Forget the brave knight, the shining sword and the conveniently placed magical armour. Well Dweller has a much smaller hero in mind – and he’s carrying a matchstick.
Available now on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Play Anywhere, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, as well as Game Pass Day One, this dark fairy-tale Metroidvania puts players in the feathers of Glimmer, a tiny bird with a rather enormous problem.
His family has been taken, a wicked queen needs stopping, and somewhere beneath a rotten kingdom lies the answer. Fortunately, Glimmer has a lit matchstick and absolutely no sense of how daunting this all sounds.
At A Glance
- Game: Well Dweller
- Formats: Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Play Anywhere, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2
- Price: £16.74
- Publisher: Top Hat Studios, Inc.
- Developer: Kyle Thompson
- Genre: Dark Fairy-Tale Metroidvania
- Game Pass: Day One
A Kingdom Where The Fairy Tale Went Wrong
Well Dweller comes from Kyle Thompson, the creator of Crypt Custodian and Islets, and heads into much darker territory with a hand-drawn adventure set inside a bizarre storybook world.
Glimmer’s journey begins deep within the forest, where the little bird must make his way through the kingdom’s grim underbelly in search of his siblings. They were snatched from their nest by a crazed hunter, leaving Glimmer with a particularly personal reason to venture into a world filled with beasts, secrets and a queen who isn’t exactly known for her kindness.
And the solution to the whole mess? Burn the wicked queen.
Explore The Rotten Kingdom
Well Dweller is built around exploration, with an interconnected world gradually opening up as Glimmer gains new abilities. What initially looks like an impenetrable corner of the kingdom may become accessible later, giving you plenty of reasons to revisit places you’ve already passed through.
There are puzzles to solve, secrets to uncover and terrifying creatures to deal with along the way. Glimmer’s matchstick isn’t just there to make him look like the world’s smallest adventurer – it can be lit to illuminate the surrounding world and help out during combat.
Trinkets can also be collected and used to upgrade Glimmer’s abilities, with the option to mix and match them to shape the way you play. So while the hero might be tiny, the journey certainly isn’t.
Meet The Kingdom’s Misfits
One of the more appealing parts of Well Dweller is the cast Glimmer encounters beneath the surface of this rotting kingdom. Not everyone is interested in trying to save the world, and some are simply doing whatever they can to survive it.
You can go camping with Ilda, a tiny mouse attempting to stay out of the Queen’s grasp, while Looter is an altogether different proposition. This mysterious scavenger spends his time exploring an abandoned castle in search of valuable wares to steal.
These characters give the dark fairy-tale setting a little warmth amid all the rot, monsters and royal unpleasantness. Glimmer can befriend them while piecing together the mysteries surrounding the kingdom and discovering how it ended up in such a sorry state.
A Matchstick, A Family And A Queen
Eventually, Glimmer needs to reach the Queen’s quarters. Getting there means battling vicious bosses, finding new abilities and working your way through a kingdom that seems determined to make life difficult for a tiny bird. The deeper you go, the more of the story reveals itself, including the fate of Glimmer’s siblings and the secrets buried beneath the surface.
Well Dweller is now available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PC, Play Anywhere, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, with the Xbox and PC versions also landing in Game Pass from day one. Make your way to the digital store of your choosing, like that of the Xbox Store perhaps.
Don’t expect this particular fairy tale to end with everyone living happily ever after…
