Everyone gets stuck sometimes when playing video gameswhile one reader explains why he didn’t feel bad asking for help while playing the prize Animal well.
I don’t usually like platform games. The teeth-grinding frustration of missing a vital jump for the umpteenth time, the head-scratching puzzles, the simplistic game worlds rendered in two dimensions… However, recently, while looking for something to play with an underground theme, I came across a game I had never heard of before. Going by static screenshots alone, Animal Well showed up a while ago, but then I saw a video of the game in motion and I was sold.
Animal Well starts showing you four flames and an image of a scary, exorcist-style face. These passing icons are clues, and the game is full of this kind of subtle signage. You are a tiny blob hatching inside a spectral maze rendered in retro 8-bit style graphics.
As you explore the game’s pixelated maze, various sound effects create a soothing yet spooky atmosphere; a cuckoo’s haunting call and eerie echoes, startled birds flapping their wings and water dripping and splashing. Other audio behaviors are more ambitious. Some animals make unique noises that were created, I believe, with the use of a synthesizer, with unfamiliar and often disturbing resonances. Soft tones that help emphasize the fact that you’re inside a digital nature reserve filled with irregularities.
Mostly everything wants to punch or curse you to death in the animal well. Small blocks are at the bottom of the food chain. At least your little bouncing explorer is waterproof. As you proceed through the game’s many caves and rooms, negotiating ledges and pressing buttons, unlocking doors and uncovering treasure chests, you’ll meet an animal friend or two.
There are giant musky things that have no concept of personal space, but can serve as useful benches. Even ghost pigeons are quite welcome, as these ultra responsive birds refuse to let you down. However, in the main part, when the other creatures are not attempting blobicide, they show cold indifference. You’re just a little blob that can’t fight. Why would the other residents of the Animal Well care?
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Nothing I’ve described so far is predetermined. Animal Well’s official website provides a loose description of the game with no specifics about its wildlife. Most of the 8-bit creatures that inhabit the map are recognizable anyway: rabbits, hedgehogs, storks, mice, kangaroos. Regardless of their familiarity in the real world, everything that wanders the well does so on the fringes of existence. You’re never quite sure whether the creatures you encounter are alive or dead.
Ghosts are definitely dead and you meet a lot of them in this game, swimming and slithering in different shapes and sizes. Fireworks help to extinguish or drive away ghosts. Fireworks are one of the items that you will need to use well. Like everything else in this game, the items you collect, where those items are, and what to do with them are never obvious.
One complaint you might have with Animal Well is the absolute lack of hand holding. For example, I was a few hours into the game when I came across a ladder/ledge puzzle with two levers. By flipping the levers, I can open alternate steps/ledges in and out. I messed around for ages inside this single room, flipping levers and then flipping them back because the lore of the games implied that somewhere nearby was the answer to my progress.
Turns out I needed an item that I hadn’t been able to find yet. One of the essential tools of the game, the disk. When you throw the disc, it pulls between the levers in the room, moving in and out of the steps/stairs, and this in turn allows you to climb up. Clever stuff, but not remotely obvious. I think without online resources you would eventually discover the answer by finding the disk and tearing up at its amusing physics.
During my initial playthrough, I solved a good portion of the Animal Mystery puzzles on my own. But for every eureka moment I asked for multiple instances of help. I never felt like I made my life too easy watching the pundits play, though, because I had to repeat all those spotty stunts myself.
Even when you know where to go and what to do, some parts of the Animal Well require superhuman reflexes. Access to the most complicated areas often requires patience, persistence and split-second timing.
The aforementioned experience may sound disappointing, but I can honestly say that Animal Well has never made me angry to leave. Even if you’re temporarily stuck, there’s so much to admire in this game. I especially like how Animal Well plays with light. For example, the topography of some dark enclaves is revealed only by flash. And the beacon, a tool you get late in the game, is also extremely cool. The way the lantern beam temporarily melts the walls of the ghostly baddies is a beautifully rendered effect.
Since Animal Well delights in mystery and rewards experimentation, it seems a shame to find out more about it. In summary, perhaps what I can say is this…
Four flames. Five animal bosses. You are an insignificant speck. Within this terrifying maze there are many other bigger, scarier things to remind you of your insignificance. Special items/tools are required to progress. The physics and operation of these tools is often very clever and cool. If you see an unexplored part of the map, you should probably go there. Finally, don’t mess with the ghost dog.
By reader Michael Veal (X/Twitter)
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