Action · May 9, 2024
ANIMAL WELL (2024)
Hatch from your flower and spelunk through the beautiful and sometimes haunting world of Animal Well, a pixelated wonder rendered in intricate audio and visual detail. Encounter lively creatures small and large, helpful and ominous as you discover unconventional upgrades and unravel the well’s secrets. This is a truly unique experience that can make you laugh in fear, surprise, or delight. Dense atmospheric puzzle box world with tons of secrets Light candles for safety and gradually fill out your map Nonlinear -- explore and collect items in whatever order you choose Enemies, environment, and items interact in surprising and systemic ways All items have multiple uses Learn how innocuous details can become meaningful The main game is just the beginning. Players will be discovering hidden puzzles for years Assess for yourself what is safe and dangerous Focus on tension and suspense rather than action You are disempowered, but can make clever use of your environment and items
Action releases from 2024
211 Action titles launched in 2024 — top 6 by review volume.
Position in Action
| Metric | This title | Genre position |
|---|---|---|
| Review volume | 20.8k Steam reviews | Top 24% in Action |
| Positive rating | 96% positive | Genre average: 83% — this title sits in top 9% |
| Metacritic | 90/100 | Genre average 77 — top 4% of Action titles |
| Engagement hours | 10 h average | Top 45% for session depth among Action |
Community Tag Signals
Tag weights reflect how many Steam users voted each descriptor — larger pills = stronger consensus.
- Metroidvania · 303
- Exploration · 297
- Puzzle · 263
- Pixel Graphics · 258
- Puzzle-Platformer · 257
- Horror · 217
- Platformer · 211
- 2D · 203
- Atmospheric · 193
- Adventure · 180
- Mystery · 169
- Action · 160
- Indie · 157
- Surreal · 151
- Nonlinear · 148
Peer Action titles
Comparable titles in the same genre and review-volume band — ranked by Steam positive percentage.
Localization Coverage
Interface / Subtitles (11)
- English
- French
- Italian
- German
- Spanish - Spain
- Simplified Chinese
- Japanese
- Portuguese - Brazil
- Russian
- Ukrainian
- Korean
Reception Metrics
Steam community
96%Overwhelmingly Positive · 20.8k reviews
20.0k positive · 832 negative
Metacritic
90/100 critic aggregate
Curator recommendations
21.1k
Press Quotes
“The new leader to beat in its sector, we're talking pure ecstasy.” 10/10 – Destructoid “I'm astonished by it. Astonished by the ease with which it presents its ideas, the joy these ideas bring, and the sheer range of magical stuff it includes, all clipped together in such a satisfying manner. And fittingly, for a game about wells, I am astonished by how deep it all goes.” 10/10 – Eurogamer “Animal Well redefines the Metroidvania genre” 10/10 – Noisy Pixel
Engagement Profile
All-time avg
10h
short (5–15 hours)
Median
7h
Typical completion time
2-week avg
30h
Current engagement
Achievements
20
Steam unlocks available
Release & Availability
| Release date | May 9, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Developer | Billy Basso |
| Publisher | Bigmode |
| Base price | $17.49 -30% |
| Platforms | Windows |
| Estimated owners | 100k–1M |
| External links | Official site · Metacritic page · [email protected] |
Features & Capabilities
Community
- Steam Achievements
- Steam Cloud
Input & Comfort
- Full controller support
Other
- Single-player
- Family Sharing
Editions & Packages
Buy ANIMAL WELL