Well Dweller review: Kyle Thompson does it again
When i first saw Well Dweller on Game Pass, i sarcastically thought, oh great, another side scrolling roguelike. But then i noticed the magic words, "from the creators of Crypt Custodian", and cue the "son of a bitch, i'm in" meme.
Crypt Custodian was a game i kind of downloaded on a whim one day and ended up loving, so much so that i have all but one achievement in it. i had such a good time with it that it earned Well Dweller the right to a play. And if you played Crypt Custodian too, you'll feel a familiar vibe here: that same dark yet cosy atmosphere, beautiful music, and a sort of dry, on-the-nose comedy.
That's because it's made by the very same Thompson brothers. Kyle Thompson develops solo, and this is his fourth game after Sheepo, Islets and Crypt Custodian, with his brother Eric back on music and Top Hat Studios publishing again. It launched on September 22nd across PC, Switch, Switch 2, PS5 and Xbox, landing on Game Pass day one. One thing Crypt Custodian fans should know going in: after that game's top-down view, Thompson's gone back to 2D side-scrolling for this one.
To begin, the rundown of the world. Well Dweller isn't a roguelike at all, it's a metroidvania following a small bird called Glimmer, who lives at the bottom of a well in a kingdom where birds were hunted to near extinction. Armed with a lit matchstick, he sets out to rescue his siblings from the queen of the realm, who intends to turn them into a royal gown, Cruella de Vil style. It starts humbly enough, pinching food from a local hunter's cabin, but before long you reach the castle gates, only to learn you'll need seven golden feathers to get inside. And so the hunt across the kingdom begins, battling monsters and creatures while befriending the other hard-done-by animals of the realm. It's a very similar telling to Crypt Custodian, which was very welcome.
“The matchstick is the star of the show. It's your weapon, and it creatively doubles as your health bar”
And that matchstick is the star of the show. It's your weapon, and it creatively doubles as your health bar, with the flame on its tip showing how much you've got left. Later, with the slingshot, it becomes a projectile, and when it sticks into a wall it turns into a springboard you can bounce off to reach higher ledges. One little tool doing four jobs is a clever bit of design.
The art, as i've come to expect from Thompson, is in his signature eerily beautiful hand drawn style. Glimmer is a tiny bird in a human world, so that world looms in the background while you scurry through its underbelly, fending off creepy dolls, fish men and angry flowers. And i may be wrong, but the grass statues dotted around the map backgrounds, some of which are destructible, are very similar to those in Crypt Custodian. It felt like an intentional nod, a fingerprint of Thompson's style, and made me feel like i'd been here before in a good way. Much like Crypt Custodian, Well Dweller has a magical way of contrasting heartwarming comedy with its dreary, dark setting.
“Gameplay is in the classic metroidvania style, so if you've played a hack 'n' slash side-scroller before, you'll pick it up quickly. “
Gameplay is in the classic metroidvania style, so if you've played a hack 'n' slash side-scroller before, you'll pick it up quickly. Glimmer starts out small, but over time he picks up climbing with a stamina meter, wall jumps, hovering, riding wind currents, and a flaming vessel, essentially a little molotov cocktail you charge up by landing hits. He even builds speed the longer he runs, which some jumps depend on. The simplicity of the combat lets the art, music and storytelling shine through more, but those of you expecting groundbreaking combat won't find it here.
The real build-crafting comes from trinkets. Because Glimmer's a bird in a human world, they're everyday human bits and bobs, a bent fork, a bottle cap, a thimble, a melted candle, each granting a buff or tweaking one of your abilities. If you've played Hollow Knight, think charms: limited slots, mix and match, and upgrade the ones you love with tokens. Your health never grows, so trinkets are how Glimmer gets tougher. You can hunt them down across the map, or buy them, along with extra slots, from Looter, an animated doll merchant who sets up shop in the save tents.
“Certain trinkets reveal secret walls, and if combing every room sounds like a chore, a merchant in the save tent will mark what you've missed.”
There are also collectables throughout the game that give you reason to return to previous biomes, in the form of trinkets, spirits, tokens and story pages. Thankfully the map is generous. Certain trinkets reveal secret walls, and if combing every room sounds like a chore, a merchant in the save tent will mark what you've missed. Then there are the optional time trials, short platforming challenges that lock some of those rewards behind doors.
The story, as mentioned, balances heartbreaking and heartwarming, and the eccentric characters you meet along the way act as little boosts to player morale as the otherwise dark fable unfolds.
Is it worth it?
Well Dweller is a must play for fans of metroidvanias, lovers of hand drawn art, and anyone who enjoyed Crypt Custodian. Its beautiful, dark fable storytelling and its heartbreaking and heartwarming moments will hook you, and it's on Game Pass, so there's no excuse.
Reviewed on Xbox Series X. ~11 hours played. Played via Xbox Game Pass subscription.
