How long does it take to beat Animal Well?

Whether you’re intent on completing Animal Well at a regular pace, doing a speed run, or fancy a completionist effort, we have all the info on how long is required to beat the unique Metroidvania.

Animal Well comes from the mind of developer Billy Basso and adds a charming new entry to the legendary Metroidvania storybook. This artsy hearty title offers a new take on the genre with an animal-themed presentation, wrapped up in a tough but testing puzzling package—a package with hours of content to explore.

Even though its map isn’t the biggest, its density is its biggest strength and part of the reason Animal Well has earned rave reviews.

How long is Animal Well?

A typical playthrough of Animal Well should take in the region of six hours—and this is if you’re taking your time with Animal Well and discovering some secrets along the way.

This is about standard for a Metroidvania title, with other shining examples being Metroid: Dread, and this means you can have plenty of bang for your buck without Animal Well outstaying its welcome.

But if you want your buck to stretch as far as possible, a completionist approach is upwards of 10 hours, moving closer to 15 hours. Again, a typical playtime window in the genre and elements of backtracking and collectible finding help to pad out the runtime and give you more incentive to discover Animal Well’s furthest reaches.

Finally, using TechRaptor as an indicator, speed runs of Animal Well clock in at sub-30 minutes. As always, expect the community to learn advanced tricks and tidbits that help chip away at the world record, and I expect 20 to 25 minutes—and better—to creep in.

In the meantime, check out how to get past the first Ghost in Animal Well, the title’s full trophy list, and if the title is on the Nintendo Switch.