Animal Well
Long before conversation arose of making games more accessible, most playable titles had communities who helped each other discover secrets, tips and tricks to getting the most out of their experience. Some of these players went on to create guides and walkthroughs, preserving the discoveries for future generations. I personally love walkthroughs — some people think they’re cheating, that only true enjoyment can come from discovering every element of a game yourself. I think that’s cool if you’re into it, but most of the time, it’s not worth the slog for me, personally.
This isn’t to say that I don’t love a bit of “getting good” - I’ve poured countless hours into every Fromsoft title (dear Lord, I’ve done my time, don’t come at me). But in every game I have ever played, I’ve gotten helplessly lost at least once and my answer is always: find a walkthrough.
Animal Well is a Metroidvania, with toys instead of weapons and puzzles in place of combat. Animal Well is also a game about getting hopelessly, horrendously lost. My sense of direction in real life is actually pretty decent. Within the first hour of my playthrough of Animal Well, however, I was repeatedly whimpering “wasn’t I just here?” in an unhelpful mantra of despair. After aimlessly retracing my steps one too many times, I gave up, deleted the game, and didn’t look back for months.
Cut to 2025, I suddenly had a lot more time on my hands (hello, Game Industry Layoffs™) and decided to give Animal Well another shot. I was drawn in by the enigmatic pixel art amongst the titles in my collection of games and the gnawing sense that I hadn’t seen the best of it, yet. I was ready to find my way this time, and most definitely get lost trying.
As a rule of thumb, I try to avoid spoilers around narrative in games and thankfully, this was easy to do for Animal Well. The game is rich in environmental story telling; it’s atmospheric, eerie, funny, you name it — but low on explicit plot. Games like this are honestly my favourite to play via guides - I don’t feel cheated out of the story and I still get to where I’m going in a timely manner.
It’s hard to talk about what I did and didn’t use guides for in Animal Well without potentially spoiling things for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of playing it yourselves. However, I will say that I used them at just about every phase of the game, from locating tools to solving puzzles. And you know what? I had a *bloody excellent time.* I had fun playing with my phone balanced on my knee, peering at the official Discord for hints, fifteen browser tabs open to different pages of the Wiki at any given moment. Would I have had as much fun if I had discovered every secret for myself? I can confirm from my attempt to play it last year: no. I would not.
While it’s true that I didn’t painstakingly peel back every minutia of the game for myself, it was still *me* pressing the buttons, performing pixel-perfect jumps and manoeuvres to complete the puzzles. In a way, isn’t it more impressive that I could still feel proud, challenged, exhilarated even — while following clues and tips from previous players? If anything, it’s a testament to the depth of the game that it is so easily enjoyed no matter your personal preferences towards discovery.
If games are meant to challenge us, to entertain us, to provoke emotional responses, then I can say with certainty that Animal Well delivered — walkthroughs and all.