How Animal Well’s invisible layers tap into our need for puzzle-solving satisfaction

Recently, there’s been a distinction between the well-established genre of Metroidvanias and a new puzzle-centric subgenre. A Metriodbrania differs from that of its umbrella genre in that, structurally it’s the same, but much of the progress doesn’t come from physical objects or special abilities, but instead, it’s mental. These games require mental understanding — be it a secret or a piece of information — to progress. Games like The Witness, Outer Wilds, and TUNIC? Yup, they’re the ones.

Animal Well also fits this definition. Produced in its entirety by Billy Basso under Shared Memory LLC, it’s a pixel art game that is part love letter to Metroidvanias, and part giant neon sign saying, “Secrets here!” In our interview with Basso, he speaks in depth about his design philosophy when creating Animal Well, explaining how he designed the game for three separate types of players at any given time.

Briefly, he categorises them into three distinct ‘layers’. There’s the foundational layer — a puzzle game created for all players to enjoy and understand. This is followed by a second layer — hidden discoveries for those keen to delve deeper and find secrets off the beaten path. Finally, there’s a third layer — a set of secrets and puzzles meant to incentivize collaboration and build a community around them while simultaneously keeping a sense of mystery no matter how far you’ve dug.

The result of these three invisible layers is a game that appeals to all types of puzzle players. So, let’s delve a little deeper into what these three layers mean and how they impact the player.

Spoiler warning for Animal Well secrets below!

I start Animal Well by blooming into existence, literally. A flower opens up and my little blob character hops out of it. There’s a ghost blocking my way further up, and the moment it catches sight of me — it chases relentlessly. I frantically scramble to escape, and in the process discover firecracker plants growing off to the side. I lob one at a ghost and it dissipates, screaming into the abyss. It feels great (if not for the fact that my hands can finally stop shaking). 

That’s my first look at Animal Well’s many tools — firecrackers scare away some enemies, and briefly light up the area they’ve landed in. Animal Well already leads into the hunt for secrets in this layer — discovered through trial and error and plenty of experimentation. An accidental jump meant I discovered that my disc was also a dizzyingly new mode of transport., letting me reach parts of the map I never knew I could access. 

Surviving this subterranean world’s deadly encounters, solving all the puzzle rooms and following Animal Well‘s story (if you can call it that) to its conclusion, a set of credits roll, marking the end of the game’s first layer. But strange symbols, unexplored areas of the map, and missing collectables make me want to keep playing— onwards!  

My biggest task was completing the ‘egg room’ by finding all 64 hidden eggs scattered throughout the map. By this point, I had already started to go of my way to look for all the eggs. How many are there? How will I get them all? There’s also a rather curious-looking rabbit early on in the game — just out of reach — and nearby is a candle I can light. So far I’ve lit 3 of these candles and the corresponding candles in another room light up in unison.

Eggs, rabbits, candles. The search for these collectables and the fun consequences of doing so make for incredibly satisfying puzzle-solving. There’s no better satisfaction than watching Animal Well’s world opening up just that little bit more.

There are more items to find too. They not only open up new paths for traversal but also new methods of solving puzzles!  Looking more carefully at my surroundings, there are so many more details and clues that I might have missed before.

That said, I had accidentally discovered what lighting the candles did earlier, through some sequenced jumping. But a quick online search shows that it was wholly intentional: this is the genius of Animal Well’s design — nothing is accidental. It all feels carefully curated, and purposefully placed.

I hit a second set of end-game credits, but there are more puzzles yet to be solved…

This next layer is where the game brings the game’s community together. In Basso’s own words, these puzzles “aren’t exactly intended to be easily solvable by one person”. 

So, the secret rabbits. Some you can solve by yourself (and are truly wild) but others are solved through a community effort by exchanging information. 

Turns out that every player has access to a unique puzzle tile that when put together with 49 other tiles makes an image. When this was first discovered, 50 people on the game’s Discord came together to solve it and discovered that it unlocked a fiendishly cryptic rabbit. You can then use this image to access one rabbit. 

The community haven’t just solved that single puzzle though, they’ve been rampant at finding every single secret Animal Well has to offer. Many puzzle games have communities dedicated to unearthing the most cryptic of secrets, some of which remain unsolved — like the Eye Puzzle from Noita. Even now, who knows if all of Animal Well’s secrets have been found? It might be years until players have found everything. 

After more than 20 hours of playing, there’s still so much packed into Animal Well that I have yet to discover. This is no longer just a game about using tools and wits to solve puzzles, but a game that really knows how to draw you in and keep you fascinated. Each discovery scratches a certain itch but then it moves to another spot. You’re constantly chasing more clues and unlocking secrets until you’re satisfied, whether you feel that at the first, second, or third layer.  So, if you’ll excuse me, I need to see what else I can find.