Animal Well is a tiny download that hides an astonishing amount of game. This atmospheric pixel-art Metroidvania has no real combat and barely any text, yet it is packed with secrets so deep the community is still uncovering them. You explore a mysterious underground world, solve environmental puzzles, and slowly realize how little the game ever told you. If you have chased its secrets and want more games that hit the same notes, this list is for you.
These 15 picks each capture part of what makes Animal Well special: dense secret-hunting, atmospheric exploration, or puzzles you solve by experimenting. No filler, no loose “Metroidvania” tag-alongs.
Quick Comparison: Top 5 Picks
| # | Game | Type | Price | Platforms |
| 1 | Tunic | Adventure Puzzle | $29.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 2 | Fez | Puzzle Platformer | $9.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 3 | Hollow Knight | Metroidvania | $14.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 4 | Outer Wilds | Mystery | $24.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 5 | Rain World | Survival Metroidvania | $29.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
1. Tunic
Why it’s similar
Mystery-driven exploration and hidden secrets that reward curiosity and discovering mechanics yourself, Animal Well’s closest cousin.
What makes it unique
An in-game manual written in a fictional language means real progress comes from decoding its pages.
Key features
- In-game manual mystery
- Hidden secrets
- Isometric adventure
- Fictional-language decoding
Price: $29.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
2. Fez
Why it’s similar
A puzzle-focused adventure with hidden layers, secret codes, exploration, and world manipulation.
What makes it unique
Rotating a 2D world into 3D perspectives reveals paths, and its deepest secrets ask you to decode a language.
Key features
- Perspective-shift puzzles
- Hidden language
- Layered secrets
- Relaxing exploration
Price: $9.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
3. Hollow Knight
Why it’s similar
An interconnected world full of discoveries, with exploration, secrets, and atmospheric design.
What makes it unique
Its huge, moody Metroidvania map hides secrets in nearly every corner of Hallownest.
Key features
- Metroidvania exploration
- Nail-based combat
- Atmospheric world
- Free DLC content
Price: $14.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
4. Outer Wilds
Why it’s similar
Knowledge-based progression and mystery solving, where progress comes from understanding the world.
What makes it unique
A 22-minute time loop across a hand-crafted solar system, where only your knowledge carries forward.
Key features
- Time-loop exploration
- Knowledge progression
- Hand-crafted solar system
- Echoes of the Eye DLC
Price: $24.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
5. Rain World
Why it’s similar
A strange ecosystem with minimal guidance, built on exploration, survival, and environmental storytelling.
What makes it unique
Predators and prey follow their own AI routines, so the living world reacts around you rather than to you.
Key features
- Living ecosystem
- Survival exploration
- Minimal hand-holding
- Multiple campaigns
Price: $29.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
6. La-Mulana 2
Why it’s similar
Complex ruins filled with puzzles that require observation and solving hidden mysteries, a brutal secret-hunter’s dream.
What makes it unique
Fiendishly cryptic tablet puzzles demand real note-taking, rewarding only the most dedicated explorers.
Key features
- Cryptic ruin puzzles
- Metroidvania exploration
- Note-taking depth
- Hidden mysteries
Price: $24.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
7. The Witness
Why it’s similar
A puzzle island built around discovery, where you learn the rules naturally through exploration.
What makes it unique
Hundreds of panel puzzles teach a visual language, and the environment hides even deeper secrets.
Key features
- Open-world puzzles
- Learn-by-doing design
- Environmental secrets
- Hundreds of panels
Price: $39.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
8. Environmental Station Alpha
Why it’s similar
Metroidvania exploration with hidden secrets, upgrades, puzzles, and mysterious areas, an underrated secret-heavy gem.
What makes it unique
A retro pixel style hides a famously deep post-game full of community-cracked secrets.
Key features
- Metroidvania upgrades
- Deep post-game secrets
- Retro pixel style
- Mysterious world
Price: $9.99 Platforms: PC
Where to Buy
Available on Steam.
9. Axiom Verge
Why it’s similar
Classic Metroid-style exploration with strange world design and ability progression.
What makes it unique
A glitch weapon corrupts enemies and terrain, turning bugs into intentional exploration tools.
Key features
- Metroid-style exploration
- Glitch corruption weapon
- Ability progression
- Retro sci-fi world
Price: $19.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
10. Cave Story+
Why it’s similar
An exploration-focused indie adventure with secrets, upgrades, and memorable characters, a genre classic.
What makes it unique
One of the most influential solo-made indies ever, it hides multiple endings and a punishing secret area.
Key features
- Metroidvania exploration
- Multiple endings
- Hidden hard mode
- Beloved characters
Price: $14.99 Platforms: PC, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
11. Baba Is You
Why it’s similar
A puzzle game based on experimentation, creative problem-solving, and hidden logic, close to Animal Well’s “figure it out” spirit.
What makes it unique
You rearrange the rule-words themselves, rewriting how each level works to solve it.
Key features
- Rule-rewriting puzzles
- Creative solutions
- Hundreds of levels
- Hidden secret levels
Price: $14.99 Platforms: PC, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
12. Chants of Sennaar
Why it’s similar
A discovery-focused puzzle adventure where you learn languages and uncover hidden systems.
What makes it unique
You decode multiple languages by context and deduction to reunite peoples divided by a tower.
Key features
- Language decoding
- Deduction puzzles
- Beautiful art style
- Tower of Babel themes
Price: $19.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
13. The Talos Principle 2
Why it’s similar
Large-scale puzzle solving wrapped in mystery, philosophy, and exploration.
What makes it unique
Ambitious environmental puzzles sit inside a thoughtful story about consciousness and humanity’s future.
Key features
- Environmental puzzles
- Philosophical story
- Large explorable areas
- Hidden extras
Price: $29.99 Platforms: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
14. VVVVVV
Why it’s similar
Minimalist platforming with exploration, secrets, challenges, and a retro design.
What makes it unique
You flip gravity instead of jumping, and the whole game hides trinkets across a compact map.
Key features
- Gravity-flip platforming
- Retro design
- Hidden trinkets
- Challenging levels
Price: $9.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
15. Celeste
Why it’s similar
Precision platforming with hidden challenges, secrets, collectibles, and deeply rewarding mastery.
What makes it unique
A mountain-climb narrative about mental health pairs tight platforming with optional, brutal B-side levels.
Key features
- Precision platforming
- Hidden strawberries
- Mental-health themes
- Assist mode accessibility
Price: $19.99 Platforms: PC, PS, Xbox, Switch
Where to Buy
Available on Green Man Gaming and Steam.
Full Comparison Table
| # | Game | Type | Price | Platforms |
| 1 | Tunic | Adventure Puzzle | $29.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 2 | Fez | Puzzle Platformer | $9.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 3 | Hollow Knight | Metroidvania | $14.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 4 | Outer Wilds | Mystery | $24.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 5 | Rain World | Survival Metroidvania | $29.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 6 | La-Mulana 2 | Puzzle Metroidvania | $24.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 7 | The Witness | Puzzle | $39.99 | PC, PS, Xbox |
| 8 | Axiom Verge | Metroidvania | $19.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 9 | Cave Story+ | Metroidvania | $14.99 | PC, Switch |
| 10 | Chants of Sennaar | Puzzle | $19.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 11 | Baba Is You | Puzzle | $14.99 | PC, Switch |
| 12 | The Talos Principle 2 | Puzzle | $29.99 | PC, PS5, Xbox |
| 13 | Celeste | Platformer | $19.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 14 | VVVVVV | Platformer | $9.99 | PC, PS, Xbox, Switch |
| 15 | Environmental Station Alpha | Metroidvania | $9.99 | PC |
Conclusion
Animal Well fans have plenty of directions depending on what hooked them. Want more secret-hunting exploration? Tunic, Fez, and Environmental Station Alpha bury discoveries under discoveries. Craving atmospheric Metroidvanias? Hollow Knight, Rain World, Axiom Verge, and Cave Story+ deliver worlds worth mapping.
Here for clever puzzles? Outer Wilds, The Witness, Baba Is You, Chants of Sennaar, and The Talos Principle 2 make you learn the rules yourself. And if precision platforming is the draw, La-Mulana 2, Celeste, and VVVVVV test your skill and patience. Every game here earned its spot through real exploration or puzzle craft, not just a “secrets” tag.
Read More Like This!
15 Games Like Tunic You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Outer Wilds You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Hogwarts Legacy You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (2026 Guide)
15 Games Like Hollow Knight: Silksong You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Inscryption You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Borderlands 4 You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Subnautica 2 You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Fallout 4 You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Coffee Talk Tokyo You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like 007 First Light You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Oblivion Remastered You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Cyberpunk 2077 You Need to Play in 2026
15 Games Like Cult of the Lamb You Need to Play in 2026