| Animal Well | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Release Date | Gameplay & Story | Pre-Order & DLC | Review |
| Release Date | |
|---|---|
| May 9, 2024 More Details | |
| Genre | |
| Action, Puzzle, Metroidvania | |
| Platforms | Price (MSRP) |
   |
$24.99 |
| Developer | Publisher |
| Billy Basso | Bigmode |
| Number of Players | Age Rating |
| 1 | E |
| Time to Finish | Cross Platform Play |
| 7 -17 Hours | No |
| Official Website | Official Website for Animal Well |
Animal Well Latest News
⚫︎ Animal Well Nominated For Best Independent Game and Best Debut Indie Game For This Year's GOTY Awards (Game8)
⚫︎ Peeling Back The Layers Of GOTY Contender Animal Well (Nintendo Life)
⚫︎ In Stellar New Game ‘Animal Well,’ Even the Secrets Have Secrets (Bloomberg)
Animal Well Overview
Animal Well is a single-player, exploration-focused game set in a dense, interconnected labyrinth filled with hidden secrets and strange creatures. Developed by Billy Basso, the game blends puzzle-solving, environmental manipulation, and a unique pixel art style. The game encourages players to explore every corner of the labyrinth, uncovering hidden puzzles, cryptic messages, and creatures, all while engaging with a complex world that has more than what meets the eye.
The story follows the Jumping Bean, a small creature who hatches from a flower and embarks on a journey to explore The Well. The labyrinth is full of dangers and mysteries, including guardians, powerful creatures like the Manticore, and an intricate system of environmental puzzles. Players will need to gather items and manipulate the environment in creative ways to progress, unlocking new areas and secrets as they go.
| Steam |
PlayStation |
Switch |
|||
| Price | $24.99 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Animal Well Gameplay
Animal Well combines exploration, puzzle-solving, and environmental manipulation in a dense, interconnected world. The gameplay is centered around uncovering hidden details and solving complex puzzles that affect the environment. As players explore The Well, they must collect items and figure out how to use them to manipulate their surroundings in meaningful ways.
The environments range from lush and strange biomes to dark, more oppressive spaces filled with unsettling creatures. The atmosphere is intentionally ambiguous, with areas that seem normal at first but gradually reveal their true, often unnerving, nature. The player is constantly faced with a world that is strange.
Animal Well Reviews
A Brilliant and Moody Surprise
Game8 awarded Animal Well a score of 92/100, praising its captivating imagery and atmospheric music. They noted that the game masterfully creates a tense, horror-like vibe that compels players to escape. IGN gave it a 9/10, highlighting its impressive ability to hide countless secrets within its intricate world. Metacritic scored the game at 91/100, with critics widely agreeing that it’s a meticulously crafted experience packed with secrets for players to uncover at their own pace. On Steam, the game received an Overwhelmingly Positive rating, with an average score of 5 stars and describing it as insanely creative, offering an abundance of exploration and puzzles to enjoy.
If you’d like to learn more about what other people are saying about Animal Well, read our Review Roundup from Reddit, Steam, and others!
Animal Well Announcement Trailer
Release Date Trailer
The release date trailer showcased new items designed for platforming traversal and provided a glimpse of the interconnected map. It concluded by announcing the release date as May 9, 2024.
Animal Well Trivia
⚫︎ Billy Basso confirmed on the game’s Discord server that the player character is a Mexican Jumping Bean. These are seed pods used as homes by moth larvae, and their hopping motion comes from the larvae moving inside.
⚫︎ The puzzles in Animal Well range from simple collectible hunting to deeply cryptic enigmas requiring players to take notes, decode messages, or analyze environmental clues meticulously.
⚫︎ There are ongoing theories within the community about the game’s setting. Some players speculate that the world represents a form of hell, while others believe it is a realm where animals have been banished.
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