Putting the animal in AI
Computers have always been animal wells, in a sense.
Animal Well has more friction than you might expect from a game without combat or killing, then.
But Animal Well stops well short of being a grind.
Some of these late-game revelations put me in mind of Polytron’sFez.
Again, I don’t want to give too much away.
These are openly videogame animals, rather than attempts at simulating a flesh-and-blood critter.
They form a spectrum of naturalism into daydream.
Others are little animated portraits, like the vast capybara you see lounging in the background.
Howshouldwe feel about them?
Mixed, I guess.
Pleasantly on-edge, perhaps.
Playing Animal Well reminded me strongly of John Berger’s old 1977 essay “Why Look At Animals?
“They are the objects of our ever-extending knowledge,” he writes.
The more we know, the further away they are.”
Above all, the game’s confusing, hybrid creatureliness comes across in how these animals sound.
This review is based on a copy of the game provided by the developer.
