Animals can be scary: bats, wolves or ravens have an effect on many people disturbing. But if you've never been afraid of seahorses, chameleons or ostriches, you could experience a blue wonder in Animal Well.
The indieMetroidvania from Bigmode, the company of YouTuber vgdunkey, has been making the rounds everywhere since its release on May 9th. We played it and will tell you if it deserves the hype.
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Did the animal fall into the well?
The short answer is: yes, it does. The charming pixel look alone is convincing in combination with the atmospheric and occasionally threatening music. But we particularly often hear animal noises, which make up a large part of the mood.
Overall, Animal Well plays fantastically with light and shadow and the attention to detail is also noticeable in most rooms. The general color tone is rather dark, as a lot of blue, purple and black are used. This means that bright elements stand out even more clearly.
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As usual with the genre, there is no focus on a story. It's so minimal here that we can miss it in the blink of an eye.
At the beginning of the game we see four flames lighting up on the screen. Shortly afterwards, our little blob awakens in a flower and begins the adventure. Since we don't get more context, we have to find out a lot ourselves or just speculate.
If we receive a map during the adventure, we will find a marker for the location of the flames. Once we have collected all four beacons and placed them in the appropriate locations, we enter the final area.
Source: PC Games
Another Metroidvania feature is the non-linear gameplay. This is implemented first-class in Animal Well, which is not only due to the extremely reserved story. We have a huge world with countless branches to choose from. As we explore these, upgrades, collectibles and other paths practically find themselves.
The high level of fairness is also convincing: after we fall into the water, we respawn without taking any damage. We only go Game Over as soon as we lose all hearts or get crushed by objects. Well-placed save points before difficult passages minimize frustration.