidden secrets.

I do think, however, that it is a shame that the game locks all its best parts behind these secrets. Many players, especially those with jobs or responsibilities, may simply lack the time to discover the game’s hooks. Despite this, Animal Well remains downloaded in my library for when I finally have time to dive back into this dark and haunting world.

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