Animal Well is a horror metroidvania that features truly terrifying animal-themed scares in retro style. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth buying.
Animal Well Review Video
Animal Well Review: Who Wants To Sleep Peacefully, Anyway?
Before the review really starts, I would just like to make a disclaimer: I love horror. I consume almost anything related to them, from movies to games to novels and such. Hence, I’m used to dealing with whatever various media throws my way.
But I still screamed in fright more than once as I played this game. In fact, I felt my blood pressure spike during one of the more particularly chilling chase events in the game.
What makes a truly great horror game, anyway? An abundance of jumpscares? A cast of expressive protagonists? Well-executed vibes? Scary terrors? All of them, really. But as for Animal Well, it only really focused on the latter two. And it does so to outstanding effect.
Everything in Animal Well screams "I don’t want to be here a second longer." It’s kind of like being forced to spend time with your spoiled, clingy, and persistently annoying nieces; you really just want to get far, far away from them.
As a horror game, that’s actually an excellent desire to evoke. It’s the natural desire born from our need for self-preservation. Hence, the horrors in Animal Well feel more instinctive and primal, as if it was ingrained into us as human beings.
How it achieves this is fascinating by itself. As mentioned earlier, Animal Well focuses almost entirely on vibes and scary monsters. There are no jumpscares at all, and the existence of a protagonist is questionable at best when you control a completely silent blob with eyes.
Animal Well's visuals are a thing of wonder. The level design is replete with innocuous details that, individually, don't mean much. However, when put together, they create some of the creepiest areas I've ever seen in video games.
It's only possible because its visuals are heavily supported by three details: the audio, the story design, and the choice of graphics.
The game's sound design, as you might have guessed, fits perfectly for its horror genre. However, the developers have incorporated tiny details into the ambience that's impossible to not mention. One of those is the seemingly random, unearthly cries from animals that can easily catch you off-guard. There's also a low humming noise that increase in intensity during big encounters. These serve to maintain the appropriate tension on your nerves as you play, even during supposedly safe stretches.
Its narrative and choice for graphics are also worthy of immense praise. That is, the complete lack of one, and its usage of retro style visuals. These are excellent choices for this kind of game, as they barely provide you with any information. This forces you to fill in the blanks yourself with a mindset that's already influenced by the game's dreadful ambiance.
Animal Well is overall a truly excellent horror game; one that will surely grind your nerves to dust using things that would barely count as scary if viewed in a vacuum.
Animal Well Story and Overview
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.
Really, there is no plot. Hell, there isn’t even any worldbuilding. However, there’s a lot of environmental storytelling, and it’s as creepy as they come. The fact that no words are ever spoken makes it even more terrifying, since the ambience leads you to imagine the wildest things to connect the dots. In a way, its silence tells more than words ever could.
Excellent Use Of Imagery
It is important to consider aesthetics when designing a level. Since humans depend highly on their eyesight, it’s also the best sense to exploit if you want to manipulate their mood. For example, if you want to make them feel uncomfortable, then you can use creepy images on eye-catching objects. Even better, do so constantly, but not so much that it becomes tiresome.
The environment in Animal Well is a combination of natural cave formations, sparse greenery, cold structures, old machinery, and the occasional animal, real or otherwise. There are even certain objects in the game that trigger Pareidolia (our tendency to see faces in objects) in people.
All of these contribute to the game’s exceptionally eerie atmosphere, despite the fact that, individually, none of those things are strange to encounter to begin with.
Well, the very dim lighting certainly helps.
Terrifying And Uncanny "Animals"
Before playing this game, I had the absolute confidence of claiming that I’ve never once been spooked by birds, virtual or otherwise. However, that all changed when I encountered the ones in Animal Well. I mean, look at them! Their eyes are hollow!
And they’re not even the worst ones. There were ostrich-like creatures whose necks could twist along tunnels like it was a snake, dogs that could practically do the same, severed fish heads that served as pipe entrances, kangaroos that jumped like they were connected to strings — the list goes on.
While most of the animals you’ll encounter do act the part, that just makes the encounters with those that don’t much worse. This is especially true if it’s your first time encountering them. Without knowing their behavior, formulating a response is nearly impossible. And that just adds suspense on top of the horror.
The True Horror Of Spooky Audio
Animal Well’s pièce de résistance is, undoubtedly, its audio. Not only does it play the role of supporting its terrifying and uncanny visuals, but it also serves to make the entire experience more cohesive. For example, the transition from an uncomfortable stroll through the Madagascar of Horror to a full-blown encounter with a big baddie feels more natural with its backing.
Not only that, the sounds used are downright frightful themselves. Just listening to them can make your skin crawl and your diapers full.
The game also has this habit of playing loud, barely animalistic cries during supposedly safe strolls through the definitely-not-safe chambers. Oftentimes, that’s enough to make you stop whatever it is you’re doing in anticipation of another scare. The vast majority of the time, nothing will happen. However, very rarely, something does — by that time, you would have likely stopped expecting anything already. And that just makes the scare even more potent.
Immersion-Breaking Puzzles
Considering the game’s almost utter lack of combat (unless you count running away as fighting), there must be something to replace it to serve as a means of interacting with the game in a more meaningful way. Otherwise, the game will just be a walking simulator. For a metroidvania, that’s less than ideal.
Animal Well’s lack of combat was compensated with far more puzzles than you would otherwise encounter from other games in the same genre. And by "far more," I mean there’s a puzzle at practically every other chamber you enter.
While that is all fine in theory — after all, it’s better than spending several minutes just jumping around — the problem is the design in some of these puzzles. Some of them are unnecessarily complex or time-consuming. And that’s bad because it takes the player’s focus and immersion away from what’s around them, making them lose momentum.
So, What’s The Verdict?
It’s Worth Every Cent
Anybody even vaguely interested in horror shouldn’t hesitate to purchase Animal Well. It’s an excellent title that showcases what the developers could do with the theme. It’s terrifying, it’s fun, and it’s also everything in between. On top of that, it’s just 34 megabytes!
| Platform | Price |
|---|---|
 Steam Store |
$24.99 |
 PlayStation Store |
$24.99 |
 Nintendo Store |
$24.99 |
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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 |
