ANIMAL WELL REVIEW in 60 seconds
353Animal Well is not a Metroidvania. It’s unique and it doesn’t fit neatly into a box. Trying to put a label on Animal Well feels inaccurate. There isn’t combat, your attributes don’t increase permanently, you don’t gain traditional abilities like double jump and exploration never feel gated or laborious.
Animal Well feels less like a Metroidvania and more like something from playdead: a world full of mystery, a strong atmosphere and a dark undertone. Animal Well is somehow unsettling and intriguing at the same time.
If you decide to take Animal Well at face value, you have a mysterious exploration game filled with gorgeous pixel art, challenging puzzles and at times, difficult platforming. Getting to the end took about seven hours, but if you choose to take the blue pill you will find yourself spending plenty more hours looking for secrets, attempting devious platforming sections and trying to decipher what the world of Animal Well means.
Few games can accomplish making you feel lost and always in the exact spot you need to be in as constantly as Animal Well does. Objectives are malleable and not having an end goal leads to time melting away as you just want to solve one more puzzle or figure out how to reach the next room. In the process of this, four other things will pique your interest and before you know it, ten minutes has turned into an hour.