a deep dive into the lore of ANIMAL WELL

[@nocapsbb]

the obligatory patreon link 😇😈 www.patreon.com/nocapsbb

[@GygasDistruttore]

If the Animal Well comunity ever finishes finding Animal Well's secrets, there is always helping with Noita's Eye Messages... :p

[@nickrogers3624]

Jokes on you, I went to animal well to take a break from that….

[@MaksOSTR]

What if animal well also has an eye puzzle

[@someoneontheinternet4518]

The amount of overlap im seeing between these two communities in comments is telling me i should probably consider trying noita...

[@derpaboopderp1286]

@@MaksOSTRpotion bunny

[@SenorBean70]

Fun fact and also spoilers for animal well. The blob (aka the player) is actually a Mexican jumping bean! Which is a type of larvae that hatches from a flower and needs to be eaten by a rabbit or other creature in order to become a moth! This is confirmed by Billy Basso (the creator of animal well)

[@Japuckle]

I think that the animals are in a well. But that's just a theory

[@nocapsbb]

That's what I thought at first, too, but it doesn't explain how you can drop down from the bottom of the map (to the right of your house) and then end up near the top after falling down... So the height is kinda infinite just like the width

[@leeperhapsbased.9057]

It's just like Vangers all over again Animal Well is no well, but a donut

[@americanwatcher]

Would you even call it..... A GAME THEORY?

[@d3w222]

how is outside in a well

[@VitorMach]

@@nocapsbb Is it really a torus though, or a cylinder? The walls of a well are a cylinder, maybe the animals live in the walls like the flatland beings 🤔

[@xHarpua]

I think the blob is a bug larvae. When you get the wings you reach your final bug form

[@hunterensley1236]

It's a Mexican jumping bean I think

[@Troutington2]

yeah it was confirmed as a Mexican jumping bean

[@deadlydingus1138]

Theory: No one answers the phone when the dog is chasing you because the dog is normally is the one that does it.

[@wyvy7013]

you also dont get an answer on the phone with the manitcore following you unfortunately

[@colececil]

​@@wyvy7013What if the dog and the manticore are the same person?!!

[@iszybrawl2466]

Now i'm imagining a creepy voice saying "do you want to save?" everytime I save,thank you for ruining my life

[@crabhater9373]

I think there is also the possibility that there is no true story. Animal Well feels illusory, at least that's what it felt like when I played through it. These seemingly real world animals and man made structures contrast heavily with the bizarre fantastical elements in an almost dreamlike way. The map looping around like pac man makes me feel like animal well is some imaginary place that might just be a setting the dev wanted to make a game around. Much of the game's art is also psychedelic. The final secret where the dev breaks the fourth wall and speaks directly to the player also makes me feel like this setting was simply an abstract world that was used to convey emotions rather than events. The lack of dialogue or fellow characters also reinforces this idea. The only person that talks to you is whoever is on the phone. In that way animal well's story might be more symbolic than literal. Or it could be literal, I have no idea. We might never know.

[@nocapsbb]

Very possible! I didn't really think about any lore stuff while playing, but seeing all these crazy ideas being thrown around got me theorizing..

[@weldlu11]

The room that no one can get to without glitching contains a ring called the "cheaters ring." And when you press down on the right joy stick, it allows you to move your character with no gravity and freely through walls. And The ring is inside yet another patch of land that you can't get to without glitching through the walls. It doesn't look like there is a warp totem indicating that you can warp in there. It does potentially seem like maybe the only way in there is to glitch.

[@OinkTF]

"snail island" or "the fox room" is usually what ive seen it being called

[@BoopinSnakeBandito]

Kind of fitting that your reward for clipping into one single room, is the ability to clip into any room at any time you want lol

[@elijahsinclair7219]

I still think it’s possible that maybe that ring only appears if you don’t get in there legitimately. Maybe you need to trigger something first to get the real contents of the chest.

[@Rbum4]

the 'cheater's ring' is a tool used to cheat, but it also requires cheating (or wrong warp exploits) to obtain it. neat.

[@soulglitcher]

​@@elijahsinclair7219 The cheater ring would be an awfully convinent red herring.

[@ThreeKes]

One of the most interesting parts for me is the way animals (and their eyes) respond to your yoyo. Oh and the firecrackers. Usually they are used in celebrations. If they were used to light the well, then surely torches or glow sticks would have been a safer choice, unless they served some other purpose.

[@Walczyk]

huh? there are torches and candles in the game. firecrackers are not used to light the well

[@soulglitcher]

The firecrackers are plants though, aren't they?

[@Walczyk]

@@soulglitcher true they grow

[@soulglitcher]

@@Walczyk They are also indeed used for celebrations in the game as well. The final boss is defeated through fireworks, which seems to reference your first item, the firecracker.

[@Remyueru]

0:59 did anyone else notice the face right before the birth of the blob?

[@Remyueru]

Looks like a manticore face

[@poggob5756]

Oh yeah, weird I wonder what it is

[@MothraFan61]

Just slowed the video’s speed down, it’s the Manticore’s face from the normal ending’s area.

[@gobbyguardian9495]

Spoilers for ending: The face reminds me of the manticore's face, wonder what that could mean.

[@isaac9721]

we've poked around with it a bit on the discord, there used to be 1 other place you could see it in the dark spotted in the trailer but its no longer in the game as far as we can tell. Someone wrote a script to check over gameplay footage and it didnt spot anything aside from the beginning

[@Nero_PR]

Maybe the well works as an Ark of sorts. The outside world outside the well seems to be no more.

[@dartagnancurt4392]

Billy said the Blob is a Mexican jumping bean

[@aqlcaramsm3907]

thank you for this amazing video! i rewatched a couple times across the months and your vibe is so comfy, i hope you make more!

[@jordanfish]

Great video. Spoiler theory: I think the blob is a moth larva that needs to pass through a rabbit’s gut in order to reach maturity. Not sure if there is a real insect larva that does this (botflies live in the skin of animals) but it recalls the lifecycle of the microbial parasite toxoplasma gondii which famously can only reach maturity in the gut of a cat and has evolved to alter the behavior of other animals like rodents in order to increase the likelihood of finding its way to a feline host. This seems kind of similar to how the blob learns how to board the Manticore and uses it to travel to the big bunny.

[@nightmare4lol]

Why is no one talking about the other possible true villian of the game, the kangaroo! Chasing down the blob remorselessly, stopming them any chance they get. Personally, I think the kangaroo is working for the bunnies. Still feel like theyre the true master minds of this whole operation. Betting they caged up the lynxs kittens as revenge for the lynx tormenting them, yhen went into hiding. Theres definitely more there if you look at it again.

[@jr01theweeb]

The mustery room is possible with a wheel glitch, the truth to the mystery room is hilarious.

[@bengoodwin2141]

When I first saw the manticore, I thought it was a weird scraggly caveman/human the other animals imprisoned.

[@heyj64]

When *I* first saw the manticore, I thought "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! RUN!"

[@adolchrystin]

there has to be a way to break all glasses

[@StyxTVv]

its dope to see just what people have been able to put together. Also I didnt know there was still an unexplored room, got my ass wonderin

[@forr35t]

7:55 To me it makes more sense if the bunnies used potions to hide away. It feels wrong that the potions don't work but who knows. Great recap of everything so far

[@nocapsbb]

I guess the thought is that the potions you can get from the groundhog (by visiting them on groundhog day irl) give you an extra heart, so it would be the bunnies trying to defend themselves. Unless it's a different kind of potion

[@forr35t]

@@nocapsbb ahh

[@sharky3490]

Been waiting for a lore video on Animal Well!!

[@cah137-y4s]

I did not know about the submarine room until now! I’d seen that blocked off area but I assumed it was where you got one of the Bunnies I hadn’t picked up on my save file. Between that, the seemingly unobtainable 17th Bunny hidden in the E. Medal room, the illustration of a rabbit making potions that has no clear meaning in the game, and the nine note tune from the opening that sometimes plays in the background for no clear reason, I definitely think this game has at least a few more major puzzles that we haven’t solved yet.

[@altusshow7574]

The tone in the back ground, are you talking about the teleport song? DL UL DL UL DL UL DL UL DL?

[@jobot0114]

Oh there's like a whole other 16 unobtainable bunnies scattered around the map, not just one lol

[@cah137-y4s]

@@altusshow7574 …ah, well now I feel kind of dumb. 😅 I tried using the song as a button input on the flute before but I guess I got the notes wrong.

[@cah137-y4s]

@@jobot0114 Really?? I’d only ever heard about the one on the E. Medal screen, which apparently matches up to the 15th statue; do you know where I’d find more info on these extra bunnies?

[@kylecurtis5239]

@@cah137-y4s as far as I know, the remaining 16 bunnies are all hidden around the map inside of walls that the player can’t see or access without either the Cheater’s Ring or some flute codes that haven’t been discovered yet. There’s a LOT of interesting stuff hidden behind those walls…

[@marv1d1no]

Amazing video. Animal well is a great game, but it feels like some of the late game tools are very underused, which is unexpected if you consider how many interesting mechanics was introduced before.

[@BoopinSnakeBandito]

B. Ball, Remote, Wheel, and UV have very specific uses, but they often require "outside the box" thinking in very specific areas in order to utilize their potential.

[@meathir4921]

​@jswagpsn2285 I think the Top and Ball are the outliers there. The others get a lot of use even at the end of the game in creative ways whereas the top is never used to do more than dig and the ball is never used to do more than break the blocks.

[@stephensto1422]

I interpreted the potion mural differently. Those 2 bunnies on the title screen drank the empty bottles and became manticores.

[@welsthe3rd]

My theory is that the Mantecores and shadowy enemies were humans. Humans helped too build the well, but when they started creating mechanisms that imprisoned and abused animals, the guardians sealed the humans away. The surviving humans evolved into corrupted monsters. And the blob is also a human, but evolved to be at peace with nature. The squirrels recognize this and choose to assist the blob

[@ThMrksman]

I've seriously never noticed this frog before or recognise the room it's in, and I've found every egg and gotten wings. I'm so confused right now.

[@PikaPhantomVG]

That room had an egg in it, but the frog is more hidden

[@kingkazma3246]

7:43 **Spoilers** The character is called Jumping Bean, these jumping beans are actually seed pods with moth larva inside which jumps away if it sense danger. Later releases and flies away as a moth when adult.

[@retrorapture4079]

I'm sure someone has tried this already, but for the one room with the glass that nobody can enter, you can actually get the Manticore to chase you throughout the entire map and his attack can break glass. That seems like it ought to work.

[@Mick0Mania]

The glass the Manticore can break is shaped differently than the glass seen there. The manticore can break the bluish glass with the more rounded edges, not the white-ish glass with the sharper edges. I tried...

[@pickyphysicsstudent201]

I think your take was pretty on point or at least similar to the impression I got while playing. The animal empire here is a complex relationship of powers at play, in which it is hard to say who is good or evil. Was the Manticore locked away to protect everyone or so the 4 Flame Bearers to take power for themselves? Alot of the animals range from: indifferent, just trying to get by or know that they can't do much to change things. Only a few like the squirrals, rabbits and peacock are "in the know" of how things can change. I get the sense that the Blob is a "chosen one" sort in whcih said "in the know" animals recognise it as being able to change the system for the better. The kid toys as items gives a sense of childlike rejuvenation or rebirth for the world, enabling change. That's just one interpretation an you can likely look at things a bunch of different ways, while relating them to timeless human endevours.

[@WeekndWarriorrr]

Just wanna say I've really enjoyed your Animal Well videos. Keep making content on games you're passionate about even if it's not Anomal Well.

[@amigomorton5193]

3:32 Hold up. Since when did these two rooms have a little corridor between them? It's also opened on my File, so, what triggered it?

[@garyesposito4025]

The time capsule triggers it, but they think its a glitch

[@RobinsMusic]

@@garyesposito4025what time capsule

[@jeanrenne1436]

it overlaps where the blocks that you destroy when digging to the time capsule. Like their coordinates, because they are separate worlds. So it seems like they are destroyed as well.

[@kephalai]

this is an animal well channel now :D

[@jsnotlout3312]

Havent even played this, might as well watch a full lore video lol

[@cate01a]

with flight you can access the final secret, a message from the dev and others coudlnt you get the manticore to break the glass with its lasers?

[@nocapsbb]

I guess that's true, but you could also just use the manticore again to fly up there. Nowhere that ONLY the wings can be used. I didn't try to experiment with the manticore, but there have been talks about glass breaking in the discord server

[@matapavosgamer]

@@nocapsbb The manticore is too big to fit through the bunny temple in the sky, you NEED the moth form because you need to start from the room after the big bunny, won't spoil more if you're still looking to solve the secret by yourself (or with your community)

[@JamesTDG]

10:19 it's meant to only be accessible via cheating

[@nhlcbj]

I liked the part with the ostrich - Dunkey

[@pitivan3895]

5:01 The rocks are quiet because the trees are listening.

[@theoldblood3804]

This game really makes me think of bubble bobble for some reason...

[@simonwillover4175]

We already know that's in the submarine (weeks later). It is the cheat ring, which lets the player no-clip through walls.

[@pjams]

a secret has actually been found with flight! piecing together the unicode secrets found around the game into a map gives you another lost woods esque puzzle with a message from billy basso, furyforged has a great video abt the topic

[@nocapsbb]

Saw that! But I feel like it's not flight-specific since you could ride the manticore up there yoo

[@kangcantsleep]

much like the world being a never ending loop, i had the theory the game was that itself. something i don’t think i’ve seen brought up is the picture of the the blob in ~it’s own house~ basically, those are its toys it dropped down the well, it fell down it trying to get them, and (much like a flower bulb, which i always thought it was) it died until next season. forgot everything cause it died, start over fresh to find your toys, forget that’s why you’re really there, and fix the big issues.

[@815TypeSirius]

It only there were item descriptions Animal Well would have hour long lore videos.

[@dyaneulalyncastillo1416]

I have a theory on how to get to the other side of the glass wall near the kangaroo in the NW area of the map. The Manticore shoots out lazer that blows up glass walls right? I just thought that maybe we can lure themanticore there and have it blast lazer to break the glass waal

[@justsomeguy4422]

in my head canon the manticore is actually the lynx/bobcat. funnily when you take the manticore you hatch to the bunny dimension? theres already a manticore there. i know its weird to think, but i only say that cause i hoped so bad for a green manticore. funnily which happens to be the main thematic color in the bobcat/lynx room. while red and blue are on the sides. probably has 0 correlation to each other, but man it wouldve been neat to see RGB manticores.

[@wagsss]

9:05 it does have a use for one of the best secrets in the game that made me want to both laugh and cry :)

[@MaksOSTR]

Oh really ?

[@limehazard]

A lot of people seem to call it a Big Dog or a Ghost Dog, but has it been confirmed? Throughout the game I thought it was a giant ghost cat. What with a long tail and short ears. I thought it being in charge of Dog Zone was part of the deliberate irony.

[@zapuruxo]

billy basso has confirmed that it’s a dog in multiple interviews

[@CrimsonQuandary]

Would it be possible to get the manticore to the room with the glass to reach the "submarine" room?

[@nightmare4lol]

Tried, doesnt work

[@CrimsonQuandary]

@@nightmare4lol dang, thought I was being clever

[@yxnilI]

Very cool video!

[@omarelfakihperez4466]

Wait, there is a room above the sword fish with spikes that seem to only pe passable through flight, is there nothing there? (I haven't found all the bunnies)

[@josmo3997]

It's a legitimate puzzle. I got it using the disc and the item you get freeing the kittens.

[@omarelfakihperez4466]

@@josmo3997 you did? But the disc falls after touching the vines?

[@josmo3997]

The timing is insanely tight, but if you throw the disc right around the apex of your jump, you can ride the disc without bouncing it

[@Sbenbobb9]

Is there a way to get the manticore all the way up to the sub and use the laser eyes to break the glass?

[@hungryduckling1345]

I think the creator of the game said that the blob was something very specific but he didint say what it was

[@Pakaberto]

I believe in the submarine

[@zsofianemeth140]

this might be a stupid question, but I can't seem to find an answer anywhere. what foes BDTP stand for? Bunny dimension teleporter? 😅

[@maca9687]

On the start up screen when you come out of the pod. It pauses and waits for you to wake up yellow thing float down like notes to play

[@Tom-vn4uu]

Thank you

[@commentator098]

Ghost dog? I was convinced it was cat

[@matthewt8214]

This seems like one of the more debated topics in the game 😂

[@deadlydingus1138]

Dogs normally play with frisbees. The dog chases you when you take the frisbee.

[@theoldblood3804]

Yeah what cat do you know that plays with frisbees....

[@commentator098]

Is it playing with the frisbee? Or does it just want the frisbee back so that no dogs can have it. Again just my take In no way does it look like the ghost dogs from the statues. It looks far more like the other cats (lynxes) to me

[@jarci8346]

9:33 maybe this wall could be destroyed by a monster that shoots a laser (the one from the 65th egg that needs to be placed in the incubator)

[@nightmare4lol]

Tried, doesnt work

[@jarci8346]

@@nightmare4lol kzbin.info/www/bejne/jHu9oaqln8-GgZosi=5kzHC7HZtBbouo9M

[@DaBaconator8461]

The second manticore can break glass

[@marcelolamenzajr1499]

A pretty dumb question, but what does "Animal well" means?

[@Japuckle]

Well with animals in it

[@a-very-uncreative-handle]

its like how metroid was named metroid because it was the first metroidvania animal well is the first wellvania game

[@r1pperuk]

It's a play on Rabbit hole....get it.

[@marcelolamenzajr1499]

"Well" for me just translates to "good". Lol English is not my native language D:

[@xXBlaenXx]

@@marcelolamenzajr1499 In English, a well is a structure used to pull from ground water. Better described as a "water well" since well can also mean 'good' like you mentioned.

[@artlexes1474]

im just disapointed that the game wont recive more post end game content after you find some specific secrets (the islands)

[@ethanwalker7865]

I just beat the game and did a bunch of post game. not even two minutes into this video and there were soooo many spoilers i had to turn it off 😂 i guess i have to get back to exploring. love this game so much. now to figure out the clock and the skull puzzles.

[@Ross8k60]

Something is up with the glass walls. Can't wet use the manticores to destroy them? 🤔

[@DJCalliean]

Has anyone tried luring the manticore to that wall of glass blocking the submarine? The Manticore can break glass, can’t it?

[@jamesmac1009]

I just tried this and it wouldn't follow me there

[@DJCalliean]

@@jamesmac1009 Well, glad to know someone’s tried it at least!

[@jna_sh]

There’s two types of glass that are visually different, the manticore can only break one and it’s not that type

[@ishmaeldant40]

I love and hate this game, I love it because it's such a unique metroidvania style game, and I hate it because now it's over and I can't find anything like to scratch that itch I still have for it

[@GoldenCycloneGaming]

More please

[@Absolute_Zero27]

I think that you play as a rain frog

[@JeremyBX]

34 Megabyte game Ladies and gentlemen.

[@Walczyk]

4:18 that doesn’t make sense, humans can’t fit here.

[@chucknorris8783]

Why can a manticore not be taken there to destroy the glass with its laser eyes?

[@Jacobo-xt5hz]

once you start running the manticore around for a while it becomes very clear that there's 'regular glass' and 'manticore glass/clear glass,' which there is tragically very little of in the game

[@rogueishcharm]

They can't break regular glass, the breakable ones look slightly different

[@chucknorris8783]

@@rogueishcharm ahh got it. knew that would be too obvious lol

[@oliverarnold802]

two words Cheaters Ring!

[@Entertainment-gc2oi]

is the voice ai?

[@nocapsbb]

no.

[@Entertainment-gc2oi]

@@nocapsbb The audio sounds a bit compressed so it sounds like the stereotypical ai voices

[@phildathrill2000]

has nobody gotten into that room??? I know how, I just haven’t had the time to do another full run of the game.

[@Sm0k3turt]

This game is for mysterious sociopaths wtf

[@staggorath2377]

There 100% is a way to break the glass blocks scattered throughout the world, I dont know how, but I know there is definitely a way. My guess is that there is some huge secret puzzle towards unlocking this ability that will enable us seeing what else is hidden in this wild world

[@altusshow7574]

I know the manticores Lazer eyes break the glass at one point, but I don't know how to use that later.

[@staggorath2377]

@@altusshow7574 i feel like it is related to the manticores or some secret manticore powerup or item. Fun fact, Manticores can only break rounded glass, not the normal kind, so it would have to be something different entirely

[@pdg3513]

There is something you can get with the moth wings Jupiter climb showed it off in his 100% play through

[@nocapsbb]

Time capsule? Or something else?

[@sugar_worms]

@@nocapsbb its a chest in a room you can warp to with a giant bunny statue (down-right > down-left > down > left > up-left > left > up > up-left)

[@pdg3513]

​​​​​​​@@nocapsbb It is a pair of headphones and cassette tape with a message from Billy Dunky and others congratulating you on finding the tape and about the game. Jupiter Climb said its not 100% solved how to get it legit they brute forced it some how. All I know is you get it the same way you get to the final bunny shrine with the 2nd mantacore, but as a moth after you exit the big final bunny. As for how you find the code. All I know is for one part of it you can trap the Kangaroo in a specific pit and throw fire crackers at it. It will curse? At you I think in Wingdings or some code and that gives the one part of the directions. Other parts I do not know but I think are gotten in similar ways. From some of the other animals in weird ways that I do not know what they are or how to do them. Not all parts of the code have been found but apparently enough of it was to found to brute forced a solution. That's all I know there's 100% more but I don't know it.

[@pdg3513]

@@nocapsbb It is a pair of headphones and cassette tape that plays an audio message from Billy Dunky and a few other people involved with the game and it's development. The message is them congratulating you on finding the tape and talking about the game and it's development. All I know about this is in what was shown in Jupiter Climb's video. He said the solution for how to get the tape legitimately not been 100% found yet and the community brute forced a solution some how. As for how to get this secret. You get it in a similar way you get to the final bunny shrine with the 2nd mantacore. Only this time you start with the moth form the "exit" of the big bunny. As for the flight path code you fly. All I know is that for one part of it you can trap the kangaroo in a specific pit somewhere on map then if you thow firecrackers at while it's trapped. The kangaroo will "curse???" At you in I think Wingdings or some other code that gives you one part of the flight directions. As for the other parts of the code. I think you get them from some of the other animals in weird ways that I do not know what they are or how to do them, but I don't know for sure and the community is looking. All I know is not all parts of it have been found only some and JupiterClimb only showed one part. But apparently enough was found to brute force the solution. The is 100% more to this and possibly more after this but I do not know it.

[@pdg3513]

@@nocapsbb It is something else a pair of headphones and a cassette tape with an audio message from Billy Dunky and others congratulating you on finding the tape. You can watch Jupiter Climb's video to see how he got it it's super complicated. To the point where he said the true solution has not been fully found yet and the community brute forced the solution somehow.

[@alicepow260]

The player charact is a potato Reason 1. I want it to be

[@paexie]

I have no idea how folks keep saying the ghost chasing you is a dog. It's very obviously a cat. Like a chesire cat or that really scary cat from Hausu.

[@nocapsbb]

Because it is a dog, dev confirmed it a while ago

[@forr35t]

@@nocapsbb jif vs gif moment

[@diggory4ii385]

It is a very lovely cog

[@paexie]

@@nocapsbb Boy, that is some unconvincing dog, then.

[@dnsdbheh]

..i don't even know why i clicked on dis vid.. when she said "massive spoilers ahead", i had to x-out.. (ima reach the platin trophy first)

[@The_Cosmic_Yog-Sothoth]

I wish all Americans would *pause for breath at the end of a paragraph.* Your speech sounds maddeningly relentless otherwise.

[@nocapsbb]

That's funny because I've gotten a decent amount of comments telling me I speak too slowly. Can't please everyone 🤷‍♀️

[@The_Cosmic_Yog-Sothoth]

@@nocapsbb No. You're not speaking too quickly or slowly, it's the lack of stopping at any point that makes it relentless and hard to listen to. It's not just you who has this problem lol. I find many Americans hard to listen to for this same reason.

[@d3lta_p]

This is an insane comment.

[@The_Cosmic_Yog-Sothoth]

@@d3lta_p I'm just pointing out what I'm hearing.

[@FelipeKana1]

People, don't try finding logic or connections in stuff there isn't. Gonna make you people mad

[@Walczyk]

this all sounds like non canon to me

[@trevorgrover5619]

I wonder if we have to use the wings for a crazy 'the floor is lava' challenge somewhere.

[@jna_sh]

Periscopes Up 🫡