Where there’s a wing, there’s a way.
In 2024, Kyle Thompson's Crypt Custodian was an absolute pleasure. It managed a wide arrange of themes, characters, and mechanics, and it was a visual delight to experience. While its tone was fairly light-hearted for its concept, Thompson's latest followup in Well Dweller, revels in its grim fairytale aesthetic.
Well Dweller is a pretty straightforward Metroidvania, and frankly, one of the most enjoyable in years. No, its level design or mechanics are not revolutionary, and it doesn't look to push the genre forward. Rather, it's how all its systems, characters, and mechanics are built around a story so dark, so twisted, and yet, absolutely hilarious.
The opening of this adventure talks about a queen so vile that she is killing birds to get their feathers. As a child, she reveled in the pain of all animals, and while her adoptive mother, the queen, was hoping she would grow out of it, she didn't, and soon after, the queen was mysteriously found dead. And so, this vile young woman was then in charge, and creatures and animals everywhere were hunted down for sport; especially birds.
We then cut to the last remaining birds in the kingdom, a mother and her children, living in a skull deep within a well. The mother, however, is hungry, and asks that one of her children go and fetch her some berries at the hunter's cabin. At first, the youngest claims they will go on the adventure, to which the mother says no. Then, the twins exclaim their intent, ready to conquer the outside world. Again, she says no. The mother then states that Glimmer, the oldest, will go, but oddly enough, to take the children with them since “mother needs a break”. I howled in laughter at this scene. It was hilarious, and it set the tone of this macabre comedy almost immediately.
Thankfully, the humor doesn't end there. As you travel, you'll constantly find your siblings up to no good in random locations. From bouncing the youngest, Egbert, into the air, to playing deep in enemy territory, it is these innocent moments of possible danger, and how carefree they are, that are downright hysterical. Hell, the final thing Egbert does in the game was something I sighed with a quiet laugh, because, well, you'll have to discover that for yourself and how incredibly “Egbert” it is.
So, with a mission in hand, or wing? Well, regardless, Glimmer was set out to find these berries and feed their mother. However, upon returning with the berries, the hunter followed them, snatched up their mother, and their siblings, and you are left alone, deep below the Kingdom, and must venture to track them down, save your mother, and, as it would eventually come to pass, defeat the queen, and save the land.
Glimmer is armed with a matchstick, and it was clear that Thompson had ideas here, because the matchstick is used not only for combat, but for traversal as well. Via a sling-shot, you'll jab into a wall from a stationary position and can then use it to bounce up. You'll eventually be able to attach it while climbing a wall, but efforts like that, as well as gliding or even said climbing, all come in time as you progress through the land. It's a Metroidvania, so yah, that's how it works.
Once you get all these tools, you really see the vision of how traversal was built from the start. Puzzles also benefit from these abilities as you throw your matchstick to activate a platform, but retract it to prep the next. However, you're eventually hanging onto moving platforms to move, glide, and wall bounce to your goal. Some of these moments outshine any Metroidvania ever made, as not only are the puzzles clever, but they are immediately readable as to what you're meant to do, all while being challenging to pull off, but allow you to move so naturally and fluidly. It's a masterclass in design.
Now, getting back to the story, you are essentially trying to find your siblings and save your mom. Eventually, you'll need to gather a series of golden feathers to have access to the castle, which is where your mom has been taken. Thankfully, you'll find your siblings as you progress, and they will be present in all the tents you find that allow you to save your game, upgrade Glimmer, and take part in conversations with various characters.
You'll soon meet Looter who opens up a shop where you can buy trinkets, or upgrades to hold more trinkets at once. You'll also find these upgrades all over the map, and I eventually had around 70 slots, where most trinkets used anywhere from 3-5 spaces. So yah, I had a lot of them equipped. These range from barrage of burning embers when taking damage, embers emitting from a ground slam, currency increasing with each foe you vanquish, to your healing oil automatically being used when taking fatal damage.
Another character will unlock the ability to purchase a hint as to where your next objective goes, to another character that allows you to upgrade your trinkets with items you find littered around the map. These characters are not just stores or upgrade stations, but characters with fun and memorable stories and conversations that Glimmer will have with them.
One character I loved was the foreman at the docks. He is in need of finding his employees so he desperately hires you and grants you access. And, when you find all his workers, he immediately fires you. It is character moments like this that really gives so much personality to a genre that normally doesn't look to incorporate humor.
This injection of humor in such a dark and twisted story; one of murder and suffering, really helps the balance of it being too serious or too light-hearted. I mean, this is a Metroidvania about a bird and match stick, and their annoying siblings who believe they are destined for greatness. It all strikes the right balance and is flawlessly written with dialogue that is so perfect to the conversation that you can't have imagined it handled any other way.
Additive to the story and these little short narratives that are completed when you find pages scattered around the land. From the origins of the new queen, a bargain a couple make with a witch, to a young boy who was chosen to watch mankind’s last watchtower. these were delightful little distractions and were worth seeking out every single page. I do wish there were more than four of these, given they are very brief reads.
The Kingdom is noticeably massive, with a decent map to explore. Locations vary from the depths of the kingdom’s drains, the vaults that reside even lower, to the autumn forest, to the miserable docks, there is a pretty huge map here to explore, with numerous secrets to discover. And with being able to immediately fast travel to any tent, it makes for quick access to anywhere you need to go on the quick.
You'll find two different challenge rooms, one that is purely about combat, to time trials as you attempt to pull off some quick platforming skills, with decent rewards for victory. Combat challenge rooms can be completed again, but with only 100 bucks of currency for your trouble, I found the value not great, especially as you need to do them without taking damage.
Combat remains largely the same throughout the game. You only have the matchstick, but you also have the oil flask that you toss out at enemies to ignite them with fire. While on its own, it is fine enough, but you can use your matchstick to bat it towards your foe, making it a long distance ranged weapon. You can hit it in any direction, but it's far more useful horizontally and diagonally than vertically.
Healing is in itself a short minigame that is basically the Gears of War reload system. You have a meter that has a cursor move from left to right and the closer to the marked line you get the more health is recovered. You can get trinkets to protect you during this or expand the healing marker to make it easier. And, should you already find the game too hard, there are a few difficulty settings to accommodate your skill level.
Exploring, combat, and general movement is fluid, snappy, and you rarely find yourself dying because of the controls. This is especially important as platforming puzzles, such as gliding around spikes, or through moving obstacles, needs to be pixel perfect and feel good to handle. This game is downright impressive and feels incredibly good. Apart from Metroid Dread, this is the best feeling Metroidvania to ever exist.
Well Dweller has an immediate look to it that feels both story-book and painting, and has that sort of character to it that made the Ori games so beautiful. New locations meant all-new assets, and they never disappointed. New enemies would enter into the fray and their new mechanics and gameplay quirks would constantly keep me on my toes.
This is a visually striking game in both its environments and its bosses, as their designs are impeccable and their animations are grounded in making them fluid, but also dark and twisted. From big jagged teeth, to bloodshot eyes, that is even if they still have them, to a chase sequence that is so grotesque and unsettling, that you need to push that to the side to focus on the difficult platforming challenge on display.
Bosses have patterns, and while a few felt a bit safe in their design, it still provided just enough challenge to proceed. It felt like some bosses were designed to teach you new ways to use your new tools, whereas others were there to show you that you've mastered those new gifts.
Well Dweller may seem cute from its lead character, but it hides a sinister secret of being dark, twisted, and desperate to see your feathers get plucked. With impeccable platforming and engaging combat and mobility, Well Dweller is joyous to control. Few Metroidvania games feel this good, with a map so big that you're constantly finding new challenges, secrets, and wildly impressive boss battles. Well Dweller is an absolute delight from start to finish. Just make sure to protect Egbert, he is just so tiny.
Developer - Kyle Thompson.
Publisher - Top Hat Studios. Released - September 22nd, 2026. Available On - PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Switch 2, PC. Rated - (T) - Blood, Violence. Platform Reviewed - Nintendo Switch 2
Review Access - A review code for Well Dweller was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
Jeff is the original founder of Analog Stick Gaming. His favorite games include The Witcher III, the Mass Effect Trilogy, Hi-Fi Rush, Stellar Blade, Hellbade: Senua’s Sacrifice, and the Legend of Heroes series, especially Trails of Cold Steel III & IV.