Thanks for the TL;DR!
this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2025
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Animal well is great, but still has one massive problem; the keyboard controls can't be rebound, which is an absolutely unforgivable miss in 2024. Beat the game but had to use a controller... I really don't understand why he still hasn't added this basic feature.
Quake was released in 1996 and if I recall correctly at the time the arrow keys were the standard but one famous Quake pro player used WASD and it helped launch it to today default.
My point is, I don't think it was ever OK to not have customizable keyboard controls, and having it also give you permission no be perfect in your chosen default. I understand not including the option to have multiple keys assigned to the same control (although I don't excuse it because it is not rocket science), but not have configurable controls at all? It was unforgivable in the 2000 and it is exponentially more unforgivable today.
Animal Well is also my game of the year.
No other game was more interesting and exciting when you found something new. Or solved a puzzle.
While on the surface it’s a simple Metroid style game, once you start noticing things it becomes so intriguing. I have a document on my iPad full of handwritten notes and maps. It felt so novel to return to a feeling of the late 80s where paper maps and notes were king.
While there were a lot of great games last year, I put so much more brainpower into Animal Well, and it felt so good to do so.
I heard one video essayist identify it as a "metroidbrainia" - a game where progression is gated not simply by items/keys, but by knowledge of systems, many of them hidden.
Animal well surprised me completely, and it's definitely the best metroidvania I've played in a long time
Although somewhat unrelated, I thought this excerpt from the article was interesting and sad.
Asked in an interview if he regrets Balatro's success, he replied: "Honestly, yeah. Don't get me wrong - this has changed my life in a lot of amazing ways. I'm so grateful. But I do miss that time before. It was just a hobby that recharged my batteries. Sometimes I think, 'Maybe I would've been happier if I had never released this game to the public.'
Don't feel sad for them! They have now reached a point in life where they get to ask these kind of what if questions and no longer need to work. I love the game they built, and hopefully if they still feel down they have to time and resources now to seek help (i.e. therapy).
The guy has all the resources to rekindle that flame by organizing game jams for example. I am sure he‘ll think much more positively about the whole thing a couple years from now when he realized opportunities granted by his success. Either that or he’ll go down the Notch route but I don’t think he’ll be that kind of stupid rich.
Yeah, but his way to relax and get away from stress was to code. Organizing game jams is a whole other world of stress. The different level of stress is like that Mitchell Hedburg joke, "You're a great chef! Can you farm?"
If you remain fixated on the idea that your way to relax is gone, you'll never be able to find a new way. Life changes, for good and bad. It's on us to make the best of it.