Animal Well (PS5) Review: Creative Gameplay And Visual Brilliance

Table of Contents

Animal Well (PS5) Review

Animal Well for PS5 is a one-of-a-kind Metroidvania game because it's not about fighting but the creative use of tools. This single project by Billy Basso, which Bigmode released, is set in a cute, tiny world full of secrets and puzzles. Animal Well will be a fun and engaging game for players looking for a new take on the genre. It has unique gameplay features, unpredictable exploration, and beautiful global lighting effects.

The Gameplay Experience

Animal Well is a different kind of Metroidvania game. Instead of fighting the old-fashioned way, you use tools in new ways. People who play take control of a figure that wakes up in a well and can only walk and jump at first. Firecrackers are the first improvement in the game. They light up dark places and scare ghosts away for a short time. This keeps players from getting hit by a ghost while they move switches or solve short-moving tasks.

As the game goes on, players look around and find secret matches. These can be used with carefully put lights to keep places lit and ghosts away. In other Metroidvania games, upgrades generally make it easier to move or fight. But in Animal Well, upgrades work in a way that is all their own. Players might not get a double jump but find a bubble gun that makes brief platforms. This would change the way the game is played.

Exploration And Secrets

You can explore Animal Well in any way you choose to get around the world. The main goal is to reach four fires guarded by scary figures. Players with the right tools can do the tasks in any order. Players will be rewarded for going all the way through, and the design will push them to think outside the box.

Many secret things in the game, like 64 eggs, can be found worldwide. When a person reaches a certain level, they can use these eggs as money to buy new skills and tools. This makes the game fun and makes people want to discover what's hidden in every part of the well.

Visuals And Global Illumination

Animal Well looks great because it has a nice mix of pixel art and new lighting effects. Global lighting gives the world more depth and makes you feel like you're there, even though the images are simple and made up of pixels. A scene's general lighting changes as light bounces off of things. This is known as global illumination. Firecrackers and candles are light sources in Animal Well. They light up the area around them, cast accurate shadows, and change how the lighting looks over time.

One of the best things about Animal Well is the way the globe lighting works with the pixel art. For instance, when a firecracker goes off, it sends out a beam of light that illuminates each pixel in a unique way. This makes the scene look more real and full of fine details. In the same way, when the player lights a lamp, it lights up the images around it. This creates shadows that look real and gives the picture more depth.

Animal Well's globe lighting does more than look good; it also helps you play the game. You have to plan how you use light sources to get through dark areas or find secret paths in many of the tasks and challenges in the game. This makes the game harder and pushes people to use their tools in new ways.

Time To Completion And Replayability

How long does Animal take to finish? Well, a lot depends on how the player approaches it and how much they know about the type of game. As long as the player knows nothing about the game ahead of time, a random run can take twenty to thirty hours. Finishing the game can be done much faster, in 6 to 10 hours, for people who are more experienced with Metroidvania games and know how it works.

Speedrunners who know how to use bugs and other problems with the game can finish it even faster, which shows that it can be played more than once. You can have fun playing Animal Well repeatedly because you can look around and find new things each time. Because the game isn't over yet and there are secrets to uncover, players want to return to old places and find new ways to get things.

The thrill of finding a secret area or tool that you couldn't get to before makes the game more fun and more likely to be played again. Because the game doesn't move in a straight line, each run is different, and it's fun for new and expert players.

Conclusion

One of the best Metroidvania games is Animal Well, which lets you play in a fresh and fun way. It's different from other games in the same genre because it focuses on artistic tool use instead of fighting. This makes it fun and different for players.

Thanks to the grainy art style and clever use of global lighting, the game world looks great and changes as players play. Animal Well is an excellent game for fans of the genre who want to be challenged to think outside the box and discover all the cool places it takes place. It lets you explore hidden secrets in a way that isn't linear, and you can play it repeatedly.