ANIMAL WELL
In 2024 I suffered all of Nine Sols which I can’t recommend. I’ll buy every Red Candles Game release at release at least three more times. Nine Sols broke me. The bosses become increasingly SNK Boss like. They crank the difficulty knob over and over in the hope of frustrating and breaking the player. They offer Story Mode right from the start which lets you alter the percentages of damage taken/given at any time, like a coward. About 60% way through I cranked my damage to 200% and my taken to 80% and still the bosses would require over 50 perfect parries. It was all too much.
The writing is fantastic. I must say that. Though when they finally gave me a double jump I groaned. Just give to me at the start or build your levels better.
The whole search-action genre is plagued with double jumps and keys you don’t have. There’s no mystery. No consideration. Just signs that say “Fun Coming Soon!”
I played Animal Well because a Playstation Plus Buffet Excellence subscription. I played it the whole way through. I remain impressed by it. Even more today, December 29th, having played a different search-action game for an hour that was perfectly competent and yet also a deeply evil corporate product. Animal Well is incredible. For one
ANIMAL WELL DOES NOT FEATURE A DOUBLE JUMP
The upgrades and keys of Animal Well are strange items with unknown uses. Wordlessly the player is asked to figure out what the items do. Indeed outside of menus the game has no words. You don’t even know why you are in the Animal Well. Or what you are. Or why you’re jumping on anything.
There aren’t even bosses. Or there are, but you don’t necessarily “defeat” them. The game asks the player to figure it out and be an adult. An item will shock you with how you can use it suddenly your brain will activate “where else have I seen that?” The mini-map is indeed the whole map and you can find tiny details you may have missed. Indeed each screen has dozens of tiny details.
The art and sound is astounding. I kept wondering “WHO MADE THIS?” Supposedly one person, though that seems impossible. Some of the animals are cute. Some of them are scary. It is a constant wonder to experience.
There are incredible meta-puzzles that were beyond my patience. The dev said they didn’t expect anyone to finish them. That’s good. That means I can ignore them too. It’s good to just a little bit capture the wonder of “what else could be buried?”
As 2024 ends I need to reward Animal Well for giving me what I keep claiming what I want. A game without endless text boxes. It lets me figure out what is going on, like a good Famicom game. It has no double jump.
In a good way months after I can’t remember what exactly The Animal Well is. I suddenly find myself wanting to buy the game just so I can see it again. Which is the highest compliment I can give it. Which once again proves the best video game is Endless Video Game Buffet Service that just lets you try stuff and will ultimately destroy the artform as it is music and movies.
NEXT: Over four years of tapping.
Hinge Problems 
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