Animal Well Is As Good As Video Games Get (SPOILER-FREE REVIEW)

it's hard writing a review for a game that's really really special because you struggle to convey just how special and how amazing it is you know it's this very Sensational thing every game reviewer who's played something special wants to be like this is the best game ever here's why you should believe me but man I I got to say I really do want to somehow convey that animal well it's one of those special games one of those once in a blue moon truly deep down incredible experiences that reminds me all over again why I love video games I know it's a bold statement it's a very Sensational way to start but bear with me and I will say it's also hard in this case cuz I don't want to spoil anything so I'm going to try to avoid basically all specifics and I'm also only going to be showing gameplay from the very beginning of the game and if you want to go into the game super duper blind like I heavily recommend then just don't even watch this footage just listen because even this is going to give you some puzzle solutions for the first part I really truly do recommend going in as blind as possible I'm very glad that I watched a couple trailers early on and then I just did not look further so animal well is a Metroid Vania technically but there is no combat to speak of there is definitely danger you know enemies in a sense and there are ways to protect yourself against enemies but you never get like straight up weapons you never fight all the items you get are utility items they help you get around they help you solve puzzles and this strikes me as particularly interesting because I like to come up with game ideas myself and I frequently find myself dwelling on Concepts Metroid vanas in particular that don't have combat I just think the idea is really interesting I want to see it explored in more games it just it drastically changes the dynamic of the entire experience and your your place in the world so yeah the items that you get this is one reason I'm really glad I didn't watch a lot of pre-release footage because the items are so delightful they're usually simple sometimes so simple these things are basically toys and yet they're all these clever ways they work with the environment there are so many uses for them and sometimes you will slowly discover these uses the more you play and the game has no tutorials intuitively teaching the player it's something that everyone loves it's a mark of good game design everyone kind of strives for it when they can but animal well takes it to a level I don't know if I've ever seen it teaches so much you learn so many different functions of your items and the environment and it's all done 100% organically the game wants you to figure things out yourself and this leads to these intense ly satisfying moments where you've been using an item for hours and suddenly you discover a new use for it and that's like gaining a new item all over again you know it's like getting the item upgraded and the game gives you these tools and tells you to explore and this is one of those Metroid vanas that feels very open early on there are so many different paths to choose from so many rooms I had to remind myself to come back to later I do believe that there's more or less a linear order you're going to complete things in but there's this sense of Freedom this this sense of choice that makes it feel like every move I make is my own and of course as you gain items the world just opens up more and more and it feels like you've just got so many options it's exhilarating and it's clear very early on that this is a world worth exploring there's a sense of magic that sets in right away that makes you just so eager to plunge into unknown territory and find the next cool thing and I think this comes down to a few things one it's the design this this is one of the most cleverly designed games I have ever played full stop often times a really well-designed game will also be very complex you know it'll have a lot of moving parts that work together perfectly and this game does have a lot of complexities lots of Parts working together but there's a certain Simplicity here that I appreciate on an even deeper level being big and complex is great but I feel like there's something particular particularly special about doing a lot using a little and animal well deserves to become the textbook example of achieving such an overwhelming amount using simple tools and simple design much of the game again early game especially you're navigating and solving these puzzles using super basic tools movement jumping the process of pressing buttons to open doors and yet even there even there I consistently found myself shaking my head in bewilderment audibly gasping to myself it's it's a degree of cleverness that has honestly floored me and of course as you get more items the cleverness levels Skyrocket off the charts every tool you've got every way you can possibly interact with the world is utilized in some way no idea is left unexplored I feel like when it comes to Metroid vanas lots of them nail combat movement level design progression all that really great stuff but Metroid itself excels in the puzzle Department Metroid gives you all these little abilities and instead of just using them for combat or progression you use them in Puzzles to gain items often utilizing multiple abilities in tandem not a lot of other games hit that same level in my eyes they very rarely pull that off you know but animal well absolutely does its puzzles are as good as puzzles in an actual Metroid game and even better and I think it's largely because there's no combat it's all just you and your items so it can focus almost entirely on that kind of puzzly carefully crafted experience every room every chunk of every room is its own little challenge to overcome then another reason the world is so particularly fun to explore is that it is dense with Secrets there is so much packed into this map there are so many different items to get so many Collectibles so many little secret Pockets to find you have to study the map very carefully because there are always Clues little tells that there's something to find and following these tells and revealing little chunks you passed by a dozen times because originally you thought they were nothing it is a constantly rewarding experience it's like the game has these layers and you just keep digging deeper and deeper and no spoilers but I'll just say that the actual map itself is very helpful and this makes digging for these deeper secrets that much more enjoyable if you see a little Gap in a room and it looks like it might lead somewhere it probably does so the game trains you to have a razor sharp eye makes you feel like a little detective you know which of course just makes you feel like a genius when you are consistently picking the teeniest of Secrets out of this giant space and the game is full of deeper Mysteries you'll find items or interact with objects and have no idea a what they do and it's only much much later that you realize what you've been doing there are all these cryptic Mysteries to solve and I'm not normally patient enough to really immerse myself in these kinds of mysteries I tend to only struggle so much before I get anxious about how much time I'm wasting and I just look it up but wow animal well is a different story it certainly helps that I had the incredible privilege of playing the game before release massive massive thanks to Big mode for that by the way so there were absolutely no guides to follow online but like even beyond that this game and its Secrets captivated me and indeed have still been captivating me like no game I have played maybe since I was a teenager I honestly don't think that a game has been so much fun to explore I don't think a game has so genuinely Enchanted me with its Mysteries that I've wanted to run over it with a fine toothed comb wandering each of its rooms countless times in search of mysteries to solve since I was a teenager with unlimited free time on my hands and only a handful of games to play Animal well has kind of reawakened a part of me that's been dormant for years I can still get sucked into games and just dump countless hours on them but this desire to dig as deep as possible it's on another level this is where I will admit if there is one reason that someone might fault the game it's that it's pretty pretty easy to reach these points when you've just kind of run out of places to go there's obviously something you need to find but you're really not sure where to find it or what to do much of my playtime has been spent just kind of wandering around and sure sometimes this does come with a tinge of dismay wanting so badly to keep going but constantly checking nooks and crannies and coming up empty or successfully finding Secrets but they're not the secrets you needed if you're not down to be very patient or of course look up a guide every once in a while there is a chance you might find yourself a little frustrated it's certainly the kind of thing that would normally put me off and essentially force me to look up a guide and it is something that many people struggle with when it comes to Metroid vanas which is particularly funny because Dunkey himself who published the game calls this a Metroid moment but there is a lot that helps mitigate the frustration while you're looking for a Way Forward you'll often accidentally stumble across Collectibles instead and like there's certainly a small element of disappointment when you see that instead of the progression item you needed no it's just another chest with another collectible but it still feels great because it means that you did indeed successfully notice that there was a secret and that realization is kind of its own reward and then this is so much easier to take because the Collectibles Grant tangible rewards so you always feel like you're working towards something nothing feels worthless no Discovery feels feels like a waste of time then the solutions to the actual big progression related problems aren't usually too cryptic as is the case with the kinds of Metroid Vania moments Dunkey talks about there are always visual cues even if they're very tiny and hard to spot this means that sometimes it can take a good while to find them but that just makes it all the more rewarding when you do like I said you feel like a genius when you finally figure something out it never makes you roll your eyes and go how was I supposed to figure that out no you you just you just feel incredible a lesser game couldn't get away with having so much so cleverly hidden from you because then you would just get frustrated but the quality and the Pitch Perfect Design makes me patient it makes me more willing to comb over the pixels which means that the payoff is often rapturous I've been playing with a friend and you would not believe the Elation we feel when we solve one of these little Mysteries when we finally find some little thing that we've been needing for hours and hours and we can finally go into this room that's been taunting us it's it's genuinely thrilling and that's the kind of experience people talk about having with older games you know like like the original Metroid back when there were no internet guides and you just had to like take notes and figure it all out yourself if you let it and you give it your time and patience animal well becomes that kind of experience that has kind of been lost in the Modern Age of games engaging with with this world comes with a deep down level of satisfaction that so few games can give and yet another reason the game is so satisfying to play is the presentation let's finally talk about that animal well is a soul achingly gorgeous game it utilizes a mix of pixel art with what is probably 3D animation converted to pixels along with an active lighting system that gives the world this incredible depth the backgrounds in particular are gorgeous they're surreal they're often terrifying and speaking of terrifying the game's atmosphere is so thick you could cut it with a knife it's enchanting and mysterious it's colorful you play as this cute little blob guy but then there are places and sequences that are genuinely scary the world is populated by animals and you never know which ones are friendly and which are not friendly and this play between Serenity and Terror it's the kind of tension that I live for in games and of course being this beautiful and this creative and interesting it makes traversing the world a constant Delight it's a world I could spend any amount of time in even if I'm feeling lost and kind of sad that it's been a while since I've found anything ultimately I am still enjoying myself I'm still just so happy to be playing the game and I know that that dopamine hit when I do find something will be more than enough reward even after combing through the game for hours and hours I still haven't found everything I've beaten the game in the traditional sense but there are still big chunks of the map I haven't uncovered even as I record this I am burning to get back to it and my friend is in the other room hunting for little spots on the map that could potentially lead somewhere I'm not kidding and I'm becoming progressively more certain that some of these Mysteries we will not solve I think people are going to have to like band together on the internet to figure some of this stuff out because there are all these little Clues everywhere that really look like something but we just don't know what they mean yet it's it's phenomenal and I cannot wait to see how deep this well goes before we wrap this up we might as well talk about potential flaws there really aren't many flaws that I can perceive at least like I said you might get stuck probably a lot if you're going for 100% completion without using a guide I can also imagine that the game might be difficult to play for those who are vision impaired the game thrives on its ability to hide teeny tiny little secrets just out of sight which might be a problem for some people there are also times when it's a little hard to see what are background elements and what are not you know the visuals can sometimes kind of blend together then the only other real problem I've got with it is that it's a little bit annoying to cycle between items and this only gets worse the more items you get I'd love a wheel or hot keys or something to make it quicker to grab exactly what I need but that's basically it otherwise the game game is simply wonderful in every way and it goes without saying that this is an even greater feat when you consider that it was created almost entirely by one single guy which is baffling once more I will say that it's hard to convey how deeply in love with animal well I have fallen and what it means to me now I've never made a game but I would love to someday and I spend a lot of time coming up with Concepts and doing preliminary design and if I could ever make a game like animal well even if it was the only game I ever made I would feel like I had created a piece of art that was everything as good as I could ever want it to be it ticks so many of my own personal boxes that it feels like it was made just for me or by me in an alternate universe where I learned how to code and was a lot smarter it's just about everything I could want in a game like this it's equal part Serene and beautiful and eerie and terrifying it's filled with secrets and Mysteries and surprising moments it's been designed with such care and skill that the word clever that I've been using it hardly does it justice it's an experience that feels rich and epic and Grand and deeply satisfying yet it's built upon a foundation of elegant Simplicity it's always good to give these things some time before shuffling any top 10 lists around but at this moment animal well feels like one of the best games I've ever played or at least it's certainly one of my new favorites and I'll leave it at that thanks again to Big mode for providing me with a copy of the game congrats to Dunkey on publishing your first game you really showed you know how to pick them man and Billy basso all I can say is you done good genuinely thank you for this see yall later

Channel: Arlo

Views: 213,503

Keywords: puppet, blue, monster, nintendo, switch, animal well, billy basso, bigmode, dunky, review, ps5, metroidvania

Id: b2gc1xxBsNQ

Length: 16min 55sec (1015 seconds)

Published: Thu May 09 2024