Animal Well Is An Amazing Metroidvania

The indie video game scene is one that lends itself almost naturally to the genre of the 2D Metroidvania. With a focus on playing repeated sections of the game world with new power ups to progress, it can be a good way for studios to show off interesting elements of game design with limited resources. Enter , from developer Shared Memory and publisher Bigmode, for something a little bit different.

sees the player taking on the role of an adorable little blob, who hatches out of a flower in a strange, scary and beautiful underground world. There, the player must explore the world around them, meeting all sorts of odd creatures along the way, friendly and antagonistic alike. In turn, this strange pixel-graphics adventure ends up being one of the most intriguing indie platformers in recent memory.

Animal Well is a must-play Metroidvania.

The Metroidvania market can sometimes feel a little oversaturated, with lots of indie titles turning to that gameplay structure as the core of their games. As such, it can take something quite special to stand out from the crowd. Luckily, is exactly that, and one of the most impressive Metroidvania titles of recent years thanks to its bold world design and a key focus on its gameplay mechanics.

stands out from the crowd predominantly because of its heavily puzzle-focused gameplay. Although there are dangers in its game world — and the player will end up dying at points — the emphasis is always on solving that particular problem. This works extremely well, as while combat can feel like a chore in lesser Metroidvanias, almost placed as a form of repetitive runtime padding, completely avoids this, meaning there is little chaff to be found among the wheat.

Once you've found it, the stamp can be used with the game's map to mark notations in the game world. This is a useful tool if you spot something you want to come back to later when you have more equipment.

respects the player's time, and that's something to be cherished. The best of