Understanding Animal Well: Layers and Solutions
- Animal Well has three layers, each with specific goals and challenges.
- Layer one involves collecting four Flames and defeating boss animals.
- Layer two requires finding 64 secret eggs and completing quests.
- Layer three focuses on solving esoteric puzzles to find 16 bunnies.
- Layer four involves uncovering hidden symbols across multiple playthroughs.
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Game Tips
EVERY LAYER OF ANIMAL WELL AND HOW TO SOLVE IT EXPLAINED
TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO NEXT IN ANIMAL WELL? THIS SHOULD HELP
By Timothy Monbleau
Published Tuesday 1:00 PM
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WHAT ARE ANIMAL WELL'S THREE LAYERS?
Animal Well's three layers refer to three specific goals that you can chase sequentially.
The first layer of Animal Well is a straightforward journey that involves collecting the four Flames listed on your map and descending into a distinct final area.
The second layer involves uncovering roughly 99% of the game's map, hunting down collectibles, and uncovering secret areas with new bosses, items, and more.
The third layer of Animal Well is designed for hardcore puzzle solvers, featuring yet another set of collectibles that require exploiting the game's mechanics and cross-referencing information with other players.
For trophy and achievement hunters, know that you only need to complete layer two to technically achieve 100% completion.
Layer three is reserved for those who are determined to see everything in the game and don't mind looking up guides or community resources to help out.
HOW TO COMPLETE LAYER ONE OF ANIMAL WELL
Animal Well's first layer is its most straightforward.
After progressing through the opening area and obtaining your map, you'll see four flame icons hidden in each corner of the world.
These correspond with four distinct biomes, each of which has a boss animal that you'll have to deal with.
Along the way, you'll need to collect at least six items that will help you solve puzzles that block your path.
Once you collect the four flames, you can place them in the center of the map where the statues of the four boss animals hang over you.
This will unlock the final area of the game, leading you to a boss encounter that, once completed, will trigger a credits sequence.
Congratulations! You finished the game.
HOW TO COMPLETE LAYER TWO OF ANIMAL WELL
The overarching goal of Animal Well's second layer is to collect all 64 secret eggs that are hidden around the game.
You'll need to complete a few quests first since you'll need a total of twelve different usable items to complete this task.
- Return to the egg room in the center of the map after collecting 8, 16, and 32 eggs to find new items essential for exploration.
- Find all nine Matches in the game and place them in the dark rooms where the ominous shadow creatures chase after you.
- Collect the three hidden medals and place them in the circular recesses to unlock all-new areas.
- Free the five cats trapped in cages in the bottom-right corner of the map.
Following these steps, you should have the tools necessary to collect every egg in the game.
After collecting all 64 eggs, you'll unlock an extra key item in the egg room.
Take this item to a secret room in the final area in the game and you'll trigger a new final boss sequence.
Congratulations! You finished the game again.
HOW TO COMPLETE LAYER THREE OF ANIMAL WELL
After completing layer two, you'll see that your save file now has a bunny icon with a number next to it.
The objective of layer three is to find 16 bunnies hiding behind predominantly esoteric puzzles.
Layer three will involve decoding ciphers, which typically involve using the Animal Flute and looking carefully at background details for clues.
You will get stuck in layer three of Animal Well without outside help for two distinct reasons:
- The puzzles here are tricky enough that you'll want to trade tips and tricks with others to find every hidden bunny.
- One bunny specifically requires assembling a puzzle that consists of 50 distinct pieces, and you'll only see one of them on your file.
After collecting the 16 bunnies, a new puzzle will appear inside the house you found after completing layer one.
By solving this, you'll get a series of directions that you'll need to follow by flying on the manticore in the ending area of layer two.
This will take you to a secret island that houses a neat secret for your troubles.
Congratulations! You very probably actually finished the game.
HOW TO COMPLETE LAYER FOUR OF ANIMAL WELL
Even though Basso himself said there are only three layers of Animal Well, there exists yet another series of secrets that the community refers to as layer four.
Animal Well's fourth layer consists of carrying out incredibly specific tasks across multiple playthroughs that the game doesn't necessarily hint at to unlock a series of symbols.
By piecing these clues together, you can uncover another series of directions similar to the end of layer three, which unlocks yet another secret.
Completing this task will trigger a spoken message from developer Billy Basso, Shared Memory's business/marketing guy Dan Adelman, and publisher BigMode's Jason Gastrow.
It's a sweet little thank you message for making it this far.
IS THERE A FIFTH LAYER OF ANIMAL WELL?
With the note that the fourth layer ends on, Animal Well most likely doesn't have any major secrets beyond this point.
In an AMA hosted on the Nintendo Switch subreddit, Basso has expressed amazement over how fast Animal Well's community solved all the previous mysteries.
That said, there are other oddities in the game that could point to deeper secrets.
For example, there's an infamous room with a fox and snails that houses an item called the Cheater's Ring.
Additionally, there is the website haseverythinginanimalwellbeenfoundyet.com, which simply reads "no," pointing to the existence of secrets the community hasn't uncovered yet.
All that said, it seems like any lingering mysteries in Animal Well would consist of smaller easter eggs and not a wholesale fifth layer.
However, Animal Well has surprised its community time and time again, so I wouldn't write off any possibilities just yet.
I just hope we find a legitimate way to see that fox in that room.
