(The tl;dr companion video to this article):

Monday’s use to exclusively belong to my series Words of Wisdom, where I remark about some philosophy I’ve encountered, design methodology that’s intrigued me, or an original insight involving the grand absurdity of life itself, which was always a fun way to book end my weeks with. Unfortunately, the hiatus I went on earlier this month did not much time in the ways of comfortable practicality in regard to critical thinking and waxing philosophical, so I’ve been thrown for a bit of a loop, in terms of cognizing about such wise affairs. and eternal truths. All this to say; today’s post will be a disappointment for any of my readers who look forward to Words of Wisdom, as the series will have to remain benched for a moment, until I can find my footing again, and conjure up some wisdom worth wheeling and dealing in once more. Rest assured, philosophy is near and dear to my heart, so it likely won’t be put to bed too long before it makes its triumphant return.

I guess as one other aside, I do still plan on following up my Mario Kart Tour farewell article from yesterday, as the series is ripe with prompting excitement within me, and still yet more to immortalize, on behalf of a soon to be gone classic, when the whole thing is shut down tomorrow night. I just for some reason didn’t feel a part two was the vibe tonight. All of that out of the way, I picked up a new Metroidvania title today, the recently released, less than a week old game called Well Dweller (WD), which has this dark fantasy atmosphere going for it, in the vein of a Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales aestheticism going for it, which when you think about it, is kind of a surprisingly underutilized stylization within the gaming verse, I feel, at least of the video persuasion, but all the more gain for WD as the visuals help make distinct what the game has on offer.

Now, if you’re like me, and one of your favorite franchises is Castlevania, then it doesn’t take a developer to twist my arm too hard for me to dive into their game and see what they’ve got going on, as the Metroidvania moniker is one that is ideal shorthand for broadcasting a wealth of information that lets one know exactly what kind of expectations they should set for themselves when starting the experience. On the flip side, if you’re someone who is about fresher experiences, as you’ve played this kind of game to death; I get it, the genre is indeed quite the crowded affair. The silver lining here is that you have all the information you need to pass on the title if that is not what your jonesing for at the moment, but for anyone else who likes a bit of the old school flavor, and or enjoys gaming on the cheap, then they have two more great reasons to give WD a shot.

As mentioned with the familiar territory, the big focus for gameplay mechanics in WD, is going to be exploring, platforming, and combat more or less. The beginning of the game starts out as a slow burn, so both for better and worse, it eases the player into the experience, as opposed to say, a baptism by fire scenario, so this amount of breathing room might excite rookies of the genre more than it may let down vets of similarly like minded titles, but the known known of the cards being out on the table like that, should give you an idea of where this games challenge level is going to be focused.

Like a lot of Metroidvanias now a days, one will detect a dash of Soulslike present, as healing is limited, save points are spread out, and health is a rare resource, so mindful combative skills will be essential to avoid being destroyed on a regular basis. There is no runback involved, which may signal good news to those who loathe it so, especially where pain in the ass bosses are concerned, and one is not at risk of losing any of their personal currency when death occurs: so no loss of money or experience, so WD is kind of airing on the side of more relaxing caution, where difficult progression is concerned. The beginning of the game at the very least, gives you plenty of time to acclimate to the controls and the world that you willl navigate them with, so no worries on an over abundaance of dying, like others in the genre are known for.

The controls and combat is smooth, so you won’t be wrestling with your controller on this one, so any of the larger than life boss battle deaths will be solely on your lack of competency in the matter, and not because of finicky controls. Having played only the first hour, I can’t yet confirm if there is a parry ability at some point in the game, but it does not come as a standard skill in your base moveset, so for any of you parry fans out there: this ain’t the one. A players main evasive capabilities will come in the form of a ground slide, which makes one invulnerable when employed, allowing one to smoothly dodge anything coming their way. There’s not really a stamina bar or cool down to speak of, so one can just repeatedly do it without much penalty, which is a generous plus in the manner of avoiding the craftiness of area of effect attacks and chaotic projectiles alike.

There are a load of trinkets one can find and use to upgrade one’s ability sets, including more offensive and defensive capabilities, being able to expose secret areas, carrying more healing, etc. There’s no leveling system in WD, so it really is a more basic, straight forward affair without worrying about “proper builds”, number crunching, or respecing, so those not big on RPG elements might find solace in this face. What I found a little more irregular of a choice by WD, is that it freely opens up optional time trials for the player to engage in, mini obstacle courses one must navigate with an explicit timer, which can net you extra goodies. I’ve only encountered one so far, but it did surprise me so, as being the first one, you’d think it was going to be a bit of a freebie, but it ended up taking me multiple tries to get it done right, so WD may actually have mightier platform chops than most Metroidvania games usually rock, if that time trial is indicative of the learning curb lying in wait for me in later parts of the game.

With some whimsically somber music to compliment the dark fantasy aesthetic, the world feels both alien as well as charming, in a warped and whimsical kind of way. The boss and enemy designs are all pleasantly unsettling, and you’ll meet other characters along the way, which makes this feel a little less lonely than other Metroidvanias, but no less isolating or daunting in some of the more chaotic sections. The first hour of the game was quite an engaging little romp, and I look forward to what else Well Dweller has in store for me, as my first impressions were remarkably solid.

~Pashford