HYPE
ANIMAL WELL
One more descent into the darkness
Your diminutive stature is enough to make ordinary animals feel like major threats. Those beaks are fairly sharp, it turns out
Shared Memory’s debut has been occupying a part of our brain for just over two years now. We can pinpoint the timing because that’s how long we’ve been playing it, on and off. It has been precisely 26 issues since we previously featured it here, during which time we have had access to the early build we were sent for that preview. Yet, as with the most powerful videogame abilities, this perk also comes with a downside. Sole developer Billy Basso has been periodically updating the build – and each time he does, it resets our progress. Animal Well might be a Metroidvania of sorts, but we’ve experienced it as a hardcore Roguelike.
We dare say if Basso wanted to include a permadeath mode in the final release, he could probably get away with it. After 32 hours with the game, we find ourselves back at the beginning once more, jabbing a button to release our blob-like character from its floral cocoon and into this creature-filled labyrinth one more time. It says much that those resets have not put us off from returning – partly because it’s been so fascinating to witness the subtle adjustments to the game’s design, and to make brand-new discoveries besides.