Well Dweller Review: A Tale of a Brave Bird

Well Dweller is a fairy tale full of kindness and hope. In it, you must help a young bird defeat a queen who wants to exterminate its entire species. But to do this, you will have to learn to fight, make friends, and, most importantly for a bird, fly.

The Foolish Antics of the Last Birds

In a fairy tale kingdom, all was well until a kind and just queen ruled. After her death, an evil queen ascended the throne. She began to torment her subjects and small animals. But most of all, she loved plucking birds and wearing clothes made of their feathers. For entertainment, the queen ordered hunters to catch her subjects.

A surviving group of birds, the main character's family, settled at the bottom of a dried-up well. The mother bird sent her entire brood out for provisions. And of all the places to search, she chose the bird hunter's shack. The hunter did not miss such a gift of fate and went with the family to the queen. Only the eldest son remained, who now has to rescue his relatives.

During the journey, it will become clear that not only the main character's family needs help:

• The Queen caught a family of mice and forced them to entertain her with tricks.

• The froglets disappeared. It's very sad to read the inscriptions on the monuments their parents erected for them.

• The sailor dolls did not return from their mission. And now there's no one to hunt for treasure.

But it's not all so sad. The unfortunate can be helped, and in return, they will help the hero with his problem.

A Big World for a Small Feathered Friend

After the introduction, the hero is given complete freedom of action. You need to travel the world and collect golden feathers to get into the queen's castle. During the journey, you will have to deal with people who look like natural giants compared to the hero. The size of other animals allows them to live in human belongings and remains. And they use shoes to travel by sea.

As you progress, the hero learns to climb and use his weapon as a platform. He also develops bird skills — learning to glide and fly. It's nice that you can quickly get the ability to move between save points.

At different levels, you encounter different obstacles. You need to jump on bubbles, pull yourself up on a thread, turn gears, and ascend on air currents. Sometimes after difficult challenges, simple ones appear, which break the pace. You want to laugh when you realize that you don't need to overthink to solve a puzzle. Sometimes you manage to bypass the obstacles designed by the developers, and the game doesn't punish you for making your life easier. It's a pity that the map doesn't always accurately reflect reality, but it's convenient for navigation.

Trinkets are scattered throughout the locations, which enhance attack and defense and provide pleasant bonuses. In games like Hollow Knight, the space for amulets is limited, but in Well Dweller, I was able to wear almost all the trinkets I found.

Finding secrets is not difficult, and amulets and buying hints will help with missed ones. Among the secrets are pages with fairy tales. They tell the story of the queen and two other bosses. The moral of the fairy tales is that troubles could have been avoided if the main characters had kept their word, not stolen, or asked for help in time.

With a Match at the Ready

The hero's main weapon is an ordinary match, which can be used to hit or as a platform. At the same time, it shows the hero's condition: the brighter the match burns, the healthier the bird, but to heal, you will have to play a mini-game.

The enemies encountered in the locations do not differ in variety: a fighter, a walking turret, a nasty creature hanging from the ceiling, and a flying nuisance. But you will still have to learn their features. By beating enemies, you get bombs that help deal huge damage.

Bosses stand out both in appearance and behavior. They are huge, nasty, and creepy. In battle, bosses attack directly, testing the skills learned during the playthrough, but in some cases, you can't do anything to the boss — you have to run and overcome obstacles.

I played the game on normal difficulty and enjoyed it. Ordinary enemies die quickly, but they also deal serious damage. And most bosses were defeated on the second or third attempt. Just right for such a small and pleasant game.

Diagnosis

At first, it seems that Well Dweller is another indie metroidvania with a dark world where only a few survive in the end. In reality, it's a dark but kind fairy tale where good deeds are finally rewarded. It's interesting to follow the unfolding story: you carefully read the characters' lines and look for pages with fairy tales to read the stories to the end.

Even with its imperfections, Well Dweller can be called a good metroidvania. The game has responsive controls, interesting puzzles, and not too harsh enemies. It doesn't punish you for trying to simplify your life and doesn't make you constantly suffer — a real rest after Hollow Knight or Nine Sols.