Just when you think you’re nearing the end ofAnimal Well, obtaining your inventory upgrades and besting the Manticore puzzle to reach the final credits, a door opens on the side of the room and ushers you into even more content than before.

Animal Well is a combat-free Metroidvania that begs you to think creatively and solve some mind-bending puzzles (ones you might not even realizearepuzzles, even), but the fun has to come to an end sometime. There are three “layers” to Animal Well, and what starts simply enough leads to you unraveling one heck of a riddle.

manticore’s eye lasers in animal well puzzle

We’ll be doing our best to spoil as little of the endings themselves as we can, as Animal Well is best experienced knowing as little as you can!

First Ending: Rolling The Credits

The first layer of Animal Well is the one you begin playing the game in, when youknow nothing about the worldand need to explore this creepy cavern to find your inventory items, solve puzzles, and graduallycollect all four of the flamesscattered around the map.

The tools you’ll need to collect before being able to proceed toward the first ending are the ones you use to navigate the overworld and solve your puzzles:

the first puzzle with the lantern in animal well

Once you have all your tools, and you’ve bested the four main bosses tolight all four beacons in the main roomat the bottom of the well, jump down into the new passageway that opens beneath you. Here, you’ll face another lengthy puzzle that rewards you with your last upgrade for this layer,the Lantern, which lets you dispel spirit clusters and see in the dark.

You won’t be able to feel this invincible for long, though, since the boss of Animal Well’s first layer,the Manticore, stands between you and the end credits. It’s a tricky, time-sensitive puzzle that sees you displaying mastery of all your tools and the things you’ve learned so far.

the top of the well in animal well with all the animals

After solving the Manticore puzzle, you’ll descend into a large, open area.Hit the TNTat the bottom of the room to start a fireworks show asthe credits roll. Congrats on reaching the first ending of Animal Well!

Except, if you’d like, the game isn’t over just because you saw the credits.Walk into the room on the rightto continue into the next layer.

The player playing the Animal Flute while standing in the upper warp hub in Animal Well.

Second Ending: Going Back Into The Well

Just when you thought you were out, Animal Well pulls you right back in.Explore the houseyou’ve just unlocked, and you’ll notice several things around the area. There’s atelevisionin the main room below alocked door, an enormousclockin the next room just above thetimer under the stairs(which logs your playtime), anominous black statueyou can’t interact with yet, and alarge openingin the furthest room.

To proceed into the second layer of Animal Well,jump into the opening(after using your Lantern to get past the white bird blocking your path). You’ll find yourself someplace rather familiar - theroom with the four beaconsyou lit to unlock the area leading to the Manticore fight, which asks more questions than it answers.

the disc at the end of animal well

Welcome to thesecond layer of Animal Well, which tasks you withre-exploring the same map in different ways, now that you know much more about it than when you started.

There are several things to do to get started on exploring the second layer, including:

entrance of the house in animal well

This layer concludes after you’vecollected every egg.

True Ending: Escaping The Well

Hopefully you’ve been side-barring your main adventure tocollect the eggsyou’ve noticed around the map so far in Animal Well, because to unlock the game’s true ending and finally escape the well, you’ll first need tofind and collect all 64 eggsfrom the map.

Check your map often and look forodd openings in the walls of rooms you’ve been to already. There are plenty of eggs hidden in ways that you can’t access until later in the game, so always double-check. You can alsouse the remote to sense hidden eggs in the current room.

You’ll likely have found several of the eggs naturally as you explore the map in Animal Well, but some of them are particularly well-hidden. Regardless, if you’d like to see Animal Well’s true ending, grab all 64 eggs andgo to the egg room once you’ve got them all.

Here, you’ll receiveegg number 65as a reward for all your hard work so far. Once you’ve gotten the egg,return to the Manticore puzzlearea and use your UV light to find aroom of the left in the top-left roomfrom the puzzle. Inside, you’ll find anIncubator, so place egg 65 in and prepare for asecond Manticore puzzle.

It seems tougher than it is, if you keep a level head. Go back to theroom with one whale fananduse the Top next to the Firecrackerin the top corner. This unveils a hidden platform, souse the Wheel to lower the Manticore platformyou see here. Nothing happens in the current room, though, sohead back to the incubator.

Have the Manticore destroy the false wall on the leftto unlock a new room. Use the Remote and B. Ball to break through this next section, andplay your Flute at the altar. The Manticore will open its mouth so you’re able to hop inside. We won’t give anything away, but after all yourhours of hard workand puzzle-solving, this is where you’ll seeAnimal Well’s true ending!