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[Maiden Voyage]

"It's like Halo 2 meets Halo 3"​

Developer: Shared Memory​

Publisher: Bigmode​

Release Date: 09 May 2024​

Platforms: Steam | PS5 | Switch​

Genre: Metroidvania, Puzzle, 2D Platformer​

Price: $24.99 USD | £20.99 GBP | €24.50​

Metacritic​

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ABOUT​

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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

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SCREENSHOTS​

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TRAILERS​

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PHYSICAL EDITION​

Standard Edition $39.99​

Order here (Estimated ship date Oct 7 – Nov 7):

PS5 Limited Run #99: ANIMAL WELL

ANIMAL WELL is on a region-free physical disc for the PlayStation 5. This is an open pre-order for a limited time. PRE-ORDERS CLOSE ON SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2024 AT 11:59 PM EASTERN TIME. Explore a dense, interconnected labyrinth, and unravel its many secrets. Collect items to manipulate your...

limitedrungames.com

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Collector's Edition $99.99​

Order Here (Estimated ship date Jan 1 – 31):

PS5 Limited Run #99: ANIMAL WELL Collector's Edition

ANIMAL WELL is on a region-free physical disc for the PlayStation 5. This is an open pre-order for a limited time. PRE-ORDERS CLOSE ON SUNDAY, JUNE 23, 2024 AT 11:59 PM EASTERN TIME. Explore a dense, interconnected labyrinth, and unravel its many secrets. Collect items to manipulate your...

limitedrungames.com

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SOCIALS​

Discord | Instagram | Mastodon | Twitter
Dev Log

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Sound like this is going to be a treat for fans of Tunic and Fez, which are two of my absolute favorite indie titles. Looking forward to this one.

Here's a quick video summarizing what to expect from the gameplay:

 

[rofif]

Dude this artstyle. so good

 

[TintoConCasera]

Lovely pixel-art, perfect for the Switch or the Deck.

 

[lh032]

day 1 if review is good.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Game is also on PS+ btw

 

[GymWolf]

Nice artstyle but puzzle games are not my thing.

 

[Con-Z-epT]

Really curious about this after i stumbled across a trailer a few months back. Thanks for the OT Maiden and well done!

 

[FeastYoEyes]

Hyped for this one. Hoping it gives us another great Metroidvania.

 

[SpiceRacz]

GAF: “New Metroidvania”


Me:

 

[Dr. Suchong]

Been watching this with interest for a while now.
Love the art direction.
Getting a Celeste, meets Creatures, meets Metroid vibe.
Got the look of a cult classic all over it.
Day one

 

[Dacvak]

I don’t really know what this game is like, but I was planning on buying it anyway. It’s the least I can do considering I’ve been pretty entertained by Dunkey’s videos over the years, and I don’t think I’ve ever hit the like button before.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

 

[Maiden Voyage]

The game is officially out now

 

[Con-Z-epT]

​

 

[Zheph]

what a solid OT

just got the notification from the PS Store, let's get it boys!!

 

[FingerBang]

Are you guys talking about Animal Well? It's like Halo 2 and 3!

 

[Con-Z-epT]

101 MB file size. Its ingenuinity is only surpassed by its simplicity.

 

[VideoGameEnjoyer]

Seeing a ton of praise so far. Excited to try it out

 

[elhav]

Game's been getting stellar reviews so far. Really happy for Dunkey and the developers.

Here comes the money

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Well, I was going to wait until the weekend to pick this up but the good reviews have me too curious. I will just have to juggle this and Front Mission 1st Remake.

 

[Con-Z-epT]

This is a real brain bender.

 

[Con-Z-epT]

 

[Dacvak]

Does anyone know how it runs on Switch? I imagine it’s at 60, but you can never be too sure these days.

 

[kiphalfton]

Sound like this is going to be a treat for fans of Tunic and Fez, which are two of my absolute favorite indie titles. Looking forward to this one.

Here's a quick video summarizing what to expect from the gameplay:

Tunic is great. Especially if you don't use guides (I did, wish I didn't).

 

[TheDarkPhantom]

Great OT!

I've been playing for the past couple of hours, very cool stuff. Zero hand holding, you're thrown into this mysterious world and left to your own devices, old-school sensibilities combined with classic visuals = win. Fantastic DualSense implementation on PS5, devs have really been nailing it lately. I'm already digging the original takes on some classic Metroidvania unlocks. Instead of a double jump for example you get something a lot more interesting that has multiple functions...

Early feelings are similar to what I felt with recent indie darlings Tunic or Inscryption: original, head-scratching, moody, special, let's see how deep this well goes.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Does anyone know how it runs on Switch? I imagine it’s at 60, but you can never be too sure these days.

Dev said on Discord that it is 60fps just has some of the visuals tuned down to accomodate.

I got the wand and then made my way here. The puzzles are really enjoyable to play. Some of the platforming is a bit frustrating. Enjoying it so far.

Tunic is great. Especially if you don't use guides (I did, wish I didn't).

I did not and I am very grateful. I can tell this game is going to be at the level of Fez and Tunic just after spending about an hour with it.

 

[Con-Z-epT]

I got the wand and then made my way here. The puzzles are really enjoyable to play. Some of the platforming is a bit frustrating. Enjoying it so far.

A wand? I took so many turns left and right that i surely forgot something.

A cool feeling of being lost in discovery where there is always some quick progress to make. Very gratifying. Can't wait to play more.

 

[Thief1987]

Wow, didn't expect these scores, dunkey starting with a bang. Downloaded, excited to start it.

 

[Flabagast]

How is the switch version ?

 

[Maiden Voyage]

I've got 16 secret eggs and 4 candles lit so far.

Unlocked frisbee, firecrackers, flute, wand, slinky, map, stamp, pencil
Lots of hints to puzzles, like the frog in the pond below the teleportation room (R,R,L,L,D,D,U,U).

This game is going to be wild. Really, really enjoying the puzzles so far.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Welp, got the g-flame and now the progression makes more sense. Only 2 inventory slots left as far as I can tell. I've got a bunch of stamps on my map for areas I'm blocked out of. I'll have to run through the map again with the items to see what I may have over looked.

 

[touchfuzzy]

Gotta love dunkey casually sniping a 90+ Metacritic indie game as his first published game. Guy knows his stuff. I'll be grabbing on Steam Deck tonight!

 

[Mossybrew]

This isn't the kind of game I'd usually play but I'm getting it anyway.

 

[Doomtrain]

How puzzle-y is this? It looks really cool but my only gaming time lately is after long shifts at work when I’m mentally exhausted and I want to relax and chill and turn my brain off for a bit.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Got the p flame. 2 more to go. I imagine this must be the 1st layer and the eggs and candles the 2nd layer?

How puzzle-y is this? It looks really cool but my only gaming time lately is after long shifts at work when I’m mentally exhausted and I want to relax and chill and turn my brain off for a bit.

It is 90% puzzles and 10% platforming. Puzzles at the base level are not difficult. You can consider the game beat with the first layer. 100% at the second layer. Third layer is the really deep stuff that is supposed to require community involvement to solve.

Animal Well is designed with three different layers. The first layer is the basic content you’re required to complete to get to the end of the main game. The second layer requires deeper exploration and some more challenging puzzles you may not have noticed your first time around. The third level is intended to be a big challenge with lots of puzzles you may not even realize are puzzles!

The devs have a website that will let people know if all secrets have been found:

haseverythinginanimalwellbeenfoundyet

 

[Thaedolus]

Wow good for Dunkey to get this one on the first try. Been looking for a reason to get out the ol Deck, between this and Hades II, gonna have some stuff to play

 

[Doomtrain]

Got the p flame. 2 more to go. I imagine this must be the 1st layer and the eggs and candles the 2nd layer?


It is 90% puzzles and 10% platforming. Puzzles at the base level are not difficult. You can consider the game beat with the first layer. 100% at the second layer. Third layer is the really deep stuff that is supposed to require community involvement to solve.


The devs have a website that will let people know if all secrets have been found:

haseverythinginanimalwellbeenfoundyet

Fuck, that sounds REALLY cool. Strongly considering just getting this anyway.

 

[Doomtrain]

Follow-up question: how are the puzzles in relation to, like, La Mulana? I really like La Mulana but it definitely kicked my ass and I don't think I have it in me to play something like that right now.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Follow-up question: how are the puzzles in relation to, like, La Mulana? I really like La Mulana but it definitely kicked my ass and I don't think I have it in me to play something like that right now.

So far nothing even remotely close. I'm still tackling layer 1 so far though. I haven't had to break out a pen and paper just yet for notes, but it might get to that point as I already picked up on a clue for something but I have no idea where to use the information just yet.

From what I've read the dev is skeptical that people will have layer 3 solve entirely within the first year. Layer 1 so far is largely exploration based. Figure out how to trigger x number of switches to unlock the next area. Or how to navigate given a set of obstacles. There's been tons of hidden rooms and paths to find.

Layer 2 might get into the tough stuff but not entirely sure just yet. If you've played Tunic or Fez before, it's more along those lines rather than La Mulana.

And if you haven't played Fez or Tunic, go do it those games are phenomenal.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Lotta spoilers in this video for the first chunk of the game, including mechanics and some puzzles. Should give an idea of what the depth is like on the gameplay and puzzles.

 

[TerribleAtThisGame]

This looks fucking great. I hope it's not "need guide or gtfo" levels of obtuse and obscure though. I'm the type who will stop playing a game before I look up solutions...unfortunately.

 

[Deerock71]

I'm intrigued, and that fucker's always cracked me up.

 

[Guilty_AI]

Looks great, reminds me a bit of Rain World in terms of presentation

 

[Maiden Voyage]

This looks fucking great. I hope it's not "need guide or gtfo" levels of obtuse and obscure though. I'm the type who will stop playing a game before I look up solutions...unfortunately.

So far I haven't needed any external help. Nothing is overly complex just yet.

 

[Nintendo's Witch]

Beautiful OT. Congrats Maiden Voyage

 

[bender]

I've played for about an hour and am six eggs in. It's pretty great with my only gripe being that it is sometimes hard to read the background and foreground layers.

 

[Valedix]

Lovely OT, loving the art style of the game too.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Well, just figured out what the fish's code does, that's pretty freaking cool. An achievement unlocks if you solve the puzzle.

Also picked up all 4 flames, now in what I assume is the final section. I've got 2 more eggs to the next unlock so maybe I will focus on those for now.

 

[Maiden Voyage]

Yeah I am fucking addicted. 1 candle left, still 2 eggs to the third unlock. Only one inventory item left.