Animal Well

[h1]Animal Well – hidden gem of a game.[/h1] [hr][/hr] My favourite type of game, where you explore and search for Easter eggs and hidden paths, but elevated to the absolute extreme. You think youve completed the game? Welcome to layer 2 of Animal Well. Oh, you’ve completed layer 2? Welcome to layer 3. Oh, you completed layer 3?.. yeah, I could just go on. A game with infinite secrets, some of which Im not even sure are ever solved, combined with awesome mechanics and unforgettable visuals, is just perfect. Still one of my favourite games.

Animal Well is not a game i can recommend to everyone. Most people who like puzzle games can platinum it, honestly. You don't even really *need* to solve any hard puzzles to finish the game Any%. Though, while this first part of the game was fun, it most piqued my interest post-ending. There's a lot to this game. A whole, whole lot. Some stuff you honestly wont be able to solve yourself. I consider myself pretty well-versed in ARGs, cryptic puzzles, etc., and I did quite a bit completely without help (and I'm proud of it!). But there was some things I just couldn't figure out by myself. But, if you really like trying again and again, brainrotting over small details, you can theoretically do everything in this game by yourself except for one, singular puzzle. Game's great. Awesome visuals, perfectly fitting sound design/music (I loved the calm low frequencies music playing in areas where the player would typically afk to think, solving puzzles while listening to this was great). Inspired mechanics and, most importantly, loved the puzzles. The game is also very close to it's players and community. The people who helped solve the original ARG are even credited in the end credits!! Anyways, I recommend to anyone who like pretty convoluted puzzles. If you want a chill metroidvania to play for like 7-8h and finish, it's also for you, though if you only want to experience this, the price tag is a bit high.

Super Metroid is a frightening game. You are all alone, not particularly powerful, at the mercy of a world you know almost nothing about, and given no clear direction on where you're supposed to go. You fumble around in the dark for hours, trying to make sense of the puzzle that's been laid out before you, and repeatedly come face to face with the realisation that each new upgrade to your arsenal means another chance to wonder into an encounter that you are otherwise completely unprepared for. Animal Well strips out anything -Vania flavoured from the genre, and then most of the combat pressure of Metroid to offer an experience that is [i]all[/i] in that anxiety driving atmosphere. In level design, it's closer to VVVVVV or Dizzy, where every room that isn't simply transitionary being its own self-contained puzzle, but instead of having a baller soundtrack blasting the whole time with pun-laden room names, it instead chooses to drench itself in the alien dread of Super Metroid's desolate, labyrinthine cave-scapes. The dark tunnels and brainteasers that fill them begin to feel like home in the droning ambience of the well that it feels like you're literally playing the game inside of, to the point where bright lights and loud sounds are a cause for concern, often leading to a quick death. The puzzles range from simple, to complicated, to devious, to downright impossible without help from the outside, and though at least one of them gave me the premium ick, it's a small price to pay for an otherwise wonderful game that I played from start to credits in a frenzied haze all in one day, only to come back the next day to mop up everything else I hadn't found yet. It's one of those games I have to recommend without any qualifiers. If you have a heartbeat, get this game.