I’ve played hundreds of metroidvanias and the latest one still surprised me

BETWEEN 2023 and 2024 we’ve had more fantastic, award-winning games than anyone could possibly play.

Despite all of the big-budget triple-A games we’ve been bombarded with, it’s the smaller indies that have been catching our eyes.

BigMode

Animal Well is one of this year’s breakout successes[/caption]

Animal Well is the first game published by BigMode, the new indie publishing label created by YouTuber Jason Gastrow, better known as videogamedunkey.

Dunkey’s involvement brought a lot of attention to it, but it was the game itself that earned all the acclaim.

Metroidvania is a common genre for indie games, with recent titles like Ultros and Tales of Kenzera: Zau.

But even big publishers have taken on the genre, such as with this year’s Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

This means that new metroidvanias have to mix up the formula and offer something fresh for players.

Perfecting this is what has made Animal Well so popular. It throws you in at the deep end and asks you to explore.

You start in the world’s central hub and you’re allowed to travel in any direction from there.

Whichever path you take you’ll find a series of well-designed puzzles that will slowly introduce new concepts that will help you better understand the world.

Even if you are a fan of metroidvanias you won’t know what to expect here, as Animal Well takes a player’s assumptions and twists them.

Something which would feel natural, or even vital, in your average metroidvania could easily lead to your demise here.

Nothing is clearly explained to you, and instead it is presented in a way where you have to work out the path forward for yourself.

Each new item you get reveals its usefulness through the puzzles you solve, teaching you the ways you can use it in the next section.

This can lead to frustrating moments, where you have to figure out how mechanics interact independently, but these are not common.

It’s only five or six hours long depending on how good you are at the puzzles, but this allows everything to tie in together without overstaying its welcome.

Animal Well introduces unique ideas to a genre that can be lacking in innovation, and the world design pushes you to explore just a little bit further.

It’s this novelty that makes you feel smart as you solve the puzzles, which are unlike any others.

Animal Well is available now for Nintendo Switch, PS5, and Steam.

If you want to read more about recent gaming releases, check out our Sand Land review.