A hole in one.
In the dripping midnight glade there is a telephone resting on the earth.
It’s an antique.
I can tell that from the limited 2D pixel art.
Animal Well review
The telephone is important here inAnimal Well.
It’s how you save the game, for starters.
The more I did all this, the more the sight of another telephone came as a sweet relief.
A save point, yes, but also a sign that someone had been this way before me.
A sign that even as I navigated bright mysteries, I was still on the right track.
Animal Well feels like nothing other than Animal Well most of the time.
But I guess on some level it’s a Metroidvania.
I’m not going to spoil any of this, not even the basic gadgets.
The instance of the finger post!
That’s Animal Well.
And maybe that mechanism was here, too, but hidden from view by the environment.
That was a huge moment for me.
I wanted to write postcards about it to friends I had not spoken to in years.
I had briefly joined minds with Animal Well and its creator.
One room might be a maze dug through the damp soil.
Another might have the remains of the gate for an old house.
Those animals you encounter, though.
They’re there because this buried world is their world too.
Birds hang back and watch for an opening.
Some of the larger beasts just eye you from a distance, amused.
You’re not the hero anymore, you’re a bystander, and it’sbrilliant.
Even so, the game is clear and focused in its puzzles.
Some, though, spread across multiple screens and multiple environments.
The simplest will encourage you to use one of your gadgets in a thoughtful way.
What a world to explore.
And it all serves a purpose.
Other games have discoveries in them.
Animal Well, like Fez and Tunic and a handful of other sublime delights,isdiscovery.
It’s discovery right up to the end and far, far beyond that.
It’s a game that wants you to keep on going.
Animal Well accessibility options
Turn on or off scanline effect, reduce flashing, turn off vibration.
There’s something ofJet Set Willyhere, and his strange impossible house.
I often fall in love with games, but Animal Well is slightly different.
I’m astonished by it.
And fittingly, for a game about wells, I am astonished by how deep it all goes.
Review code for Animal Well was provided by Bigmode.
