How Did They Get All of These Animals in This Well?(Animal Well in Review)

    I was interested in this game before Videogamedunkey attached himself and his indie studio, Bigmode, to it, but that definitely ensured that I saw much more of it in the days and weeks before it came out. I didn't really know what to expect from it, despite seeing all of the trailers for the game shortly after they were released. I wasn't sure if the game would really be for me, boasting a Metroidvania style with less of an emphasis on combat, instead just being all about puzzles. If you'll recall, Disney Illusion Island, a game that game out last year, had a very similar focus, though that experience worked better as a proof of concept than anything much deeper, with more of a focus on platforming with very light puzzles. There was a great game, but it appealed to the younger player much more than a seasoned platforming veteran. Animal Well is not as long as that game, but the fact that your inventory is so diverse changes it from a platform-based Metroidvania into a puzzle game that I've never seen before. Let's jump down the well today and I'll talk to you a bit about the special game that I just finished.

Normal Animals Become Dangerous Threats!

    The star of a game called Animal Well, as you can imagine, are the animals, but more than that, it's the way that you interact with them that really hit me as being particularly clever. You play as a little brown blob guy who comes out of a flower at the beginning of the game. Many of the animals seem to view you as food, but others are there to serve some bigger purpose, or even in some circumstances, just to look cute as characters in the background. The way that the animals interact with you however, are very unusual, and even unnatural. The game was an incredible way of setting up tension, to the point where around any corner, you could be encountering some terrifying monster, but then realize it's just a normal dog that wants to play fetch. It's hard for me to talk about the animals in this game without talking about some of the wildest encounters that the game has to offer, so I won't say too much about it, but I will say that I was jump-scared by animals that I never dreamed I would be scared of, and that's impressive to me. All of the sudden, the music will kick up from nothing to this constant worrisome sound, and then whatever your threat is would come and do its thing. It's really refreshing to have a game that focuses on outsmarting or dodging your enemies instead of killing them, and makes the challenges involved much more interesting in the long run.

    I won't lie, there were many times in my few hours of playing that I was very unsure on where to go, but somehow, I kept stumbling onto big new areas, which would be exactly where I was supposed to go. It's a typical Metroidvania issue that plagues much of the genre, but I didnt have nearly as much trouble as I usually have. It could just be that I've had a lot of practice in games of this sort recently, but it genuinely felt pretty good and very satisfying whenever I got a new tool to use in my quest. These tools are implemented in such smart and cool ways, there were several that I was blown away by, and as a whole, I felt like all of them were really well implemented. The most interesting thing about these tools that I could think about though was the fact that all of them are just standard household objects. Again, without giving away any spoilers or specifics, I loved the way that the tools worked along with the animals and with each other, to the point where the combination of the different tactics became an integral mechanic of the game, and one that I originally didn't think about, but then would discover by accident. It's a really good game that doesn't punish too much for experimentation, but rewards a new idea wholeheartedly. There were some items that I got to that I honestly didn't know what it did, and still don't know after the credits rolled. 

    It says something that this game was made by such a small team of developers and yet set the internet on fire for a few weeks there. I have to give huge congratulations to Bigmode and Videogamedunkey for publishing their first game, and having the first one make such a splash in the indie game space, even when it continues to go wild year after year. I also can't wait to see what the director, Billy Basso, and his very small team will have for us with their next offering. I mentioned before that this is a fairly short game, but I have to say that it will probably stick with me for longer than many games that are 10 times longer, or more. This is a game that I would recommend to anyone willing to take a chance on a weird and sometimes overwhelming title, because there's something really special about it that's hard to explain without going into too many details. It is a game that doesn't explain itself, but the puzzles are made that much more satisfying when you figure out exactly what it is that you're supposed to do. 

    Thanks so much for reading this short post about this new game, I know that my posting has been a bit irregular recently, but I hope you still appreciate some that I have to say. Animal Well was a game that intimidated me from the get go, but I gave it a chance, and ended up loving it. Have you had an experience like that recently? I'd love to hear about it somewhere or sometime online! Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed well explorer, and I'll talk to you again soon!