This PlayStation Plus free gem has GOTY potential

There’s a moment, not too far into Animal Well where you’ll throw a frisbee and perform a particular ability and the game just clicks. Suddenly, the entire world is open to you and it’s not because the flying plastic disc was used as a weapon - though it can be that too, kind of - but it’s because it does something very unexpected. That’s Animal Well in a nutshell. It constantly surprises by handing out items and forcing you, the player, to figure out how they will work.

It takes a very different approach to many other Metroidvanias. Where others may give you a weapon, or an ability like a double jump, Animal Well gives you something seemingly random, and says, “Right, figure out what to do with that.”

This makes the game more of a puzzle, forcing you to think differently. I’m being rather vague because I don’t want to spoil some of the delightful moments that occur. While playing the game on PlayStation Plus, I often found myself chuckling with glee as I saw another facet of an item.

Animal Well

I don’t think it spoils anything to tell you about one item, the bubble wand. And that’s not a magical wand that casts a bubble spell, it’s an actual small wand you’d find in a pot of bubble mixture. This item blows one solitary bubble that slowly drifts upwards and sinks when you stand on it. Now, think of that item and its possible uses; how it would be impacted by gravity, or how it would rise on the current of a breeze. Suddenly, an item that initially feels a bit useless opens up traversal.

I want to tell you, with urgency, that Animal Well is one of the best games I’ve played in 2024, so far. This isn’t a review, so I won’t be attaching a score, but you can bet your boots I’d be dishing out a high one.

To be so surprised by a game is a rarity nowadays, particularly when it comes to originality. Games are a place where original ideas appear now and then, but certain tropes have become staples. That’s not a bad thing, at all, but it makes games like this even more special because they’re extraordinary in their design and it’s one of the reasons I tend to gravitate towards the indie scene more and more. Fresh ideas keep the industry moving, and they challenge other creators to step up their game. Animal Well is filled with fresh ideas.

Animal Well

It’s not just how the game deals with items. The entire world is bursting with character and whimsy. Despite only playing as a small squishy ball, the game gets its name from the menagerie of animals you’ll find as you explore. Tall, rangy storks will lean down to gobble at you if you get too close, while a mallard will simply flap its wings and quack at you as you pass by. That might sound mundane, but when it’s created with the most delightful pixel graphics that come in all shades with bursts of neon accents, it becomes utterly charming.

At this point you may ask, but what is this game? Other than its genre categorising it as a Metroidvania, it’s hard to say. There’s very little story, there’s no dialogue at all, and you’re told pretty much nothing about the items you’ll find along the way. Some may call it obtuse, but it’s a game that urges experimentation and rewards that with these aforementioned moments of glee. I can’t recommend this enough and the fact that it’s on PlayStation Plus means that every subscriber should at least give it a try. I’m not much of a betting man nowadays, but I’ll place good money on this being on several Game of the Year lists as 2024 draws to a close.