The Game Census
ANIMAL WELL cover art

ANIMAL WELL

Billy Basso · Bigmode · 2024-05-09

SteamPlayStation StoreMicrosoft Store

ActionAdventureIndie

Modes: Single player

Releases: May 09, 2024 (Nintendo Switch), May 09, 2024 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), May 09, 2024 (PlayStation 5), Oct 17, 2024 (Xbox Series X|S)

Explore a dense, interconnected labyrinth, and unravel its many secrets. Collect items to manipulate your environment in surprising and meaningful ways. Encounter beautiful and unsettling creatures, as you attempt to survive what lurks in the dark. There is more than what you see.

110
playing now
96%
positive of 25k reviews
Overwhelmingly Positive
steam rating
200,000–500,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
89/100
critic score (4 outlets, IGDB)
82/100
IGDB user rating (119 ratings)
9.7h
to beat · rushed 6h · completionist 20h
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
$24.99
steam price (US)

110 players in-game as of 2026-08-30 02:00 UTC (census sample)

Animal Well is a 2024 Metroidvania puzzle-platformer video game developed by Billy Basso as Shared Memory and published by Bigmode. The player controls an unnamed blob creature and explores an underground animal-filled labyrinth which incorporates nonlinear platforming and puzzle solving. The game is presented as an interconnected set of rooms, or flip-screens, with 2D pixel art. No plot or backstory is given, and the game world is filled with puzzles and secrets, including some puzzles that require groups of players working in collaboration or several playthroughs to solve.

Health check

Healthy
  • · 110 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 1,760 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~220/week).
  • · Review velocity down 29% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Current weekly pace is under 5% of the all-time peak week (8,954 reviews).
  • · Top 6% of 10,903 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-28

Estimated sales: 491k–1.1M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 24,525 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

lowest across shops (ITAD)$24.99
Microsoft Store$24.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $16.74 at Steam (2026-05-07)via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $24.99 · on sale 11 of 23 observed days · $8.25 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
8.6k8.6k20242026Week of 2024-05-01: 8,609 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 345 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 1,630 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 89 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 1,014 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 65 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 591 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 501 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 24 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 557 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 40 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 1,706 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 30 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 1,716 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 75 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 709 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 46 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 551 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 33 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 470 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 25 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 292 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 407 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 34 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 281 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 26 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 377 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 303 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 287 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 197 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 161 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 244 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 256 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 176 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 213 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 160 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 237 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 31 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 148 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 214 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 182 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 15 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

223542026-08-07 00:00 — 65 players2026-08-07 08:00 — 54 players2026-08-07 16:00 — 91 players2026-08-08 00:00 — 63 players2026-08-08 08:00 — 62 players2026-08-08 16:00 — 110 players2026-08-09 00:00 — 87 players2026-08-09 08:00 — 81 players2026-08-09 16:00 — 107 players2026-08-10 00:00 — 137 players2026-08-10 08:00 — 95 players2026-08-10 16:00 — 165 players2026-08-11 00:00 — 140 players2026-08-11 08:00 — 108 players2026-08-11 16:00 — 144 players2026-08-13 00:00 — 90 players2026-08-14 07:00 — 87 players2026-08-15 15:00 — 170 players2026-08-16 23:00 — 133 players2026-08-18 06:00 — 101 players2026-08-19 14:00 — 148 players2026-08-20 21:00 — 128 players2026-08-22 05:00 — 120 players2026-08-23 13:00 — 223 players2026-08-24 20:00 — 124 players2026-08-26 04:00 — 70 players2026-08-27 12:00 — 106 players2026-08-29 10:00 — 103 players2026-08-30 02:00 — 110 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).

Price history

$24.99$16.742024-05-092026-08-282024-05-09 — best price $22.492024-06-27 — best price $22.492024-08-08 — best price $22.492024-09-26 — best price $19.992024-11-27 — best price $19.992024-12-12 — best price $19.992024-12-19 — best price $19.992025-02-02 — best price $19.992025-03-13 — best price $19.992025-05-08 — best price $18.742025-06-15 — best price $18.742025-07-26 — best price $18.742025-09-08 — best price $18.742025-09-29 — best price $18.742025-10-27 — best price $18.742025-12-03 — best price $17.492025-12-18 — best price $17.492026-01-09 — best price $17.492026-02-24 — best price $17.492026-03-19 — best price $17.492026-05-07 — best price $16.742026-06-25 — best price $17.492026-08-09 — best price $17.492026-08-28 — best price $24.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

3241172026-05-30 — 173 pageviews2026-06-02 — 186 pageviews2026-06-05 — 188 pageviews2026-06-08 — 182 pageviews2026-06-11 — 145 pageviews2026-06-14 — 127 pageviews2026-06-17 — 147 pageviews2026-06-20 — 123 pageviews2026-06-23 — 142 pageviews2026-06-26 — 252 pageviews2026-06-29 — 324 pageviews2026-07-02 — 255 pageviews2026-07-05 — 199 pageviews2026-07-08 — 271 pageviews2026-07-11 — 145 pageviews2026-07-14 — 146 pageviews2026-07-17 — 196 pageviews2026-07-20 — 193 pageviews2026-07-23 — 175 pageviews2026-07-26 — 178 pageviews2026-07-29 — 173 pageviews2026-08-01 — 142 pageviews2026-08-04 — 172 pageviews2026-08-07 — 141 pageviews2026-08-10 — 192 pageviews2026-08-13 — 148 pageviews2026-08-16 — 164 pageviews2026-08-19 — 117 pageviews2026-08-22 — 147 pageviews2026-08-25 — 194 pageviews2026-08-27 — 187 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

20
achievements tracked
93.3%
earned "SECRET EGG"
39.1%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportGamepad RecommendedDualShock Controller SupportDualShock Controller SupportDualSense Controller SupportDualSense Controller SupportSteam CloudFamily Sharing

11 supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Ukrainian, Korean

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
PS5 (PlayStation)16,83825%21
Steam (Steam)12,57016%20
Switch (Nintendo)9680%0
Xbox Series (Xbox)46318%20

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

2DIndieActionHorrorPuzzleMysterySurrealAdventureNonlinearPlatformer

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Don't Knock TwiceToby: The Secret MineMomodora: Reverie Under The MoonlightRusty Lake HotelPLANET ALPHACelesteForgotton AnnePikuniku

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗Discord ↗