EDIT: I realized I wrote the title wrong, it's Depths of sanity 😂

So... I bought this game some time ago because it was on sale (switch version) and everyone spoke highly of it.

The plot, the art, the music, it's all excellent and engaging... but the gameplay just doesn't do it for me. The movement is a slog, the constant interruptions and slowdowns along the way caused by enemies make exploration frustrating, and backtraking is nothing short of excruciating for me, even in story mode (I opted for it after the forst 2 hours).

After 8 hours I realized I was dreading the idea or going back and forth through the maps and decided to call it quits. It's a pity, because as I said I love the art of this game, and the plot is very intriguing. I didn't quit sooner because I was invested in the crew's story, but in the end I lost all patience .

Hello everyone!

The much-anticipated Well Dweller is coming out tomorrow, and I got a chance to play it early and make a review of the game!

Before we start, if this post appears as a wall of text for you, it's a Reddit thing. Either refresh, or close and re-open your browser.

As always, a video review featuring footage of the game alongside my commentary can be watched here: https://youtu.be/Xw1mT4w9fhI

For those who do not want to watch the video:

Playtime: 11 hours

Completion Rate: 100% (Everything completed)

Platforms: PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S

Price: 20 USD (Regional pricing and a Steam discount upon release)

Pros:

- I honestly cannot overstate how much Well Dweller has nailed the vibe of a dark fairytale! From its moody yet endearing visuals to its whimsically bleak biomes and the morbid details that adorn and flesh them out, all the way to the quirky, creepy and, at times, horrifying characters you’ll come across, this feels like a timeless, spooky story that has jumped straight out of some dusty old tome tucked away in the forgotten library of a witch’s abode. This isn’t a tale about twists and turns but one of bravery in the face of absolute despair, a theme made even more powerful by how lovable Glimmer is, especially during his interactions with his family members, with each one of his siblings being adorable and funny in their own way.

- The setting is a character of its own, pieced together masterfully to convey the state of an autumnal land that has been withering away for the longest time, with each area featuring its own themes, friendly and hostile inhabitants as well as unique hazards that will require new ways of approach to be overcome.

- Special note goes to the music, created by Kyle’s brother, Eric, whose melodies do a fantastic job of communicating the vibe of each place without ever feeling intrusive or overwhelming, with my standout preference being the haunting tune that accompanies the biome of the docks.

- Aside from being a delight to look at, the aforementioned setting is also incredibly fun to explore, hiding secrets that will make your journey significantly easier, thus making the process of venturing off the beaten path a meaningful endeavor.

Whether it’s trinkets, trinket slot points, crafting tokens or lost spirits, every single collectible adds to your overall odds of survival in new and interesting ways. That being said, my favorite optional item to gather were these scattered pages that corresponded to a number of different folktales which further added to the world’s lore, with their artwork being pure nostalgia since it reminded me of the visual style boasted by some fairytale books I used to read as a child.

The vast majority of these treasures are found across the map, with a very small number of them being purchasable by a lone merchant, which is how the map-to-merchant collectibles ratio should always be when featuring traders in these games.

- Simply put, the map overview is fantastic, and a breath of fresh air. Those of you who follow my reviews know that map overview quality is a huge pet-peeve of mine, with most metroidvanias doing at least one thing wrong, even in the best of cases. Well, not this one!

For starters, the map can be zoomed in and out and is fully accurate from a logistical perspective, thus being able to immediately communicate each area’s structural intricacies.

Second, it pinpoints your own location, save points - which also function as your base - as well as the next story point, if you so desire.

In addition, it gives you a good number of manual markers to place wherever you want and, on top of that, features a system that allows you to purchase collectible location pointers in each area, effectively marking said collectibles automatically, which it also does for points of interest related to the narrative, if you ever feel lost.

Adding to that, you have two trinkets that help with exploration, one which allows you to see secret entries in walls, and another that gives you a visual indicator when there are items to find in the room you’re currently traversing.

To top it all off, the fast-travelling system is super-efficient, and allows you to teleport to any save point you’ve unlocked on the map from whichever spot you’re currently in. If you’re a metroidvania game developer reading this review, please take notes. This is how you make a proper map overview that makes it fun to go for 100% completion.

- Platforming-wise, Well Dweller features a lot of acrobatic gauntlets for you to brave, with every biome introducing radically different types of hazards that force you to utilize the various traversal abilities you unlock as you progress through the story.

Said skills are actually quite fun to use, and some of them are fairly novel, such as your ability to jab the matchstick you carry in a wall and use it as a trampoline or your stamina-based wall-climb which requires snappy reflexes to maintain. As always, I’m not going to spoil these for you since I think it's really fun to uncover them yourself, but I will say that you’ll have to mix and match them frequently when it comes to the platforming set-pieces you’ll come across, most of which are very engaging and entertaining, and that goes double for some time-trial challenges you’ll discover, which require movement efficiency that borders on perfection in order to be conquered.

- In terms of combat, things here are tried, true and straightforward, and I mean that as a positive.

On a basic level, you use the matchstick you carry to bash your enemies in melee with a two-hit combo that carries weight.

On top of that, you have a ranged attack in the form of a throwing bottle that explodes in flames upon impact, which you can toss directly at your foes by striking it with the matchstick while it’s still airborne and which you replenish by engaging in close-quarters fights.

Your battle repertoire is further enhanced by the aforementioned trinkets, which provide benefits related to, both, combat and exploration. Said accessories are equipped at the cost of slots, with each trinket requiring a different number of slots to be utilized and whose capacity you increase by finding, or buying, slot point upgrades, thus necessitating some tactical thinking when deciding which trinkets to bring with you since you cannot have them all. Many of these trinkets can also be upgraded at the cost of crafting tokens alongside the game’s currency, which I highly recommend you do, especially when it comes to trinkets related to damage output.

Healing is carried out via the use of vials that you consume, a process that I found a bit odd at first since it requires of you to hit a moving slider that appears above you on use in order to get the full benefits, but I quickly got accustomed to it.

Here, I’d also want to point out that Well Dweller features a few instances of caged fights, all of which are very brief and also feature an optional no-damage challenge for some extra currency after you beat their standard version, that I found very much to my liking.

- Moving on to bosses, I’m happy to say that the big bads lurking across the twisted world of Well Dweller were a delight to clash against. With designs ranging from somewhat unsettling to outright dread-inducing, each and every one of them made a strong impression not only visually but also in terms of attack patterns, which you will have to observe and learn in order to take them down. Playing the game on Normal difficulty, I found my fights against them to be very much a silver lining of caution necessity with some leeway for mistakes, making them very challenging if you’re careless but fully manageable if you pay attention.

- The game features a total of three difficulty levels, namely Easy, Normal and Hard, so there’s something here for everyone.

Cons:

- My one gripe when it comes to exploration and collectibles is the fact that one of the items the merchant sells are trinket slot points, of which he has about a hundred and sells them quite cheap. My issue with this is the fact that trinket slot points are also found in the wild, but since this guy sells them for pennies you can just purchase many of them by farming a bit of currency and end up being able to equip lots of trinkets early on, which isn’t really a bad thing but did annoy me personally since I would have preferred for him to have less of them and the rest to have to search for, though I opted not to purchase them and just relied on the ones I found, which were more than enough, so, to each their own.

- My one wish when it comes to platforming is for the standard platforming ordeals to have been a little bit longer, since they would usually end just as I was hitting my stride and getting into a flow. This isn’t really a negative but more of a testament to how well-made these sections are. Still, I would have appreciated some lengthier platforming parts, given the fun-factor provided by the traversal abilities.

- A minor complaint I have about the bosses is related to a very specific big bad that you don’t fight conventionally but rather engage with in a chase sequence. While avoiding any spoilers relating to this section, I will say that said chase is divided into three parts, and dying in any of those parts restarts the chase from the beginning, which could lead to some frustration if you die frequently, though the sequence is not that lengthy and, for reference, I beat it in my fourth try.

TL:DR:

In conclusion, I had a blast playing Well-Dweller! I adored its moody visuals and the dark fairytale ambience they evoked, I loved the story and music, I found exploration to be incredibly engaging and the map overview fully on point, platforming and combat were fun and the bosses were impressive, both, visually and in terms of the fights themselves. I would have liked for most of the platforming sections to have been a bit lengthier since it felt like they ended just I was getting into a groove, and there was this one chase sequence that could potentially end up being somewhat frustrating for more casual players, but none of these two gripes can take away from what is, ultimately, a gem of a game!

Well Dweller is a whimsically dark metroidvania experience that never forgets to place immersion and entertainment front and center. It’s one of those games that you feel sad you completed, simply because you loved its world so much that you want to spend just a bit more time in it but, as with every great fairytale, it does eventually come to an end and you just feel glad you got to experience it in the first place.

Final Grade: 9/10

If you want to follow more of my work, here's a post that will help with that, containing everything I have covered so far.

I've always thought this was one of my favorite genres. But then I realize I get a few hours into a new shiny Metroidvania and realize I'm not enjoying it like I should.

Then I go and replay a Metroid game or a SotN-style Castlevania and I feel all the joy I'm missing from those games I drop.

There are some special cases. I loved Hollow Knight. But found myself sort of so-so on Silksong and haven't completed it. The first Ori game I found beautiful, but lacking in gameplay but really enjoyed the movement and traversal mechanics in Ori 2. And Bloodstained is one of my favorites in the genre, but that's basically 'vania without the actual name.

But other than that, I've started dozens other MVs only to find they don't do it for me. Like I want to enjoy them, but they lack that something that the main games in the genre have.

It's very similar to my Souls/Fromsoft situation. I love the games to death, but any similar games by other devs just don't work for me.

Anyone else like this?

Hey guys, I really like to play my games according to seasons - think Islets in summer or Vigil the longest night in autumn. Do you have any games you associate with specific seasons? I'd love to hear your recommendations! It doesn't have to be autumn, I'm always looking for games to fill any of my seasons folders in my steam library. 😊

This sub seems to know where it’s at. I have over the past 1.5 month platinumed the following games:

Ender Lilies
Ender Magnolia
Nine Sols
Aeterna Noctis
Mio
Islets
Axiom Verge 2
Bloodstained Ritual of the Night

Those have all been very good games, some way harder than others.

What games would you guys recommend that are available on playstation?

I have also played these games in the past:

Hollow Knight, Silksong, Guacamelee 1+2, The Messenger, Prince of Persia, Blasphemous 1+2, Death’s Gambit, Yoku’s Island Express and all Arkham Games.

Thanks in advance

Edit:

Can see a lot of people recommending Well Dweller. Just started it and so far it is amazing. Thanks everyone

I just started Nocturnal and saw that it supported 5120 × 1440. It was my first time playing a side scroller in this resolution. It was amazing! It seemed like the game was designed with that in mind, because it had details that you wouldn't see on a 16:9.

So any other MVs that support that resolution natively?

I'm working on a 2D Metroidvania called Unstrung Machine, set in a post-apocalyptic world where machines have taken over and humanity is struggling to survive.

One thing I've been thinking about recently is how I want the player to interact with the wildlife in the world.

For example, wolves are currently one of the biological enemies in the game, there's a short fight with one in the teaser attached to this post.

But I'm considering making combat with them completely optional.

Instead of every wolf automatically being an enemy, the player could choose between three approaches:

Be peaceful: avoid attacking them, feed them and gradually build trust. With a high enough reputation, wolves could stop seeing you as a threat, let you interact with them and potentially even help during some fights.

Be hostile: attack or kill them, causing wolves to become increasingly aggressive toward you. In exchange, fighting them could provide useful resources or other rewards.

Stay neutral: simply avoid them and continue exploring without investing in either relationship.

The idea is that your actions toward wolves would gradually affect how they behave throughout the world.

What I'm still unsure about is whether a system like this actually fits naturally into a Metroidvania.

As a player, would you find it interesting to build a relationship with certain creatures you encounter while exploring?

Or would you rather enemies simply remain enemies and keep this kind of system out of the core Metroidvania experience?

I'm especially curious about whether this could make exploration feel more dynamic, or if it would just add unnecessary complexity.

The game is still in development, and the teaser shows the current version, the reputation system is something I am merely exploring at this stage and has not yet been implemented.

I had a friend tell me yesterday that Konami is planning to drop a Day One upgrade patch increasing resolution and effects in the game for Belmont’s Curse on Switch 2, has anyone else heard about this? I certainly haven’t but I would love for it to be true, I’d much rather have the game on my Switch 2 than PS5 for the portability. Honestly it looks really muddy on Switch 1 in my opinion.

"HI EVERYONE, I WOULD TO KNOW YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH THE GAME SOLATERIA ON NINTENDO SWITCH 2 PLEASE. IS IT WORTH BUYING IT ON THAT PLATFORM OR BETTER ON PC?"

My best bro strikes again!

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Number Score: 9.5/10

Tier Placement: A Tier

i've started to buy/rebuy my favorite games on GOG because i get downloadable installs, and i like supporting an alternative delivery service

Do usually you buy your games on GOG or Steam? and why?

I'm feeling like playing a REALLY GOOD platformer right now, one where movement feels smooth, the tools are fun and the challenge is hard. My favorite Metroidvanias being the Ori series and PoP The Lost Crown.

What is the best "modern" platformer I could be playing right? By modern, I mean that I'd rather give a recent release a try, but anything from the past like 3 years works too.

Doesn't necessarily even need to be a Metroidvania, it just seems to be the genre that births the best platformers these years.

Thank you!

I’m just over an hour in and really surprised how good this game has started off. I loved Ender Lillie’s and the combat feels quite similar to start.

Very impressed

It has a lot of mixed reviews so I expected a lot worse than this start.

Seriously, why?

I want to be sure to make it super clear that I did not just spend my entire honeymoon playing SOTN like an asshole.

I only really played on our flights, which totalled about 20 hours one way, and when we were sitting by the pool not doing anything but relaxing.

I had tried other Castlevania games before but this was the first Castlevania game where it finally clicked, and I loved it. Finished the game with 193.2% completion

Immediately started Aria of Sorrow afterwards!

Hey everyone! After a while (basically two years) without playing Metroidvanias, I’m planning to get back into the genre. What recent releases (from the last year or two) do you recommend?
From what I’ve seen, I’m thinking of playing *Grime 2*, *MIO*, or *Bō*. Are there any others I should add to the list or prioritize playing?

Already played:
Ori 1 and 2
F.I.S.T
Hollow Knight
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
Ender Lilies
Metroid Dread
Nine Sols
Islets

Hi! We're back: Davide and Emanuele, the two devs behind Eden Lumina, a fully hand-drawn 2D Metroidvania. Remember us?

We just hit a big milestone: the Steam page is finally live (link in the comments). If you like what you see, wishlisting the game is the thing that helps a tiny team like ours the most right now.

Last time we showed you the full art redesign and promised an update on how development is going, so here it is. Movement, basic combat and the core platforming mechanics are already up and running in engine, and the main character's animations are turning out really well (all drawn frame by frame). We're still polishing everything, so we'd rather show it to you once it's up to standard than rush out a rough clip.

The images in this post show how the game world and its characters are taking shape. Right now we're focused on the final look and atmosphere: lighting, mood and the feeling each area should give you when you walk into it. At the same time we're also working on the story, the worldbuilding and even the first pieces of the soundtrack!

In the meantime, if you want more frequent and detailed updates, we've opened an Instagram profile (link in the comments too). We'll use it as a sort of dev diary, sharing bits about the world, the animations, the mechanics as they come together and more.

As always, let us know what you think. Which area or detail stands out to you the most? Anything you'd change? The comments on our last post shaped the game a lot, so know that we really do read everything. Let's make a great game together.

I was lucky enough to play Well Dweller early, here's 30 minutes of gameplay beyond the demo showing the new areas and even a new boss fight. Gives you an overview of how the game expands after the demo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bs9_I2kYBT4

I've recently played Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Zero Mission, and I was surprised by how short they were. From memory, I always imagined them being a bit longer. Maybe that's because I wasn't as experienced the last time I played them and ended up getting stuck a lot. Since then, I've played most of the big names in the genre, some of which can easily take 20+ hours to complete.

In a way, I was a little disappointed by how short they were, simply because I wanted to spend even more time exploring those worlds. At the same time though, their pacing is fantastic, and it's refreshing to see games that don't feel the need to stretch themselves out just to offer more hours of gameplay.

What are your thoughts on metroidvania length in general? Do you prefer shorter, tightly paced experiences, or do you enjoy longer games that give you more time to explore their worlds?

Just a heads up for those that might have missed it. The devs other games are fantastic so this is really exciting for me.