Family can be a lot to put up with, no matter how loved they may be. It doesn't matter if it's brother, sister, aunt, cousin, spouse, whatever, sometimes you need to be over here while they're over there. They don't have to be quiet, wherever the family may have gotten off to; they just need to not be seen or heard for a bit. This is true for every type of family, even when comprised of birds living in a fairy tale kingdom. A mother bird needs her hyperactive brood to be elsewhere for a bit, so she tasks the oldest with keeping an eye on his four younger siblings while stealing a few berries from the hunter's table. It's good, solid fairy-tale logic, and like most fairly tales, it leads to places the cast probably would prefer to have avoided.
Well Dweller is a pure metroidvania featuring a cast of innocent animals enjoying their lives while a dark story plays out on the human level they're only marginally aware of. The new queen of the kingdom has a streak of cruelty running through her bones, and she's ordered the capture of all the birds so their feathers can make her a magnificent dress. The family of black birds is the last in the kingdom, living out of sight and undisturbed in a cozy skull house at the bottom of a well, either unaware of or indifferent to the fate of the rest of the birds. The eldest child, Glimmer, is the responsible one, so he gets to take care of both acquiring food and minding the other kids, armed with a matchstick to clear a path through woods.
Although, thankfully, not as an escort mission. The kids take care of themselves, hanging out at the tent save points while Glimmer has to beat up every monster and jump through every spiked obstacle course the woods can throw his way. Starting off with little more than the responsibility his mother dumped on him, Glimmer soon finds the matchstick he'll use as a weapon and traversal tool throughout the adventure. At the beginning all Glimmer can do is give it a swing, beating down enemies with several solid whacks, but like any good metroidvania new skills and upgrades expand the skillset at a regular pace.
Initially the matchstick is just a weapon, but the first upgrade allows Glimmer to toss it into a wall to act as a springboard. He needs to be standing on solid ground to do this, no jump-and-throw, but it's clear from inaccessible areas those limitations will be whittled away eventually. Soon enough Glimmer's run and jump are joined by a slide that provides a second of invulnerability, a stamina-limited wall climb, and a non-stamina-using wall jump. Each new ability comes right as the move set is showing its limitations, spread out evenly from the start of the game to the end.
Many abilities can also be tweaked with trinkets, which are hidden all over the map. In addition to basic effects like making Glimmer hit harder or earn more of the white-spark currency that enemies drop when killed, they can also provide invincibility when healing, add an explosion to the ground-strike attack, provide a rotating defensive ring of spikes, add bounces to Glimmer's limited power-attack of an explosive bottle, and many more. The tent save-spots also have rooms inside that provide services such as a forge for improving trinkets, strengthening their effects at the cost of some currency and a forge token. Which, of course, are only awarded for completing optional platforming challenges found in areas off the beaten path, or sometimes as rewards for clearing a time challenge room.
While the tweaks help with survivability, one of the strengths of Well Dweller is how cleverly it uses Glimmer's core abilities in an ever-changing mix of enemy and environmental hazards. The slide, for example, is being constantly tested not only by enemies putting out a good amount of firepower but also jumps that need a little extra speed in the launch to be cleared. Bosses in particular need that moment of invulnerability, with attack patterns that can't be jumped through but can be ignored with a well-timed slide. Each area also comes with plenty of themed challenges, like switches that are only active when the matchstick has been thrown into it, causing platforms to move about in ways that require a little thought and a lot of good timing to take advantage of.
While the trinket tweaks help with survivability, one of the strengths of Well Dweller is how cleverly it uses Glimmer's core abilities in an ever-changing mix of enemy and environmental hazards.
The most interesting thing about both the platforming and combat in Well Dweller, in fact, is that it seems like it's hard but actually isn't. Both require careful control, of course, but the game is nicely responsive with reliable physics, so new platforming puzzles frequently just need a little experimentation to get through, with Glimmer dancing through tight-spiked areas without taking a scratch. That's not to say the game can't be brutal at times, with enemies frequently requiring a little thought to adapt to their patterns, and the little bird can't take that many hits before going down. Once you know the enemies, though, fights can be intense without becoming overwhelming, and the same tight controls that make the platforming approachable does a fantastic job of making each of Glimmer's many deaths feel fair.
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