Well Dweller

1. Summary

Well Dweller is Kyle Thompson's fourth game: a side-scrolling Metroidvania about Glimmer, a small bird with a matchstick who sets out to rescue his family from a queen who hunts birds. Only 10 of 928 reviews are negative. The art comes up most: 31% of reviews mention the art or visuals, usually the mix of cute animal characters with grotesque bosses and a Grimm-style setting. Close behind come the bosses, the movement built around the matchstick (throwing it into a wall and bouncing off it instead of getting a double jump), the cast and its humor, the music, and a long list of time-saving features: fast travel from anywhere, no boss runbacks, no currency lost on death, and an optional shop that marks missed collectibles on the map. A quarter of reviews mention Thompson or his earlier games (Islets, Crypt Custodian, Sheepo), and several call this his best.

The catches are about how much game there is and how hard it pushes. 11% of reviews describe it as easy or not very hard, and 3% say this holds even on Hard, because trinket slots can be bought until you wear every trinket and late bosses melt. 9% call it short; the 100% runs reviewers report mostly land between 8 and 15 hours. Players split on whether either is a flaw: for one group the low friction is the whole point, for others it robs the bosses of their bite. Real frustrations are few and specific: a chase sequence with no checkpoints, some tightly tuned time trials, plain regular-enemy combat, a thin post-game, and small PC issues such as no borderless window mode.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

Cute-and-creepy dark fairy-tale artHigh

31% of reviews mention the art, visuals or graphics, and 13% use words like creepy, macabre, grim, eerie, spooky or fairy tale. What players single out is the contrast: tiny, soft animal characters set against rotting human bosses, maggot-filled skulls and a decaying kingdom. "Perfect combination of eerie / macabre and cutesy," one player wrote; another settled on "i like to say that it's a spooky-cute game." Reviewers compare it to the Brothers Grimm, Tim Burton, Roald Dahl and Little Nightmares. The collectible story pages, drawn like old woodcut fairy-tale illustrations, come up repeatedly as a favorite detail. The dissent is small: one player who otherwise liked the game disliked the art style apart from the bosses, and one player quit after an hour because the tone was "so unnerving and disturbing" for them.

Bosses that look and play differentlyHigh

24% of reviews mention the bosses. One called them "arguably some of the best bosses from the genre this year." Players praise how each fight is themed to its area, how several use the movement abilities (platforming bosses, a mirror boss with a unique gimmick, a chase), and how a save point always sits right outside. The criticism attached to bosses is about difficulty rather than design (see the difficulty theme in the split panel below): several players say late bosses die before you need to learn their patterns, and one asked that they be "more technical and less DPS checks."

Matchstick movement instead of a double jumpHigh

21% of reviews mention movement, traversal or platforming, and much of that is about the matchstick springboard. Throwing your weapon into a wall and bouncing off it, a stamina-based wall climb, a slide instead of a dash, and an active heal where you relight your match all read as fresh to genre veterans. "It DOES NOT have a double jump, which keeps traversal interesting and fun until the end," wrote one. 11% of reviews describe the controls as smooth, responsive, tight or fluid. A minority found it awkward at first: the climb can leave you "just barely" reaching ledges, some say the early movement feels clunky until you gain abilities, and one player refunded within an hour because "Having use that mechanic multiple times in every room breaks any type of flow for me."

Characters, humor and a simple, heartfelt storyHigh

16% of reviews mention the characters and 7% the humor. The rescue story is simple, and players like it that way: every area adds a small arc with new friends and foes, the siblings' dialogue gets laughs, and a short post-credits quest unlocks a true ending that several found moving. Egbert, the youngest sibling, is named in 4% of reviews (33), usually with affection ("Egbert is the MVP fr."). A few longer reviews wanted the story pushed further or presented better, noting that some lore pages sit in secret rooms you can miss before the boss they set up.

Respects your timeMedium

Reviewers keep listing the same features: fast travel to any tent from anywhere, unlocked early; a save point before every boss; no currency lost on death; no contact damage from most enemies; a detailed map with a square-grid option; and a shop that, for a little currency, marks missed collectibles or your next objective. "I think this might be the Metroidvania that respects the player's time the most," wrote one. Three difficulty levels plus assist options (damage taken and dealt, extra time on trials) get specific thanks from casual and older players. Several say it is the first Metroidvania they finished or 100%'d, and "It's my new go-to recommendation for new players to discover the genre" sums up the beginner-friendly view.

Music and soundMedium

14% of reviews mention the music, mostly as praise for Eric Thompson's soundtrack, with the docks, the bog and the drain boss named as standouts ("Absolute bangers on the soundtrack."). A handful disagree: one found the music "almost nonexistent", another said it "doesnt really fit the tone", and one heard it as muffled.

Price and valueMedium

8% of reviews mention the price, and most say it is fair or cheap for the quality, with players in Poland, Brazil and other regions thanking the developer for regional pricing. The counterpoint ties to length: one player wrote "$15-20 is a little high for how short it is."

Runs well, including on Steam DeckLow

The reviews that bring up performance praise it: smooth on Steam Deck, ROG Ally, Linux and an old laptop, with "Runs like Usain Bolt on the Steam Deck." as the most colorful version. The PC display complaints are covered under frustrations.

Where players are split

How hard it isHigh

11% of reviews describe the game as easy or not very hard in some form, and 3% specifically say it stays easy even on Hard. These come from players well past the opening: only 1 of those 98 reviews was written under 3 hours. The two camps read the same fact differently. One welcomes it as a break from punishing games: "So refreshing to play a modern metroidvania that doesn't aim to crush your spirit." Hollow Knight and Silksong come up in 12% of reviews, often to say this is "Like Hollow Knight and not like Silksong." The other camp, which still recommends the game, says the challenge collapses mid-game because upgrades stack too well: "the trinkets have no limit on how many you can hold, making them increasingly overpowered toward the end of the game," and "once i got a few trinkets i was first trying each boss except the last one." The flaming-vessel throw is named as the main way bosses get melted. Several players suggest a trinket-free run or Hard from the start, and one asked for the difficulty levels to say what they actually change.

LengthMedium

9% of reviews call the game short in some way, and players disagree on whether that is a problem. "Only negative is that it's too short!" is typical, usually from someone who wanted more. Others defend it: "10-15 hours of super well thought out gameplay is much better than 60+ copy and pasted elements." Several reviewers note that the map felt bigger than the hours suggest, and that you will likely find nearly everything in one run, so replay value is low.

Trinkets and upgradesMedium

14% of reviews mention trinkets or charms. Some players enjoy being able to wear all of them at once: "I love that you can equip all the trinkets without having to worry about which ones to bring along." Others think that removes any real choice and that the effects are flat stat bumps: "the upgrades were often the most boring stuff you could imagine," wrote one; others cite no synergies, 99 buyable slots, and no health upgrades. A few say the later traversal upgrades only lift limits on earlier ones, that some abilities are confined to one area, and that the molotov throw ranges from essential to "pointless" depending on who you ask.

How much the game points the wayLow

The guidance tools are praised far more often than criticized, but a small group of experienced players think they go too far. Broken arrows mark where to throw the matchstick, a trinket reveals hidden walls early, and an NPC points to every post-game secret. "A disappointing design choice to not trust the players to figure some things out," wrote one of the most detailed reviews, and another said the map table "flattens down the whole experience a bit." For completionists, the same system is a highlight: "more metroidvanias need this element."

What frustrates players

The chase sequence with no checkpointsLow

A late chase runs across three screens, and dying on the last one sends you back to the first. Several players who otherwise loved the game called it their low point: "chase sequence has no checkpoints, so you have to clear all three screens with no mistakes, or it resets you back to the start of the first screen." One estimated 50 deaths there; another simply asked, "make some checkpoints for THAT chase-sequence PLEASE!!!" The yarn balls in one chase were singled out as infuriating.

Tightly tuned time trialsLow

Optional time trials split opinion even among fans. Some loved how they are "tuned almost cruelly well"; others felt "Many of the timed platforming challenges spread throughout the map feel like they were tuned a bit poorly", so moving at full speed sometimes means waiting, or failing by fractions of a second. One negative review exists only because of these challenges, and one player found restarting them tedious.

Simple regular-enemy combatLow

Bosses get the praise, but fodder enemies draw complaints. Players describe fights as repetitive ("Hit, Hit, Slide, Hit, Hit.") and note that many enemies "all heavily telegraph their single attack with the same big red tell." One review also says enemies sometimes blend into the background.

A thin post-game and late abilitiesLow

The final traversal ability arrives after the last boss, and several players found it had little left to do: "last skill you unlock AFTER you beat the game, making it pointless." The post-game quest takes minutes, and one detailed review suggested cutting it or folding it into the main game. Eight reviews ask for a boss rush or boss rematches, as Thompson's earlier games had ("DEV PLEASE MAKE A BOSS RUSH GAMEMODE.").

Small PC and control issuesLow

A handful of reviews report technical snags, none widespread. Display: no borderless or windowed fullscreen ("it needs the option for borderless window."), the game minimizes when it loses focus, and "It has an immovable 60fps cap though which is annoying." Controls: rebinding attack or jump on a controller "also changed the menu inputs for selecting / back"; the Alt key can't be bound; a Switch controller couldn't be rebound; one player's controls reset between sessions; one found a deadzone between stick directions. Bugs: one player reported "a game breaking bug that completely bricked my save file" after opening the menu while dying, and others reported getting stuck in a wall, an invisible wall, a map room that can't be reached, and brief screen freezes at launch. Several reviews say they hit no bugs at all.

Level design paddingLow

A few reviewers felt parts of the map were padded: one-way doors and shortcuts you never need, and a formula where each puzzle room ends by opening a shortcut, which "leads to some rather dull and unimaginative level design." The brief stealth section and the submarine area were each called out of place by a couple of players, though others named the submarine as a favorite.

3. The player conversation

The tone is warm and close to unanimous. Only 10 reviews are negative, and their reasons barely overlap: a refund over the matchstick replacing a double jump, a player who found the tone too disturbing, one who disliked the time challenges, one who disliked long spike-platforming runs, control and keybinding problems, and a couple who found the traversal and upgrades repetitive. Many of the critical long reviews still end with a recommendation, often with a score of 7 or 8.

A large part of the audience arrived as Thompson fans. A quarter of reviews mention him or his earlier games, and some of those were written in the first hours as early reviews meant to help the game get noticed. These first-hours reviews talk about the art, the feel of the movement and the first bosses. The criticism comes from players further in, often at 100%: the difficulty and length complaints are almost entirely theirs, along with the trinket balance, the chase, the time trials and the post-game. Experienced genre players, who measure the game against Hollow Knight, Silksong, Nine Sols and MIO, are the ones asking for more bite; newcomers and casual players, several of whom say this is the first Metroidvania they finished, are the ones thanking it for not having it.

The conversation held steady between launch week and the following week. The share calling it easy stayed the same (11% in both), while mentions of its short length rose from 8% of launch-week reviews to 12% of later ones as more players reached the credits.

4. What the developers could do

1. Give Hard mode real teeth. The most common criticism is that the game is easy, with bosses falling in a few tries even on Hard once trinkets stack, so more boss health on Hard, a cap on buyable trinket slots there, or a clear description of what each difficulty changes would answer the players who wanted more challenge.
2. Add a boss rush or boss rematches. Bosses are among the most praised parts of the game, and eight reviews ask for a way to fight them again, as Crypt Custodian allowed, ideally with harder or no-damage variants.
3. Put checkpoints in the chase sequence. The three-screen chase that restarts from the first screen is one of the most often named frustrations, including from players who loved everything else.
4. Retune the tightest time trials. Players report trials where moving at full speed means waiting or failing by milliseconds, and one negative review rests on them alone.
5. Add borderless windowed mode and lift the 60fps cap. These are the PC requests that recur, alongside the game minimizing whenever it loses focus.
6. Fix rebinding and the reported save and collision bugs. Controller remaps that change menu buttons, an unbindable Alt key, the spacebar still triggering teleport after rebinding, a save bricked by pausing during death, and an unreachable map room are all specific reports.
7. Make trinkets and late abilities matter more. Players asked for trinkets with distinct effects or synergies instead of stat bumps, and for the final traversal ability to arrive before the ending so it can be used in the main game.