"...From the first time I saw a firecracker pop, I was impressed..."
PC | PS5 | SWITCH | XBOX SERIES
HOW I PLAYED: I Platinumed the game playing 50/50 on PlayStation Portal/PS5.
STORY - 20/20
THE INTRO
You jump out of an egg, flower or kind of face sucker thing (from "Alien"). You are immediately left to your own devices... Just a little blob against the big world. Trying to get out of a dangerous place of hidden wonders! You are in a world that is full of puzzles to solve.
CUTSCENES
Nonexistent, except for the ending of the game. Glorious times for those of us who love some unbroken gameplay.
WORLD BUILDING
For the first half of the game you don't learn a lot really, with no real notes or info given to the player, but towards the back end of the game you can get a UV light which helps you learn more things about the world. This approach adds to the sense of the unknown.
OVERALL STORY
So, you are but a blob. You are not given a story to follow, your actions towards your goal of leaving the hostile Well is all that matters; and I love this approach here. There are two endings, no spoilers though. Only a single playthrough required though. There is a "story", just delivered in a different way.
GRAPHICS - 15/15
CHARACTER MODELS
From the Dogs to the Kangaroos there is a massive charm to this game, each and every character model has been design and finished with love and care.
ENVIRONMENTS
Are beautiful and sometimes even react to the player movements. You have hanging vines that swing with you as you jump into them. Not only do the vines add "life" to the game, they are sometimes placed to stop the player reaching areas the game doesn't want you to reach so easily. The vines popping the bubbles is a low-key genius game design choice. The vibrant colours make the game really feel unique too.
From the first time I saw a firecracker pop, I was impressed. Again, this game has clearly been made with no shortage of passion.
AUDIO - 15/15
THE AMBIENCE
Cosy and relaxing is how I would describe it. While you are just running around solving puzzles, a lot less relaxing when you're in one of the few boss battles though. Animal Well definitely had me immersed in it's world.
The relaxing tone is flipped to complete horror in the matter of seconds for some fights and this is thanks in part to the music.
SOUND DESIGN
Another thing done masterfully. There is something chilling about seeing a kangaroo jump then hearing it make an aggressive noise. It was unexpected and it almost startled me. Everything in this game sounds amazing. From the explosions to the spraying of water, all top notch work. The variety of sounds is quite good too. Each animal and boss has their own unique sounds.
PERFORMANCE - 10/10
FRAME RATE
Solid and no noticeable dips or notable issues with the frame rate during my playtime.
STABILITY
No crashes or lock ups. No bugs that restricted or hindered me during my gameplay. Definitely nice to see in 2024.
GAMEPLAY - 31/40
CONTROLS
Are extremely responsive and feel great. No input lag, just good, clean, responsive controls. The button layout is well designed and there are minimal buttons to remember. Later in the game, to get some of the more challenging eggs, you are required to do some tricky tasks. One egg had me throwing a frisbee to a block in front of me then immediately dropping my slinky down the staircase (which I was standing on) then quickly jumping on the frisbee in time as it bounced back at me while the slinky hit the step with a button to make the block in front of me (which the frisbee just bounced off) move up out the way, then there was more... But you get my point and when you get there you will appreciate the responsive controls too.
MECHANICS
This game gives ZERO tooltips/suggestions/notes on what to do with any item, so the mechanics had to be well designed and implemented; this was paramount to the game functioning. The whole game is asking you to work out puzzles that are not all presented clearly to the player, so you have to stop and think. The bubble wand is a tool to make a single bubble which your little blob can jump on to... But when you realise you can jump AND make a bubble at basically the same time you realise you can get to any height! Little things like this is what makes the game so interesting.
PACING
Animal Well respects the player's time from start to finish. No forced walking segments, no unskippable cutscenes, just all gameplay. However, depending on how you go with the puzzles, some people may be stuck on some parts for a while.
UI/UE
Minimal and clear. There is a Map that is unlocked quite quickly and then you can find a "pencil" later too to mark the map with various icons for reminding yourself of locations to come back to later.
BOSS QUALITY
There are only a few Bosses in Animal Well and they are all completely different. I found more than one a bit "frustrating" due to my inability to make certain jumps under pressure and that just added to the beauty of the game for me. Animal Well's Bosses are extremely well designed and thoughtout.
ENEMY VARIETY
Being
a game less about "combat' there are only a few different enemies to
deal with. Each is quite unique and needs dealing with in their own way,
or you can just leave most of them alone.GAMEPLAY VARIETY
There
is minimal variety as a whole. Most puzzles are required to be solved
in a single way so there is not a lot of variation in how to do most of
the game. However, the order in which you tackle a lot of tasks is a
player choice and that freedom I love and appreciate. So overall the
variety is technically high.REPLAYABILITY
Will also be low for most players but it does allow for challenge runs or trying to tackle the game in a different way while still likely feeling fresh for people who love to speedrun or challenge themselves in that way.
OVERALL - 91/100
INCREDIBLE
Animal Well is an instant gem and once I rolled credits I was in love with the game and appreciated how well it was designed, and by a single developer! Who also made the game engine specifically for Animal Well too... Amazing to see. But once I rolled those first credits and hadn't popped the "get out of the well" trophy I had to google what doing so entailed and there was a lot of extra things I had to do still to get out the well. But I just had to experience the "real ending" for myself and get my little blob out the well....It was well worth it. An absolute gem, gaming needs more unique titles like this.
TL;DR: 91/100 (INCREDIBLE)
Animal Well is a puzzle lovers dream. If you love solving problems while gaming then Animal Well is for you. No cutscenes or forced dialogue: Just gameplay from front to back.
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