Animal Well

Ever wanted to hatch from a flower and go on a crazy adventure (for some reason?) Well, Animal Well lets you do just that! This indie gem is a Metroidvania like no other — you'll find yourself completely immersed in a weird, wonderful pixelated world deep underground.

Imagine a dense labyrinth overflowing with secrets, where innocuous details can become vital pieces of mind-bending puzzles. That's the mad genius of Animal Well in a nutshell. Right from your first tentative steps, you're thrust into an intricate, maze-like environment filled with quirky critters. Some seem friendly and helpful, while others ooze an unsettling aura of potential danger.

But that constant sense of uncertain discovery is all part of the fun! The visuals are stunningly intricate, with an eerie, gloomy atmospheric vibe that'll have you feeling equal parts delighted and unnerved at every step.

A Different Kind of Metroidvania

Unlike classics like Blasphemous or Hollow Knight where you're always unlocking new combat abilities, progression in Animal Well hinges on clever item use and wildly inventive environmental interactions.

Don't go in expecting to become an unstoppable, monster-slaying machine. Quite the opposite, in fact — you start off feeling feeble and underpowered. But with persistent exploration and experimentation, you'll gradually unlock devious new ways to manipulate and subvert the world around you.

What seemed like throwaway background details earlier suddenly take on vital importance. That conspicuous tree root? Better study how it behaves. And those out-of-reach platforms? There's probably an item in your inventory that can clear the gap in a delightfully bonkers fashion.

Mastering these distinctive mechanics is an absolute mind-bending joy that makes you approach every new area like a curious child in a micro-playground.

Every Little Thing Matters

On that note, let's talk puzzles! This is a true systemic sandbox where nearly every element — be it enemy, object or facet of the environment — behaves in surprising, frequently game-changing ways. You'll quickly learn that nothing is quite as it seems on the surface.

What appears to be a lethal hazard in one context could be a crucial tool in another. Seemingly unintuitive item behaviors suddenly click into place with semi-regular "eureka!" moments. Finding creative ways to string these wacky mechanics together into solutions is incredibly rewarding.

It's like someone morphed Fez's inscrutable brain-teasers with the item-centric puzzle-boxes of Baba Is You, then gave the whole thing an eerie, existential edge.

It Keeps on Giving

But here's perhaps the most remarkable thing about Animal Well — even after you've uncovered all its core mysteries and seen the credits roll, this dense atmospheric puzzlebox will keep providing new stuff for the eagle-eyed to unravel. Seriously, die-hard players could easily still be uncovering its deepest, most labyrinthine secrets years down the road.

As daunting as that sounds, the open-ended, non-linear exploration fortunately means you can view areas in nearly any order, gradually piecing together the bigger picture at your own pace. There's no hand-holding or guided critical path here.

Pros

• Insanely creative world
• Stunning 2D visuals
• A fresh, unconventional twist on the Metroidvania genre

Cons

• The difficulty curve is pretty brutal for inexperienced players