Another one of those games created by one person over six or seven years. Animal Wellās structure reminds me of Super Metroid, maybe with a few elements from Symphony of the Night. If only we had a term for a game like that.
The music sounds like itās mimicking Twin Peaks. There are secret passages and puzzles everywhere, but so far nothing terribly difficult (about an hour in). The platforming can be somewhat demanding, but the tricky parts Iāve encountered seem to be largely limited to optional collectibles.
I like that there are animals all over the place. That and the style remind me a little of Rain World, but in this game everything is more staged than emergent (and itās much easier than Rain World). It also reminds me of Elephantasy in some ways, and La-Mulana. Thereās even some Bubble Bobble influence.
Iām probably more than halfway through this game, unless it expands in some way after you complete the obvious goals (which is possibleāI went in blind and have not looked at a guide or review or anything so I have no idea).
I mentioned above that this reminds me of Elephantasy, and a big part of that is how the tools you pick up arenāt just the typical ones youād find in a game like this. Not only that, but some have alternate uses that are not immediately obvious. Youāre very likely to stumble upon those alternate uses by accident before you come across a situation where they are required.
While there arenāt boss fights (which I appreciate), there are what I guess you could call boss puzzles. And I mention that only to say that I canāt believe what the game made me do to that bird. It wasnāt even doing anything wrong unlike, arguably, the giant lizard.
I reached the credits last night, but there are still parts of the map that I havenāt been able to reach, chests I can āseeā but canāt get to, and other things that are clearly puzzles I havenāt solved yet.
Iām tempted to look at a guide to do some cleanup, but Iām still at the point where I make progress each time I play. If that changes, I think it will be time to use an external reference (or quit for now, but I donāt think I can resist exploring a little more).
You have no direct combat abilities and must evade and trick aggressive animals in places (though most of the time thereās none of this).
Some enemies are more menacing than others and a few ābossesā (for lack of a better word) in particular might be a little unnerving with their howling.
You donāt really have to worry about inventory management, aside from having a limited number of firecrackers that you can carry at once and need in a few spots. (Thatās not much of a spoiler, as you get those in the first couple minutes of the game.)
I did explore a little more. Actually, kind of a lot more. I havenāt bothered trying to systematically track down the rest of the eggs because Iāve discovered other things that are more interesting.
When I finally looked at a guide so I wouldnāt wander totally aimlessly post-credits, I learned that, among other things, thereās a secret puzzle that requires coordination between 50 players.
hearing about this sort of killed my interest in this game. iām down for incredibly obtuse meta level puzzles in a game like this, but something about it literally being impossible solo is just a bummer.
anyway, i finally got round to it and played through to credits today.
itās a fine puzzle heavy metroidvania, but nothing really felt special other than than the art design.
i ended with like 28 eggs are so, will probably try and mop up a few more to see if any part of the wider puzzle stuff grabs me, but it just hasnāt so far.
kept poking at this while set at my desk during work hours.
up to 50 eggs, and can see what the next step would be once i have them all
i think i have all the items now, including the bouncy ball which iāve not found any necessary use for yet.
found one bunny so far, but got some ideas of where to go for more.
overall, i still donāt love the general approach to these deeper layers of puzzle. the one requiring 50 players to co-operate is emblematic of the issue, but it also applies to more earlier puzzles where the main road block is lack of hidden items rather than lack of information/perspective. i also think the metroidvania form is pretty bad for this type of puzzle game, as it just means a lot of the friction is just remembering where you saw something hours ago or being a pixel hunt on way too big a canvas.
Been trying to find some sort of game to play after not really playing lots of games in a long time, so maybe thatās part of this, but I played about an hour of this and something about it is not capturing my attention. The mysterious nature of the gameās mechanics (and world?) feels so clearly presented as to feel artificial rather than arising as a natural consequence of the world youāre inhabiting. Part of this might be due to how cleanly delineated the puzzles and how I donāt feel like Iāve ever been stopped in my tracks to figure out how to progress. It gives it a laid-back feeling that I can see being very appealing to people who donāt want something stressful and always gives you that feeling of progression (thereās always a different room to explore if youāre stuck).
I can see the game potentially expanding the scope of puzzles, but the ones presented in this first hour are fairly simple in how it uses multiple screens. And there is never the threat of not knowing what to do, because the game is so open ended that you always know you can go check out another room instead. Although it was deflating to be spending some time trying to solve the last 5% of a puzzle, looking up a hint, and reading that I just needed an item I didnāt have just for that last 5%. (This was an early puzzle where youāre using your bubbles to ride those bird mouth tube things. Apparently the last tube requires the disc item?)
Not sure I have the motivation to stick with it. I kind of feel like I could go play Escape Goat 2 and get a similar experience in a more concise fashion, as weird as that sounds.
As perhaps this forumās foremost advocate of Knytt and Knytt Stories, it was a foregone conclusion that I would play (and probably love) this. I am playing this now, and I am loving it!
Some spoilery talk about my progress: I have obtained the SLINK and the BUBBLE WAND and the STAMP and the YO-YO and the ANIMAL FLUTE, in approximately that order. I have vanquished an OSTRICH. I have collected a ROUND THING a couple of times, but I havenāt yet figured out how to rid myself of the pursuer. (I tried putting it in the round recessed stone near the beginning, but apparently that was not the answer.) Next time I play, I need to go back to some fish tubes Iād passed earlier. I hadnāt realized i could enter these until I got to the treadmill area.
I struggled to pull off consecutive bubble-jumps for a while, but something clicked once I got past the pecking herons, and now I can traverse almost any gap or climb with relative ease. Havenāt yet put serious effort into trying to climb what I suspect is the most literal part of the Well itself, above the four statues, but the idea has occurred to me.
I rolled credits on this and pixel hunted for about two hours and will turn on and delete the game in the morning because there is no way regressive bouncing across the map over and over and over is going to reward my time.
Hearing people played this for 20 hours I get because well you gotta try everything on everything. It eventually became the obsessive compulsive design I hate.
