The archive · Games & Play · Product decision · 2017–2024
Animal Well hides three layers of secrets — the deepest built for a community (2024)
Billy Basso's combat-free Metroidvania is designed in three layers: a clear path, a 64-egg hunt, then community-wide puzzles no one player can solve alone.
Shared Memory LLC (Animal Well)
What it had to solve
Basso, working solo in his spare time since 2017, wanted a Metroidvania where progress comes from understanding rather than key items, and where secrets keep even the most hardcore players wondering.
How it works
Animal Well, released May 9, 2024 on Steam, PS5 and Switch, is a combat-free Metroidvania made entirely by Billy Basso under Shared Memory LLC. The player is a little yellow blob that hatches from a flower into a damp underground world with no direction about where it is or what to do.
Basso designed the game for three different players at once. The first layer is a puzzle platformer anyone can finish; the second is a discovery layer with 64 hidden eggs and collectibles for secret hunters; the third holds mysteries 'not exactly intended to be easily solvable by one person' — built to make players collaborate.
Instead of key items gating progress, the world teaches through facts: puzzles show how the game works because the game never explicitly teaches it. Basso wanted players to keep making decisions and learning little facts, building a mental map of hundreds of them as they explore.
The bet paid off: the community cracked the deepest puzzles faster than the developer expected, with one puzzle solved by 50 people combining unique image tiles on Discord. Rock Paper Shotgun counted Animal Well among 2024's most generous indies, and Basso said there will be no DLC — only a new game in the same universe.
Why it lands
- Three explicit design audiences meant one world satisfied casual players, secret hunters and hardcore community solvers at the same time.
- Replacing key-item gates with learnable facts made every player feel their ideas were valid — the game rewards trying anything.
- Making the deepest layer unsolvable alone turned the player base into the final puzzle mechanic, generating free community energy and coverage.
- Giving no explicit instructions forced curiosity itself to become the tutorial, which matched a game about secrets and mystery.
What it did
The deepest community puzzle, the time capsule, was solved legitimately within the game's first week — faster than Basso expected. Players kept collaborating on remaining secrets, RPS ranked Animal Well among 2024's standout indies, and Basso confirmed no DLC, only a new game in the same universe.
What you can take
Design for the whole community, not just the player: by making the deepest secrets unsolvable alone, Animal Well turned its audience into a co-solving engine that kept the game alive and discussed.
Since then
Animal Well became one of 2024's most discussed indie games. Its time capsule puzzle was solved in the first week, and its community kept hunting remaining secrets for months; Basso confirmed there will never be DLC, planning instead a new game in the same universe. The three-layer design is now cited in design discussions as a model for making secrets a social feature rather than a checklist.
Sources
- Interview: How Animal Well is using secrets and mysteries to be a different kind of Metroidvania
- Animal Well creator plans to follow the superb Metroidvania with a game that shares its world but 'may not be a direct sequel'
- How Animal Well's invisible layers tap into our need for puzzle-solving satisfaction
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