Recent reviews by Culius

The most addictive gameplay loop I've ever set my eyes upon made by a developer with ample knowledge in slot machine systems. Typically, that means "this game is evil, avoid at all costs", but paradoxically what ends up seeping through after playing a hundred hours or so isn't that, rather it's the passion and heart the developer put into this game. Must-buy game.

What a journey. I went from having an absolute blast to being constantly infuriated.
It's not a bad game! It's actually very fun at first. It's just that the entire late-game is d**s*** and I wish I could turn it off and go back to enjoy the game before it. Corrupted regions, where enemies spawn in higher quantities and variety, show how the game simply isn't designed for you to fight that many enemies at once. You get hit because enemies get teleported in in your face and hit you immediately, or because the enemy combinations leaves you with no openings or exhaust your resources to the point you can't respond anymore. What am I supposed to do when a big armored enemy is doing an unblockable slam while 3 skeletons throw bones at me and a white armored leech jumps to my face, plus 3-4 enemies doing god-knows-what at the same time? Do the developers hate the deflect button, or think it's fun to hide enemies and projectiles behind bigger enemies, and put armored enemies that NEED to be parried to beat, while putting more enemies that will hit you while you're recovering from the parry animation? Look, I'm not dumb, I'm aware that the intended solution is for you to have a "strong build" (more like cheese build) before you walk into a corrupted area, but knowing that I'm still saying it's d**s***. The fun part is the combat, why would you make cheese strats mandatory to beat those encounters? And there are plenty games that are way harder than this one with the exact same problem and they fix it by programming the enemies to take turns or avoid specific combinations that trap the player. I still have immense respect towards the team's creativity for creating a roguelike beat em up, but I'm done. I'm not touching this game anymore until they re-balance this.

Con todas las reseñas positivas que tiene esperas un muy buen juego pero en realidad es medio genérico. Se nota la ambición de hacer algo muy bueno, pero lamentablemente no es mejor que ninguno de los juegos de los cuales se inspira.

Game is at least a solid 8/10. The exploration and puzzles are reminiscent of Environmental Station Alpha and La Mulana, both brilliant games. To be completely honest, I wouldn't put Animal Well above either of those two, but it's reaaaally close.
What blows me away though is how creative Animal Well gets with its powerups and how deep they go mechanically. The metroidvania formula has really gone stale these past few years and games like Animal Well show you the genre has much to evolve by, ironically, going back even further, to how games were before the metroidvania formula came to be.

I'm just writing a review because this game doesn't deserve the mixed rating it has.
There's nothing wrong or terrible in this game that isn't a staple of the genre. Sure, it has an exception: its extremely tedious post-game, but none of the people who wrote negative reviews even came close to getting there. I think almost everything in this game was designed on the premise that you would sit and think before tackling a challenge, be it a boss, puzzle or just traversal in general. So in that sense, everything is pretty straightforward. You just need practice. But I admit that if you can't pull that off, then there is no accessibility options within the game that will help you. In that case maybe try again later once you beat a few more platformers.
So how hard is the game? If you can beat halfway nes games like castlevania, ninja gaiden or ghoul's n goblins, you can beat this. And if you're a super metroid fan, this game is right up your alley.

As a rogue-lite it's super basic but fun. Essentially you pistol start every level and it turns into a slaughter map by the end.
It's like a 7.5/10 for the first two hours and then goes down to a 6/10. The reason why is because there's a good chunk of the game that feels like it's leading into something bigger/better, as in you keep unlocking more stuff that's supposed to help you beat longer/harder missions, but then the game suddenly ends and all
you get is a custom mode that adds nothing beyond adjusting enemy damage scaling.
Hoping the developers give it a few more updates. It has potential but rn just get it on sale.

Normally the game is a bit weird but bearable for the first few hours, but the more I played the more annoyed I got, so here I am.
If the developer ever adds rebindable controls, adds a speed up / skip button, and fixes the weird text interactions (sometimes you select an option but the game registers the opposite), I'll change my review to positive.

Takes about 1 hour to complete and ideally it maintains an increasingly tense pace throughout the whole experience with the best part saved for the end... unless you suck at controlling the sub and crash a few too many times. My personal experience was the former while my friends' was the latter. I could see how constantly struggling with the controls and having to reset from crashing messes with the storytelling the game tries to convey.

Ball-buster experience ngl but credit where credit is due. I can see why some people are die hard fans &iIf you can pull off beating this game without consulting a guide then hats off to you.

Solid Paper Mario-like with a level of polish and detail you wouldn't expect from most indies. Definitely worth a try.