Lore
Watch your step! This section contains spoilers.
While the story of the Animal Well is fairly ambiguous, there are several concrete in-game elements that spark curiosity about it's world and may be attributed to its broader story and themes.
Premise
Explore a dense, interconnected labyrinth, and unravel its many secrets. Collect items to manipulate your environment in surprising and meaningful ways. Encounter beautiful and unsettling creatures, as you attempt to survive what lurks in the dark. There is more than what you see.
– Official Steam description[1]
In-Game
In-Game Events
The Jumping Bean hatches from a flower bud. They explore the The Well. They discover four flames across the well protected by respective guardians. They place the flames within pillars representing the guardians. The deepest portion of the well is opened. The Jumping Bean unlocks a chamber containing a Manticore. The Jumping Bean lights a fireworks display, vanquishing the Manticore. (see Endings for alternatives.)
UV Paintings
- See also: UV Paintings
Out-of-Game
Developer Comments
Press
ARG
Speculation
Dogs are very possessive of their discs, even beyond death.
Mice have seemingly imprisoned wild cats, the Ostriches are complicit? It seems like all the mice died, possibly hunted to extinction by the great Wild Cat.
The Chameleon doesn't like eating hedgehogs because they are spiny. They also don't like Chinchillas and spit them out.
The Manticore was sealed underground and is seemingly related to the aggressive and passive blue ghosts. It can be unsealed by gathering the four flames and lighting the four animal lamps at the momument. Lighting the lamps (or obtaining the flames) seems to weaken the seal as more passive blue ghosts start to appear. The Manticore and blue ghosts are very weak to bright sources of light.