Newly launched on 22nd September 2026, here’s the Metroidvania romp Well Dweller. It’s by one-man indie game creator Kyle Thompson, who’s crafted here a brilliant game that’s a must for any platforming fans.
Players take control of a bird called Glimmer and must battle across a maze-like labyrinth to save her family from evil humans. With surprising emotional, melancholic depth, it’s very possibly a masterpiece right here.
Save the Birdos in Well Dweller
Kyle Thompson is a force of ruddy nature. All by himself he’s already created the Metroidvania gems Crypt Custodian, Islets, and Sheepo. Well Dweller is definitely the best of the lot.
It’s along the Team Cherry side of Metroidvania; difficult, punishing, high levels of combat. Last year, we finally got Hollow Knight: Silksong and we were very disappointed by its absurd, obnoxious difficulty expectations. As if Team Cherry had lost all track of reality.
Well Dweller is the exact opposite, offering a proper and fair challenge (and this is one tricky game), giving you space to breathe and rewarding your actions consistently. It’s a goddamn triumph.
Crucially, it also offers difficulty settings. One of the most obnoxious things about Silksong is it’s set by default to maximum difficulty (and then some), whereas here you have Easy, Normal, and Hard. So, however you want to play you’re catered for (take note, Team Cherry).
The plot plays out like a fairy-tale. A wicked witch of the land has set out to seize all birds, forcing them into hiding. Glimmer and his family live at the bottom of a well, but their lives are upended when a human bastard SOB finds them one day. His family kidnapped, Glimmer goes on a mission to save them.
Armed with a trusty lit matchstick, you head on out and start adventuring in classic Metroidvania fashion.
Although Well Dweller has a slow start, with the first hour or so hinting at what’s ahead, once you have some major power-ups the game really opens up fully and realise how magnificent the whole thing is. The sense of exploration vast, plus bags of charm with the characters you meet along the way.
It’s melancholic, but soothing, and so very clever with its world building and design. Here’s a bit of it in action.
The very best Metroidvania often hit you about two hours in as you realise the extent of brilliance on display. You have a few power-ups and now the world is there for you to explore, whilst you’re fully invested in the free-flowing sense of discovery and exploration. Well Dweller delivers all of that in spades.
Overall, you get about 10 hours or so of gameplay. It’s not the biggest platformer ever, then, and some gamers may have beef with that. But this is a one-man indie studio and what he’s delivered here is incredible. The detailed extent of the sprawling map you have to traverse is a very impressive imaginative feat for one person.
Again, the challenge is what it you want to be (easy, normal, hard), making it a fair gaming experience. And some of the boss battles are a great challenge, with our favourite being the Swarm (an angry batch of bugs). Just really clever with its attack pattern, darkly comical as well.
What else can we add? Well Dweller is one of the best Metroidvania of 2026 and we think it’s going right up into our best modern 2D platformers list. And it takes a special kind of game to achieve that!
Well Dweller Also Has a Fantabulous Soundtrack
Kyle Thompson’s brother Eric is responsible for Well Dweller’s soundtrack. He’s done the music for all of his brother’s games, making this a family affair (apt given the plot of Thompson’s latest title).
The music reflects the nature of the story, largely melancholic but always melodic.
It’s very atmospheric and soothing, too, such as in The Drains (one of our favourite bits of the game).
You’re often floating around on a breeze and avoiding these nasty spike things, with the music turning it into an almost meditative experience (remining us of various bramble levels from Donkey Kong Country 2 in 1995).
It often serves more as background music than with other Metroidvania, it’s happy to sit in there and not demand too much attention. Give the brainpower you often need to get through the game, that’s a welcome approach. It’s a fine soundtrack.
