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    dkirschner's Animal Well (PS5)

    [January 22, 2025 07:47:48 PM]
    This one grew on me. In my first longish session (a few hours), I was getting sort of bored and frustrated. I didn't know what to do. There's not much of a story in Animal Well (you're in a...well...with animals). Animal Well is a metroidvania with no combat. It's full of puzzles. I'd compare it to Tunic and The Witness. All are games where you are not given much guidance. You can go in whichever direction you want, and you can go in that direction until you don't have the item required to move further (Tunic, Animal Well) or until you come to a puzzle that stumps you (all three). Once I realized that this was by design, and that there wasn't going to be any story, and that the puzzles are devious and clever, and that the well is connected in such a cool, labyrinthine way, I got immersed and couldn't stop thinking about it. I wanted to see every corner of that well. This sense of puzzle challenge and discovery kept me glued to Tunic, which I loved, but didn't keep me engaged for too long with The Witness. However, I had reservations about all three. I think that I anticipate disliking these types of games, but usually get sucked in.

    In Animal Well, you discover a variety of toys (a frisbee, a slinky, a thing that makes bubbles, a spinning top, etc.) that are necessary for navigation and puzzle solving. They all have multiple uses, and since the game doesn't tell you what they are for, you have to figure it out through experimentation. This led to a bunch of "oh awesome!" moments when you stumble upon a new use for a toy. These moments felt really, really surprising and satisfying. They reminded me of Tunic when I would decode a manual page or The Witness when I would figure out a new rule, or when I realized how much perspective played a part.

    The art style is compelling, too. It's got a retro vibe, and it's dark in the well, but it's also got a "bioluminescent" aesthetic. The animals range from cute to scary. There are a lot of animals down there. Some are background scenery, some are obstacles, some are bosses, some help you out, etc. Most can be interacted with in various ways. For example, the moles follow your yo-yo and you can "walk the dog" with them. Dogs will eat you, but they like frisbees. Similarly, weasels are distracted by the spinning top. You'll have to figure this stuff out because manipulating animals is often crucial to solving puzzles or exploring the well.

    One final thing that I initially disliked, but that grew on me, is the map. It's very low-res and initially was hard to read. But, you eventually get a stamp, with which you can mark locations, and a pencil, with which you can write notes. You also learn to read the map better. Every pixel is meaningful. See a white dot? That's a teleporter. See pink dots? Those are locks. See a black space, no matter how small? That's unexplored and there's probably a way to get there. I knew I was into the game when I started annotating the map. If I got stuck, I stamped a "?" and made a note. If there was something that looked like it might be useful later, I made a note. I marked bosses, items, chests I couldn't get to, places where I thought I would need to return to with as-yet-undiscovered items, and so on. For example, I kept seeing all these staircases with buttons on the bottom, and another button elsewhere in the room. It looked like I'd need to use an item to press one while I stood on the other. And it was always steps. Almost like a slinky would be required. I started writing "slinky" on the map in those areas. And do you know what I eventually found? A SLINKY! Then I methodically revisited everywhere I'd marked. I felt like a genius.

    There are a TON of secrets in Animal Well. I rolled the credits, but there are eggs to find, squirrels to find, more items to find, all sorts of puzzles and statues and stuff that I don't know what they're for. You find a totally new location after the credits that raises a lot of questions. I read up on some of this and learned that there is an ARG and like 3 layers of puzzle, which reminds me of Inscryption. (And Animal Well does have a similar horror-adjacent vibe!). I won't go back and spend time trying to figure more stuff out, but definitely recommend if you like metroidvanias, puzzle games, and exploring dungeons. It seemed a bit uninspired at first, but this game is deep. Like a well. An animal well.
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    Status

    dkirschner's Animal Well (PS5)

    Current Status: Finished playing

    GameLog started on: Sunday 19 January, 2025

    GameLog closed on: Wednesday 22 January, 2025

    Opinion
    dkirschner's opinion and rating for this game

    Atmospheric and cool art, but not digging it all that much yet. -------- Grew on me. Devious, clever puzzles, and an impressive connected labyrinth to explore.

    Rating (out of 5):starstarstarstarstar

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