Kyle Thompson has become one of the most consistent indie developers in the metroidvania genre. His most recent game, Well Dweller, has a significantly darker tone than Islets, with a rather macabre take on the traditional fairy tale. Playing as Glimmer, a tiny bird, he must defeat the evil queen to save his family. By itself, standard fare, but what sets Well Dweller apart is the lore, told through found pages, letters in mailboxes, and a quirky, casual sense of humour naturally woven into the dialogue and hilariously nonsensical Charlie Brown-like vocalisations of every NPC. It adds a certain light-hearted nature to the otherwise grim main story.
Well Dweller offers plenty of tools to help navigate the main story while also tracking down everything needed for 100% completion. It’s a breath of fresh air in a genre that sometimes revels in being cryptic. It strikes an excellent balance between discovery and giving hints to players who want to be sure they’ve been through enough. For a small price, the game will locate trinkets, trinket slots, spirits, pages, and tokens in rooms you’ve already visited. You can engage with this system as much as needed, or not at all. With so many collectables, though – often seen but just out of reach – it makes finding the next movement upgrades rewarding. Rather than relying on the usual double jump, the matchstick remains the central focus of Glimmer’s movement upgrades, expanding where he can go, with occasional increases to his flight time as well.
Being able to warp to any save point at any time makes travelling a breeze, helping Well Dweller maintain a brisk pace and ensuring backtracking is never burdensome. The map fills in as you go and, though large, is colour-coded and easy to read. While the map markers are basic, there are plenty of them, and they stand out enough on the map to be helpful. An up arrow, for instance, can signify something just out of reach. If a boss is proving too difficult, an X can be placed on its location as a reminder to return later, perhaps after finding new items to strengthen Glimmer.
HP, represented by a feather in the top left of the screen, remains unchanged for the duration of the game, so trinkets are the main way to aid in survivability and improve strength. Some can be purchased at the tent, but most are found around the map. They range in use from lessening spike damage to lengthening attacks to showing hidden rooms and beyond. Each trinket costs a set number of trinket slots, which can be found around the map or purchased at tents for just 250 of the game’s currency. For those who want to grind from time to time, it’s possible to always have enough slots available to equip every trinket, since more than enough (99) slots are sold.
Spirits, represented by small grey statues, are scattered around the map, usually in hard-to-reach places. Once a statue is broken, rewards can be retrieved at a unique location near the centre of the map. Rewards range from currency to trinkets and trinket slots.
Fairly early into the game, the option to strengthen trinkets is introduced. These upgrades require a small amount of currency, usually 100-400, as well as one crafting token. Again, it’s possible to increase Glimmer’s attack power early to aid in cutting through boss HP totals in a hurry. Well Dweller offers a lower-moderate to moderate level of challenge, with a few minor difficulty spikes in some of the platforming obstacles and notable bosses. Unfortunately, while there are plenty of bosses, their movesets feel too similar.
Combat is basic, with a matchstick for slashing and flame bottles for throwing being the extent of the offensive options, but it is the perfect example of less being more. Mastering Glimmer’s slide is the most important aspect of surviving the hardest battles, especially learning to plan around the required cooldown between uses.
A handful of chase scenes, reminiscent of Ori, and even a stealth portion, add some variety to exploration. A notable issue with chase scenes in games, rubber banding (where performing too efficiently seems to speed up the pursuer unnaturally to keep the pressure on), isn’t an issue here.
Perhaps the hardest part of Well Dweller is the optional time trials. In this playthrough, one was completed with 0.05 seconds to spare, so clean, efficient movement through each level is paramount to success. Thankfully, controls are silky smooth, partially because of Glimmer’s lengthy slide, and the trials themselves never extend past 30 seconds. Still, they punish even slight mistakes pretty severely but can be reset at any time if one is made.
Entering the menu offers several assist options, such as adding a second or more to the time limit, increasing attack strength, or decreasing damage received. However, the defaults should suffice for even casual fans of the genre.
Interestingly enough, Kyle’s brother, Eric, worked on the soundtrack, which has that same ambient, downtempo vibe fans of his games have become accustomed to. If anything, it runs the risk of lulling gamers to sleep, though it is profoundly beautiful somehow too, and helps to add to the atmosphere. Visually, Well Dweller resembles Islets, with familiar assets repurposed in creative ways and a more sombre aesthetic. In fact, a few of the bosses are downright grotesque. For a game that should take around 14-18 hours blind, there is plenty of diversity among the biomes and enemies.
On Nintendo Switch, Well Dweller runs perfectly fine without any bugs, graphical glitches, crashes, or other issues. Simply put, Well Dweller is a lot of fun to play, with plenty of moments where players will love what they are experiencing. Sometimes a game doesn’t need to innovate to be a great time and Well Dweller is an excellent example of that.
