Animal Well lives at the intersection of so many of my own interests that it may as well have been birthed straight out of a Covid-infused fever dream deep in my subconscious. A Metroidvania that features backtracking, puzzle-solving, and an interconnected map? Check. A complete abdication of combat, which Metroid games have not historically been known for anyway? Check. An unsettling, creepypasta-core aesthetic that crawls into your brain via your eyeballs and refuses to leave? Check. Puzzles and lore that go so deep that eventually they become entirely inscrutable? Check. A minimalistic, ambient synth score that bears more than a passing resemblance to the work of the late Angelo Badalamenti on his most famous David Lynch collaboration? Check, thank you, more please. This seven-year labor of love developed entirely by Billy Basso is a titanic achievement in indie gaming that manages to build on the shoulders of its progenitors while also establishing itself as something wholly and completely unique.
The art style is pixel-perfect to what we remember 8- and 16-bit gaming to look like without suffering from the limitations imposed by old hardware. Dark atmospheres punctuated by flourishes of bright colors work together to weave a tapestry that is somehow both familiar and entirely hostile — you never know what might be lurking around each corner, and whether each new animal you discover is friend or foe. Early on I encountered a wiener dog-looking canine that pursued me, intent on making me into his chew toy. I hightailed it into a hole in the floor that led to a labyrinthian series of tunnels only to realize to my horror that the dog was snaking his way along behind me, bending unnaturally and yapping away in his muted, 16-bit-inspired idiolect. Later, I burst through a destructible wall and found myself in an idyllic fountain room complete with majestic capybaras lazily gazing down at me, a rare respite in an otherwise largely murderous world. Paired with an evocative soundtrack that knows when to take a backseat to incidental sounds and when to take center stage, it’s not only easy but downright enjoyable to get lost in this small but densely packed map. Simply put: the vibes are immaculate.
As a Metroid-inspired game, this title places a premium on exploration and backtracking. Where other members of the genre rely on both traversal and combat, Animal Well eschews one entirely in service of the other: there are no weapons in this game, no enemies to defeat for health and ammunition, only obstacles to overcome and puzzles to solve. Each new tool offers an initially clear use, but careful experimentation quickly opens up a host of secondary and tertiary uses that continue to funnel you further down a seemingly never-ending rabbit hole. A yo-yo that presents itself as a clever way to hit switches that lay around corners and at the top of shafts also destroys stalactites and stalagmites that formerly impeded your progress, and a flute that initially seems to only lure certain animals in your direction would prove to be one of the most varied and significant items the game has to offer. Most Metroid and ‘Troid-inspired titles in the field have perfunctory combat and boss battles that amount to facetanking your way to glory. It was refreshing to see a game recognize this and, rather than steering into the skid as so many before it, decide to do away with it entirely. Without Zoomers and Geemers skittering about waiting to be blown away by a few power beam rounds, my focus could remain squarely on my environment and my tools; every single room could now become a puzzle in and of itself, something that Animal Well exploits to a preposterous degree.
At a certain point, these puzzles proved to be dense enough that I recognized I would never be able to solve them on my own — or, at the very least, that I had no interest in devoting the time to poke and prod my way to a solution over many frustrating hours of trial and error. But therein also lies one of Animal Well’s greatest strengths: the community it creates between players. The handful of folks in my circles who were also day-one players jumped into a Discord thread to swap screenshots of cryptic discoveries, trade theories that would account for abnormalities we had uncovered, and work in tandem to move towards solutions. The time spent in this thread putting our heads together wound up being some of my most treasured memories with the game. I can’t say I have ever experienced a title that asked me to work this hard to uncover its secrets. While I shamelessly had to search for solutions in a few areas to collect all 64 of the game’s hidden eggs and find my way to its secret second (but not final!) ending, I am proud to say that I found a respectable amount of answers by the sweat of my own brow — even if occasionally I decided not to pursue them to their final degree. The other side of the coin here is that much (if not most) of the game’s install base is going to come nowhere near experiencing everything this game has to offer. The third and fourth layer of puzzles in this game were so convoluted to me that I walked away after seeing credits for the second time fully satisfied in my ignorance of what lies beyond. This is neither good nor bad inherently, but I do think this is a salient question to pose — what does it mean if approximately 40% of your title will never be experienced by the majority of your player base?
Minor quibbles emerged throughout my time with the game: jumping is finicky and sometimes careened my poor blob off into the ether instead of in the direction of safe harbor, and I often had to beat my head against the wall to figure out solutions to puzzles so opaque they bordered on fully frosted. There is also no real story to speak of, unless you like deciphering entirely optional murals only visible by way of an also-optional post-game tool; your journey through this strange well via your blobby hero can only provide the intrinsic satisfaction of a job well done, which will certainly not be enough for some players who seek a clearer pathos as to the why and wherefore.
Taken in sum, I found Animal Well to be an engrossing experience that fans of the Metroidvania genre simply cannot miss. The art direction and haunting score will be memorable for years to come, and the full commitment to exploration over combat is something that future development teams would be wise to consider. I loved my time plumbing the depths of this well for mysteries and secrets, and will surely count the swapping of conspiracy theories in our Discord chat as a highlight of my 2024 gaming memories. When The Game Awards season rolls around, expect to see this represented in several categories — and deservedly so!
Verdict
Animal Well is a home-run indie that abandons combat entirely in service of treating every room like a puzzle waiting to be solved. The pixel art aesthetic and synthwave soundtrack are both simple and evocative, and do more with less overall materials than most AAA titles. While the puzzles are often fun to solve, they rapidly become obtuse and inscrutable, which will (unfortunately) mean that a substantial segment of the player base will only experience a portion of what this game has to offer. All in all, Animal Well stands tall alongside this year’s crop of stellar Metroidvanias.
