Sometimes an indie game launches and causes a huge stir. That’s exactly what Metroidvania title Animal Well just did, earning itself rave reviews internationally.

Available from 9th May on PC, PS5, and Nintendo Switch this intricately detailed, beautiful, and clever platformer is an instant classic. Not least as it features hedgehogs! 🦔

Exploring the Murky Depths of Animal Well to Unveil Mysterious Beings

Developed by the one-man indie studio Shared Memory, the dude behind it all is Billy Basso. It’s his first indie game launch… and what a way to start!

Animal Well is exceptional. No denying that. Basso worked on the title for almost seven years, during which time he created the game’s eerie, surreal, interconnected labyrinth mazes you need to explore with much bravery.

As with the recent Ghost Song (2022) Metroidvania, this is heavily atmospheric. The world of this well is murky, full of occasional bursts of colour, but it is all the animals you discover that stand out.

From kangaroos, to many parading hedgehogs, and then friendly Totoro-type mini-monsters, meeting these beasts is oddly unnerving.

You’re never quite sure who is going to be friendly.

Around that need for caution as you progress, you take control of your blob-like character and jump, move, and navigate your way around the maze-like areas of the well.

It’s classic Metroidvania. You collect powerups to advance, some of which are very unique. There’s a slinky, for example, that helps you hit switches to open new areas.

Clever inventiveness like that marks the whole experience out.

The graphics are presented in minimalistic fashion, but are very appealing, occasionally bursting into eerie life. Particularly effective, right there, when meeting the wide range of new animals.

Of this retro-styled approach, Basso had this to say in early 2023:

“Animal Well is a pixel art game. That’s not just to pander to nostalgia, I’m viewing it as a technical opportunity. A 4K TV screen has a 144 times as many pixels, but that means I have 144 times as much processing power to apply to each pixel.”

The approach lends itself well to the sense of looming dread and horror. This is through the many animals, some of which are more scary than others.

At one points there’s this giant gecko lizard dude you have to get by, hogging half one side of the screen. The thumping bass music and your need to quickly zip by before its tongue zaps out is genuinely scary shizz.

It’s all such little moments like that, added many times over across the whole of the game, that makes Animal Well an instant classic.

Really, we play a lot of modern 2D platformers and they’re at their peak phase right now (in our opinion) thanks to all these talented indie devs. And along came Shared Memory with yet another shining example of how incredible the Metroidvania genre is.

We’ll add, this title is great for any gamer.

You don’t just have to be a platformer nerd to go ape for this. It’s accessible, intuitive, and rewards players for pursuing their sense of exploration. And the further down that well you go, the more you can revel in the dank, eerie, hedgehog space and its many marvels.

A Peak Behind the Scenes of Animal Well’s Production

A year before the game launched, we got a sneak peak of what Shared Memory was doing here. We’d Wishlisted it on Steam and were following its upcoming launch, but even we were surprised to see it got such an amazing reaction.

Basso was eager to add unique flourishes throughout Animal Well.

For example, there are dynamic lighting effects. As he notes above, it’s quite rare to see this sort of thing in pixel art titles. The little fire crackers you can set off (which ward away some of the more scary animals looking to eat you) are a great example of that.

But it’s just the way he’s structured the maze-like element of the game (the Metroidvania bit) alongside the inventiveness of the platforming areas.

At no point does it get dull or repetitive. Each new area offers something new and interesting, with the addition of the mysterious animals adding genuine life to the game.

All of which is another glowing tribute to indie devs and what they’re doing for the games industry right now. We’ve got a podcast about that for next weekend to go into greater detail on this topic. As without the indie scene, AAA/mainstream titles would be really driving gaming into a tedious, unimaginative, corporate rut.

So, please! Pretty please. Go forth and buy this game. It’s most excellent.

Animal Well’s Ambience and the Art of Metroidvania Atmospherics

There isn’t actually much music during the game. It comes in fits and bursts—when it does, there’s the heavy sense of eerie uncertainty and ambience.

Minimalistic is the word, as atmospherics take over with background noises and the like. Diegetic sound, as it’s called, with in-word noises and the like.

That can include some rather creepy animal noises (like this one).

There’s also a super effective bit of tension/stress building music below. That screen-blocking lizard dude we mentioned earlier, this is used when you encounter it.

Really gives you the heebie-jeebies (with the benefit of putting you on your toes).

There are also more melodic, melancholic moments. Example? Well, you’ve got one of the pieces towards the end of the game.

It’s one of the more innovative takes on video game music we’ve heard. All of which adds to the captivating, unique qualities of this instant classic.