Animal Well

Game Title: Animal Well
Released: May 9, 2024
Game Length: 6 Hours
Grade: B+

Layer One

Main Game: Explaining what makes this little game amazing can be quite difficult when only peering on the surface. Since it reminded me of another game from a decade ago, I figured trying out this one wouldn't hurt. The trailer has a way of spoiling everything and yet at the same time telling you nothing of what to expect from its gameplay. There really isn't any music other than perhaps a single melody that plays in the background. The spooky atmosphere along with the weirdly designed animals is what mostly sells the game. There is no tutorial or any sort of narrative that guides you. Even describing yourself as some sort of slime, droplet, or blob can be difficult to convey. Your objective like any other "Metroidvania" game is simply to figure things out on your own.

Regions: There are approximately seven areas of the game to visit that are interconnected through a central hub that becomes available after you find 8 Eggs inside chests and unlock your musical instrument. A player can choose which of these areas to visit first but will require specific tools to advance far enough to defeat the bosses. The entire map can be explored with very little emptiness between each room. The boundaries will wrap around to the other side with some of the more "highest" areas located at the bottom of the map. You can put "stamps" on the map for chests, buttons, panels, enemies, or important sites to revisit. Some areas will be so dark that you will be unable to see the whole room, reference it from the map, or even pull out the map while trapped inside. 

Tools: There are a myriad of toys to collect that will help you traverse through the game. The more obvious one at the beginning will be the firecrackers that scare of ghosts and animals alike. They look like little flowers on the ground and light up a room when thrown. The ones that might take some time to discover that help with puzzles are the yo-yo, slinky, and disc. The flute will help you return to the main hub. The bubble wand along with the disc will help you traverse the surreal landscape. You can land on a single bubble or ride the disc to cross larger gaps.

Bosses: At the bottom of a big chamber shows off four main statues. Each one of these represents a boss that needs to be defeated or bypassed to obtain their flame. The seahorse section barely has any sort of resistance when the creatures practically help you get through the area. The ostrich might be a little scary with how he stretches his neck in an attempt to reach you underground, but even he barely poses a threat as you traverse the darkness. The chameleon will try to eat you but luckily you have some spiky friends that will scare him away. The toughest opponent would be what the community argues as some sort of ghost cat, dog, or wolf creature that chases after you when you obtain his disc. You can delay this encounter by placing in a mock disc into the pedestal as you retrieve the actual disc but the second pedestal further in is where you need to place the disc to access the flame. Once all four flames are obtained, a final showdown in the deep abyss will have the credits roll.

Layer Two

Extended Gameplay: A curious player is going to discover that there's a little more functionality than they bargained for inside those tools they found in the depths. Jumping on top of a disc will allow you to ride it like a dizzy alien in a spinning ship. A yo-yo can destroy stalagmites and stalactites. The remote might be mainly used to switch levers but it also reveals chests. For those who might remember a time when pressing both buttons on your Nintendo controller helped you perform a special move for games, shooting out a bubble with your wand at the same time as you jump becomes essential when it comes to finding secret areas. After you claim the four flames, a lantern can be obtained to defeat the final boss. This device allows you to disable certain creatures to reach even more secrets.

Free the Cats: When you reach the area with the moving platforms, you'll find quite a few trapped animals. There are a total of five cats trapped inside cages. You'll notice the marks above the cage begin to glow when you play your animal instrument. These dashes correspond to the directional arrows you'll see written on the walls across the area. Find 32 Eggs and you'll be able to unlock a spinning top. This unusual toy might first appear to be used to reach buttons from afar, but it really is used to break brittle walls and ground. This allows you to make a path to a worried mother cat that will supply you a wheel as a reward for your efforts. This device allows you to manually push platforms across the room and walk on spikes unharmed.

Layer Three

 

Matches: Unlike anything mentioned above, the amount of content below involves a little more backtracking and treasure hunting than what I managed in a standard playthrough. That's why I am distinguishing the layers a little more than the four layers the community established. During your escapade, you'll come across a series of matches inside chests. These are used to light candles to keep the ghosts from appearing in the room. There are a total of nine available that ultimately unlocks the weirdly shaped wall to the left of where you originally started the game. This allows you to obtain a special kind of light that shines ultraviolet to reveal even more secrets.

Kangaroo: When you first begin the game, there is only one room this hopping monstrosity will appear in. Only within the post-game will you have a chance to meet him in other rooms. The hidden paint depicting his likeness on the wall where he can be found is revealed with the special lamp. Scare him off by throwing some firecrackers and he will drop a piece of medal. Collect three of them and you will be able to obtain a bouncing ball that is used to break things a spinning top cannot reach. 

The Bat: In the very north-western corner of the map lies a giant flying beast that might scare you the first time you meet it. All you need to do is fire three firecrackers for it to flee. There doesn't seem to be any more to it besides that but perhaps the developers had planned to have some additional secrets associated with the room. 

Layer Four

 

Egg Collection: What is classified as the true ending requires you to find every single egg in the game. There are a total of 64 Eggs to collect. To give you a bit of a perspective of what an attentive player might be able to discover, I was able to collect 49 within my playthrough of roughly 8 hours. The rest seem to be only available if you were able to retrieve the few more rare devices in the game.

 

Final Egg: Once you receive the special egg from collecting all the other ones, there is a special Incubation Chamber that you must visit to spawn one of those big scary black Manticore beasts. That glass you thought was there to prevent you from progressing but still allow you to see a room is actually quite breakable from the creature's laser eyes. Use the appropriate tools to progress through the area and you'll be able to escape the well to the surface with your newfound buddy.

Death Room: There is a mysterious room near the end of the game that may or may not have a pile of skulls stacked up against a wall. Two chests are clearly visible there and were inaccessible for me at the time of my playthrough. Don't die in your playthrough and the one at the bottom will award you a souvenir cup. Die enough times and the pile gets high enough to obtain an upgrade to your wand to shoot as many bubbles as you want. 

Layer Five

 

Bunnies: There are a lot of hidden bunnies to discover in the game mainly using your ultraviolet lantern to read messages on walls, playing a certain pattern through your animal flute, or rooms that are very difficult to traverse without the proper tools. Down below is a list of them.

• Tutorial Bunny #4 & Spike Bunny #20 are challenge rooms. One requires you to head past the giant cranes and the other is located in the ceiling of the swordfish chamber.
• Fish Bunny #8 and Duck Bunny #11 require the ultraviolet lantern on their murals.
  
• Statue Bunny #5 has you chasing down the weird statues in the background that has an image of one of your map stamps and a number. Play the sequence on your flute to transport to the secret room.
  
• Ultraviolet Bunny #7 will appear in a few areas if you are using the ultraviolet lantern.
• Ghost Bunny #9 is really the black ghost without a light nearby that needs to be countered with the face pattern of your animal flute.
  
• Crow Bunny #10 can be found if you copy the pattern of which crows react in the room where eight of then roost above a dangerous red button. 
• TV Bunny #16 will appear if you play your animal flute the exact pattern of the faces that show on the television when you use your remote. The room that shows which direction to play is nearby.
• Ghost Dog Bunny #18 must be dragged out from a bunny-like dog statue by pulling the ghost dog into the room.

Speedrun: There are a series of figurines you can collect by completing the game within a set time. A stopwatch device is provided to you on your first completion. Three are given out for reaching the clock at the end and three more are given out reaching the secret ending within a given time.

Layer Six

 

Bunnies: If you played the game of Tunic, you might realize that there is a layer of secrets that requires a bit of ingenuity and creativity to discover. These secrets require some outside-the-box thinking.

• Mural Bunny #1 provides a player some information from the giant mural you can interact with using a remote on the control panel. Get 50 people together with separate identifiers and change the tiles for a special rabbit reveal.
  
• Vine Bunny #2 needs you to use your mouse to move the vines on the screen. 
• Dream Bunny #12 appears above your head if you don't move for a few minutes.
• Bulb Bunny #13 requires the exact sequence of the sparkles that appear from the corresponding images of the bulb on the archway you spawn out from to be played on your animal flute.

Barcode: There are some grass growing between two dog statues. Look carefully and you'll notice that there is a barcode that provides you a code for your animal flute.

Groundhog: There is an animal that hides in his hole when you come near it that will supply you a potion for a golden heart for each time your clock is set to February 2nd.

Office: Shining ultraviolet light on the eggs you have found will reveal small lines. If you shine the lantern in the room where you obtain the flute will show you the code in which direction you need to play for those lines. The last thing you must consider is that the upside down egg has its lines upside down as well. Once you complete the full song, a passage to the chest with the key for the office above your living room will appear.

Origami: Origami Bunny is rather confusing depending on which guide you use but provides you an Origami figurine by accessing the computer in the Office Room, receiving the request on your printer, and using the instructions for your animal flute. 

 

Tamagotchi: When you complete the game within a certain number of steps, there will be a Tamagotchi to the far right of the house. A pedometer will let you see your number of steps. Go over and a fence will block your path.

 Layer Seven

The Floor is Lava: There are a few hidden secrets where you don't ask questions to how people discover them. To a certain degree, these should be entirely impossible to figure out unless someone had some inside information. Lava Bunny #14 requires you to start in a very specific room and meander to another very specific room without touching the ground.

 

ARG: There is a very extensive list of breadcrumbs that take you from a trailer to a website link found in the background of his office to a blue bird. The chord that was shown is from Pachelbel's Canon and provides you a Duck Figurine by playing the sequence on your instrument. 

BDTP: Although there are 20 bunny statues, there are only 16 obtainable in the game. You need to collect them all by unlocking the Office and escaping the well through the true ending. By watching how the ears bend on each one and using the code on the blackboard with the ultraviolet lantern, the revealed binary code will introduce a new platform. If you have the manticore eat you, a new set of wings will allow you to fly in the game.

Wingding Message: Weird icons will appear in the game whenever you perform a very rare event. Insert these images into the calendar at your house to build a map. The correct sequence will lead you to Time Capsule Island with a message inside a chest from the developers. Some include:

• Having the Pedometer roll over 99,999 steps in order for it to read less than 100 at the end.
• Tire out a hummingbird by creating tons of bubbles.
• Have a Kangaroo unable to flee after throwing firecrackers by trapping it in a hole.
• Play the song to obtain the wheel device without freeing all the kittens.
• Scaring a squirrel a total of five times.
• Having the chameleon eat you but not kill you by having extra hearts from the groundhog.
• Reaching the true ending in under an hour.
• Force yourself to eat fruit at maximum health 100 times by pressing the button three times. 

Summary

Review: Although a casual player might spend less than 10 hours playing the game, the depth and passion from the number of secrets to discover can extend your gameplay for much longer. The main problem comes from how much attention you are willing to spend backtracking and combing over every single room in the game for something new. There's something missing when the overall excitement for the game has passed when the community discovers most of the secrets without you. Despite this, there is no denying the amount of respect for the game by pulling off one surreal adventure. It doesn't hurt to try it out if you are personally curious about this game.