With Animal Well garnering critical acclaim over its first week of release on different review outlets, what does everyone else have to say about the game? Read on to learn more about how well the game did, according to other players.
What is Animal Well?
Animal Well is a horror metroidvania with basically no story and barely any tutorials. The game simply throws you into a dark cave with horrific animals and scattered ruins without context and expects you to figure it out yourself. While that may seem outrageous, it actually helps increase tension, as the game's dreadfully terrifying visuals and audio have one less competitor for your attention.
Animal Well features:
⚫︎ A novel take on metroidvanias where you can’t fight back
⚫︎ Intense atmospheric horror
⚫︎ Stunningly eerie modern-retro graphics
⚫︎ Heart-pounding encounters with distinctly animal-shaped horrors
⚫︎ Nerve-wracking sound design
For more gameplay details, read everything we know about Animal Well's gameplay and story.
Animal Well User Reviews and User Score
Animal Well User Reviews of Pros and Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 A True Puzzle Metroidvania Post-Game Layers Polish, Memory Usage, and Retro Graphics |
Can’t Change Keybinds Too Much Focus on Post Game Trial-and-Error and Difficulty Spikes |
We here at Game8 gave Animal Well a 92/100 for its eerie atmosphere, amazing sound design and great value for money. You can read more about our opinion in detail in the review linked down below. But our opinion isn't the end-all, be-all. We've gone out and collected opinions from across the internet to see what people are saying Animal Well did well, and what they didn't like about it.
What People Liked About Animal Well
| Pros |
|---|
|
A True Puzzle Metroidvania Post-Game Layers Polish, Memory Usage, and Retro Graphics |
A True Puzzle Metroidvania
People are raving about the game’s atmosphere, mind-provoking puzzles, and its traditional Metroidvania style of exploration and difficulty. One of which is reviewer FuryForged, who already has more than 120 hours of playtime on Steam. His video and review on Steam both showed praise for the design of Animal Well, which appeals to players who love discovering secrets in video games saying, "If you enjoy secrets in games - that feeling of wow, they actually thought of this if I tried doing THIS?!
then you have found your new obsession." "If you are a fan of Fez, Tunic, Noita, La-Mulana, Rain World, Knytt, etc. then you owe it to yourself to sink into the Well." FuryForged added.
Post-Game Layers
In relation to the exploration of the game, the game’s post-game depth is another topic that most players talk about. The game is split up into three layers, where the first layer is completing the main game, which takes around 5-10 hours to finish depending on your speed in collecting the necessary items and solving puzzles. The next layer, which starts the post-game is collecting all the different eggs in the game by utilizing the different tools that you’re given to find all of these little things. Lastly, the third layer is discovering everything there is to know about the game. As of this writing, not all of the secrets have been discovered yet, which means that the majority of players are still hard at work looking for them in the game.
Polish, Memory Usage, and Retro Graphics
The game only takes a miniscule 34MB on your computer, which is absurdly small and convenient for a game that has a Metroidvania design in this day and age. There have been no reported bugs or crashes in the game as well, meaning that the polish that Basso did for the game was exceptional. Additionally, the game’s visuals are also something to note, as the pixelated art style and use of imagery add to the eerie atmosphere.
What People Disliked About Animal Well
| Cons |
|---|
|
Can’t Change Keybinds Too Much Focus on Post Game Trial-and-Error and Difficulty Spikes |
Can’t Change Keybinds
While the game fully supports DualSense capabilities with the use of the changing LED lights and speaker, you actually can’t change the game’s control scheme. This is primarily the cause for concern amongst the players, as it only supports a QWERTY keyboard at the moment, and one particular user on Steam, ThreeFingerG, even had to go so far as to install third-party software to change the inputs on their Steam Deck. This, however, can be changed in the future with a patch that lets you remap controls, but until then, you’re stuck with how it is.
Too Much Focus on Post Game
This isn’t exactly a negative thing as it’s more of a personal preference thing. Regardless, people did comment on the big focus of the post-game in their reviews. One particular user, Gravy, called the game "too ‘post game’ for its own good," and didn’t want to continue past the main game completion. Like previously mentioned, the game only takes a few hours to finish the main story of the game, then a lot more to explore and discover every secret in the game. If you’re not into the exploration and secret hunting aspect, then the game may not be for you.
Trial-and-Error and Difficulty Spikes
As a puzzle platformer in Metroidvania, the game ticks all the boxes for a sense of discovery, secret hunting, and an interconnected world that’s up to you to explore and get around. However, some players have expressed their concerns regarding the puzzles in the latter half of the game and the frame-perfect jumps needed to get past certain obstacles in the game. Additionally, user Kip Enyan complained about the respawn system in the game since it has a Dark Souls-style runback where you’d have to solve the already solved puzzles after dying past the checkpoint.
Animal Well User Score and Rating
With Animal Well being the first game by developer Billy Basso since going independent as well as BIGMODE Games’ first game being published, the game being a hit is an understatement. After less than a week of release, Animal Well has already garnered praise from the public, scoring a 96% positive review rating on Steam and an 8.2 User Score on Metacritic. With BIGMODE having their first publishing foray a hit, people are excited to see even greater games to be published by the blossoming publishing studio, as this could be a sign for things to come. As for Basso, people were in awe with his artistic direction, meticulousness, and overall game design that people are also looking forward to what he's up to for his next project.
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Animal Well Product Information
 |
|
| Title | ANIMAL WELL |
|---|---|
| Release Date | May 9, 2024 |
| Developer | Billy Basso |
| Publisher | Bigmode |
| Supported Platforms | PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Metroidvania, Action, Horror, Puzzle |
| Number of Players | 1 |
| PEGI Rating | 7 (Fear, Mild Violence) |
| Official Website | Animal Well Website |
