What makes this game special?

[Light]

Similar games I have played are Hollow Knight and So Many Me; the latter being more of a puzzle game and probably closer in comparison. More in depth puzzles than Animal Well too with music.

This game has some melodies here and there and of course the noises but, it's just a weird atmosphere to set. Does it develop the atmosphere as time goes on? Does this game get a lot more difficult? Is there a story or am I supposed to be intrigued by animal statues...?

I'm just looking for a reason to keep playing this game beyond two hours. So far the puzzles are a breeze though the mechanics and fun.

Anyway, if you've played similar games, what makes this game stand out for you? What makes it special?

[symphony]

it's a cute indie puzzle platformer

[Dinosaurs_Are_Friends]

There's nothing really special about this game, tbh. It's a significantly-better-than-average Metroidvania with some cool genre twists.

[Ackranome]

Slightly more enjoyable than rainworld... but very weird.

[Light]

Originally posted by symphony:

it's a cute indie puzzle platformer

Originally posted by Dinosaurs_Are_Friends:

There's nothing really special about this game, tbh. It's a significantly-better-than-average Metroidvania with some cool genre twists.

Originally posted by Ackranome:

Slightly more enjoyable than rainworld... but very weird.

thank you gents

[Veksell]

Atmosphere and very high attention level of many-many details. It's made with love.

[mushii01]

2 hours is nothing, you haven't even touched the surface of this game yet

I don't play games in this genre either, i tried hollow knight, but didn't continue, tried other metroidvanias but never really got into them. Despite that i've been playing animal well for more than 30 hours and there's still so much left to discover.

Finding all the secrets is what keeps me going, it's the same reason i like the dark souls games, in addition to the combat, the sense of exploring and finding secrets behind hidden walls is the reason i play those games, and animal well is basically focused around this concept

[Zooptopus]

if you like the art style and finding secrets, then this game is for you. It doesn't really offer much outside of that imo.

[Taehl]

At this point, I'm convinced it's most unique qualities are "making people constantly post 'Is this game actually special?' threads", and "making people doubt the bubble-jumping mechanic is intentional".

It's also a fun, lovingly-made gem of a game which respects players' time, with pleasing visuals and music, and an excellent interconnected game world, and it doesn't try to nickel-and-dime you to death until you've paid $100+ for it. But apparently nobody seems to believe/care about all that.

[Petter1789]

I would put it in the same category as Hollow Knight. By that I mean that the game doesn't really do anything new and unique. It just does the things it sets out to do really well.

[Girth Control]

Originally posted by Petter1789:

I would put it in the same category as Hollow Knight. By that I mean that the game doesn't really do anything new and unique. It just does the things it sets out to do really well.

hollow knight literally sucks though
choppy animation + stiff platforming physics
but it's undertale x dark souls so tweens eat it up

[Mr. Be Nice to Me Plox]

what the hell are any of you even talking about did you guys play the game

[Head Butt]

Originally posted by Girth Control:

Originally posted by Petter1789:

I would put it in the same category as Hollow Knight. By that I mean that the game doesn't really do anything new and unique. It just does the things it sets out to do really well.

hollow knight literally sucks though
choppy animation + stiff platforming physics
but it's undertale x dark souls so tweens eat it up

tweens? congrats on a legit dumb take. git gud.

[Dinosaurs_Are_Friends]

Originally posted by Taehl:

At this point, I'm convinced it's most unique qualities are "making people constantly post 'Is this game actually special?' threads", and "making people doubt the bubble-jumping mechanic is intentional".

It's also a fun, lovingly-made gem of a game which respects players' time, with pleasing visuals and music, and an excellent interconnected game world, and it doesn't try to nickel-and-dime you to death until you've paid $100+ for it. But apparently nobody seems to believe/care about all that.

I really don't think you can claim that Animal Well respects your time. The main game has lots of stuff that doesn't (e.g. waiting for the stupid chameleon to lick, making you hunt down 3 firecrackers for the bat, spawning you with 3 hearts on death, the seahorse "puzzles", messing up a moment and having to walk four screens to get back there, etc.), and the secrets, which most people agree make up the bulk of the game, are the absolute antithesis of this. Straight out of the FEZ playbook. Whether esoteric FEZ style secrest are bad, good, or awesome is a separate question, but what it certainly isn't is respectful of your time.

The overwhelming majority of players will conclude that the secret hunting is not worth their time, and among those who do, nearly all of them will need either a guide to see them through, or will have to spend many, many, many hours doing a bunch of monotonous wall hugging and note taking.

It's a cool game, and in places very novel, of course, but it actually asks a fair bit of you to see everything it wants to show.

[Fuzzthing]

If you know the game is secret-intensive and you don’t see any value in that, just don’t play it. Just because MoistCritikal played it doesn’t mean you have to as well.

[Dinosaurs_Are_Friends]

Here's a paraphrase of what you wrote. Though, honestly, I'm barely even paraphrasing:

"If you know [that you didn't enjoy the game after you finished it] here just don't play it."

Do you see the problem with your "advice" when it's put that way? Unless you can build a time machine, it is not something you can actually put into practice.

Frankly, even if you were of a mind to ignore the people saying that you should ignore reviews and lets plays and go in blind (and despite not really loving the game after finishing, I absolutely agree) the fact is that this is not a genre standard that lots of people have readily commented on. Some people love the Fez style "the meta game is the real game," and some people do not, but it's rare precisely because it's a daring design choice. So it's not even something reviewers are likely to mention (and sure enough they haven't).

He's made a bold game, and it's not going to work for everyone, and you're not going to know whether it does for you until you're at the end of your personal journey with it. But thanks for your Aristotelian wisdom lol.