The latest title from Kyle Thompson, developer of popular graveyard keeping, the Crypt Custodian and Islets, has arrived in the form of Well Dweller, a gorgeous looking Metroidvania.

Is this title worth your time, or has it gone to the birds?

Well, Wouldn’t You?

Well Dweller sees you take on the role of Glimmer, our feathery friend who appears to be the oldest child in a family of avians. They all live together in an old skull at the bottom of the titular well. They must hide, and tread carefully, as the evil Queen of the land hunts down birds to add their feathers to her royal gown. Glimmer and family are the last of the birds, and they must do what they can to survive.

With your mother weakened, she asks you to head to the Hunter’s cabin nearby to swipe some scraps of food while he naps after his latest feast. It’s on your return from your quest, berries in hand, that we find the hunter has followed you back and snatches up Glimmer’s mother and siblings. Glimmer narrowly escaping through the bottom of the well, setting out on the beginning of an adventure.

What follows is a 15 or so hour escapade through a treacherous world, seeking to find your family, meet new friends and rescue your mother from the clutches of the evil Queen by seeking out seven golden feathers scattered across the game’s worlds.

The Well Runs Deep

I loved working through the story of Well Dweller. The story is told through dialogue between characters, including Glimmer (a nice surprise, for some reason I expected a silent protagonist). Even though the dialogue is text and Banjo-Kazooie-esque noises, there was still a lot of character conveyed. From the infantile, Egbert, who is impatient, playful and overly confident in their ability to take on threats, to Thistle and Thimble, the twins who love to play together.

You’ll also meet a variety of characters along the way, some good, like Looter whose penchant for swiping shiny treasures gets them into a whole load of trouble. Then of course, there’s some deliciously sinister looking characters too, the bosses in particular are designed to convey their malicious intent so well. Everything is animated and illustrated so beautifully, it’s a joy to look at.

Additional lore is added through finding the Story Page collectibles. These tell three different stories via illustrated images and text. I found myself wanting to grab them all (not just because they net you an achievement or two), but because I wanted to flesh out as much of the tales as I could.

Well Begun is Half Done

If you’ve played a Metroidvania before, Well Dweller, will certainly feel familiar. You start off with a set of basic abilities, limiting where you can explore and reach over the game’s expansive map. As you explore, you’ll unlock new abilities that unlock access to more areas and strengthen your arsenal.

What I like about Well Dweller is how much the new upgrades and abilities ‘suit’ the main character. You’re not just acquiring random pieces of equipment, you unlock innate abilities that make sense for Glimmer’s character, or that expand the abilities of your main weapon. These abilities are often unlocked by discovering nests with eggs resting in them, you get transported to an ethereal place where you acquire and test out said ability in a mini tutorial to skill you up and unlock the new possibilities now available to you.

Alive and Well

Eventually, you’ll be gliding, bouncing, climbing and soaring across the map. The controls are really satisfying and handling Glimmer is a dream. Between exploration and combat, it flows really well and you’ll come a cropper if you mess up, rather than something being wrong with the game. And boy, is it satisfying as you reach that collectible that was seemingly unavailable earlier in the game.

And you should absolutely be seeking out all the hidden goodies you can. The world of Well Dweller is littered with upgrade tokens, trinkets that give you new abilities and buffs, trinket slots that gives you the ability to hold more trinkets! You’ll need to seek out as many of these as possible to give you the best chance of survival. Naturally, some won’t be reachable until you’ve progressed further into the game and unlocked the ability to reach them.

A Buck Well Spent

I don’t think I’ve played a Metroidvania since last year’s Possessor(s), and I loved my time with it but did find myself slightly irked by the tracking of progress. It wasn’t till updates that arrived later that gave you any sense of how you were doing in terms of clearing the map and finding all there is to find. Thankfully, Well Dweller is excellent at helping you keep track on what you’ve found.

Not necessarily on the map though, you don’t get an indication of how much of the map is completed, like in Possessor(s). Although you can leave markers on the map yourself as reminders to yourself, which is also very helpful.

You regularly find tents; these are you save spots in the game. You can enter the tent and visit the shop, upgrade your trinkets and unlock locations on the map. Once you’ve been to an area, if you’ve missed something, you can spend a small amount of the game’s currency to reveal a location on the map for any collectibles you might have missed. I thought this was great and gave the option to make life easier for yourself if you were really struggling to hunt down those last collectibles.

It’s a small quality of life feature that you can chose to use but ignore entirely if you’d rather seek out those collectibles yourself. More games should give you this option for those who’d like to get the 100% without spending a whole load of time looking in the wrong places. Especially when the map is as extensive as Well Dweller’s.

That’s All Well and Good

There is a great deal of variety in the environments you’ll be exploring in Well Dweller. From the opening area of the Night Garden to the eerie Desiccated Castle, and the oranges and reds of the Autumn Forest, each area of the game has its own unique look, feel, environments and enemies to content with.

Each area usually has some unique gameplay mechanics to bring variety to the game. The aforementioned Autumn Forest introduces a puzzle mechanic where you need to bounce an orb between stone pillars, hitting them all in one go to progress, for example. Exploring the sea drenched area of The Docks, leads you to find a submersible you can take to The Deep area for some underwater exploring. None of it feels gimmicky, or out of place and keeps the gameplay fresh.

The same can be said for the enemy variety. Each area has its own inhabitants, all with different designs and attacks. Even if you spot an enemy that looks similar, how they attack is likely to be different, keeping you on your toes.

Living Well is the Best Revenge

Glimmer starts the game equipped with a matchstick; this is your main piece of equipment, a weapon, and a tool to explore. Your health is visually represented in the strength of the flame, alongside the health bar at the top of the screen. It’s a nice touch, meaning you can stay focused on Glimmer without darting to the top corner in the midst of battle.

Combat flows really well, X (Xbox controller) attacks with your matchstick, B is your flaming vessel throwable, and you’ll be dodging with the right bumper, in between the jumping and climbing you’ll find yourself doing in the midst of battle. It all works really well, and combined with a variety of your trinket abilities gives you different builds to play with.

Ne’er Do Well

Enemies hit pretty hard, and you only take several hits before your down and out. You do get access to oil lanterns that restore your health, but you only ever get two at most, and there aren’t any trinkets / upgrades that buff your health. I was a bit concerned that the game was going to be a bit tough, but Well Dweller manages to strike a great balance of challenge whilst not being punishing. Yes, you’ll die, and take several hits, but you aren’t ever too far from a save point.

Similarly, the bosses might feel ridiculous to start with, but after a few tries, you’ll learn their attack patterns and learn how to take them on better. This left me feeling a great sense of accomplishment when taking down a boss, or a sigh of relief when I scrapped through with a sliver of health left. Especially when you remember you’ve got some throwable fire vessels that you can use too!

Well Endowed

The trinkets are what you’ll be hoping to find plenty of as you explore. There’s over 30 to find and they give you a variety of buffs and new abilities. Some help with exploration, such as revealing hidden passages, or indicating when a collectible is in the same room as you, others give you protection while you try to heal or increase your attack power in different contexts, like having full health. You can upgrade some of these at the tent using Workshop Tokens and some of your hard-earned currency.

You can also buy some from Looter’s shop in the tent alongside additional trinket slots. Most trinkets take up multiple slots, so you’ll want to acquire as many slots as you can. They really do make a difference and are well-worth having to hand. Struggling with a boss? Try switching up your trinkets and seeing if they make a difference. It’s great that there’s a way to mix up your approach, so it never feels like you’re properly stuck.

Might As Well

There’s plenty to keep you busy in Well Dweller. Not only is there an array of collectibles to find through exploration, there’s a secret extra objective once you complete the game. There’s also a number of time trials scattered throughout the game to challenge you platforming skills. Combat challenges give you the chance to score some additional currency by taking out a number of enemies without getting hit. And, there are three difficulty options if you fancy giving yourself a challenge.

All’s Well That Ends Well

Well Dweller is a joy to play from start to finish. From its beautiful and varied landscapes, sinister bosses, ambient music, to its excellent gameplay mechanics and character designs, you’ll have a hard time putting it down. A Metroidvania that could, and should, be held up as an example of what games from the genre should be.

Well Dweller was reviewed on Xbox Series X. Gamer Social Club would like to thank Top Hat Studios for the review code.

Well Dweller releases on 22 September 2026. It will be available on PC, PS5, Switch 2 and Xbox Series consoles. It will also release day one on Xbox Game Pass.

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Well Dweller Guides

• Well Dweller Achievement / Trophy List
• Beginner’s Guide
• Find the Elevator Parts in The Drains
• Extend Your Flight Time in The Lookout Tower, Feather Locations
• Solve the Orb & Pillar Puzzles guide in the Autumn Forest
• Find the Gate Stones in The Docks
• Find Ilda’s Siblings in the Queen’s Castle
• Unlock the “Bouncing Bottles” achievement / trophy guide
• Unlock the “Snatched Up” achievement / trophy guide
• Unlock the “A Warm File” achievement / trophy guide
• Unlock the “Hide and Seek” achievement / trophy guide
• Unlock the “Taking a Break” achievement / trophy guide
• Unlock “The King’s Cap” achievement / trophy guide
• Unlock the Golden Gates and the “Stitched Up” achievement / trophy guide
• Unlock the “Late Night Guest” achievement / trophy guide
• Unlock the “Together at Last” achievement / trophy guide

Collectibles Guides

• All Trinket Locations (“Hobby Collector”, “Experienced Collector”, and “Expert Collector” achievements / trophies)
• All Spirit Locations (Full Flock and “Halfway There” achievements / trophies)
• All Story Page Location “The Tattered Doll”, “Above the Kingdom” and the “First-Born Daughter” achievements / trophies)

Boss Fights

• The Groundskeeper – Night Garden
• The Swarm – The Bog
• The Lady of the Drains – The Drains
• Lida the Terrible – Graven Valley
• Shrine of the Seven Sons – Midnight Drench
• Starsinger – The Lookout Tower
• Forest King – Autumn Forest
• Creature from the Deep – The Docks
• The Colony – The Depths
• Dollmaker’s Mirror – Dollmaker’s House
• Gravedigger – Burial Vault
• Silver Doll – Queen’s Castle
• The Queen – Queen’s Castle