one thing I really appreciated about Animal Well: it's a metroidvania where none of the upgrades are obvious
I feel like basically every game in that genre has a bunch of clearly-telegraphed locks, like you get to a room that has a ledge that's exactly one block higher than you can jump and you're like "oh I'll come back when I get either The Ledge Grab Ability or the Double Jump Ability". or like the uncrossable pit with a bunch of Grapple Points arranged in a line above it. I've played too many of these games and now they all look the same
all the items in animal well are Weird Shit. they all interact with the world in unexpected, non-obvious ways. there's plenty of locks, but you're never able to guess what the keys will be before you obtain them. it's cool!