Well Dweller out today with a 91 on Metacritic, Game Pass day one

Well Dweller is out today, September 22, 2026, and the dark fairy-tale metroidvania did not arrive quietly. The game holds a 91 on Metacritic at launch, and it landed on Xbox Game Pass on day one for Ultimate and PC Game Pass subscribers, according to Pure Xbox. It is also available on PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, and PC through Steam and GOG.

The game comes from Kyle Thompson, a solo developer whose previous metroidvanias, Islets and Crypt Custodian, built him a loyal following among indie fans. Well Dweller casts players as Glimmer, a tiny bird armed with a single matchstick. Glimmer lives at the bottom of a well, and the wicked queen ruling the kingdom above has decided that birds are the ideal material for her royal gown. Armed with almost nothing, Glimmer climbs out of the well and moves through a rotting kingdom to burn the queen before his family becomes stitching on her dress, according to Tech Times.

That premise sits inside hand-drawn, storybook-style art that critics keep comparing to Hollow Knight, though the tone is distinctly darker. The world is full of crumbling castles, overgrown dungeons, and bosses that one player who tried the demo described as grotesque and whimsical. A free demo remains available on Steam for PC players who want to try it before buying.

The reviews are calling it one of 2026's best-reviewed indies

The 91 on Metacritic makes Well Dweller one of the highest-rated games of the year so far, and Pure Xbox noted that the scores arrived as something of a surprise. The game scored slightly lower on Xbox specifically, but the overall picture is the same across platforms: critics have landed on it hard in the first hours of release.

The praise did not start today. Kotaku named the demo one of the best from Steam Next Fest back in June, calling it darker than Thompson's earlier work and singling out the boss art as unlike anything they had seen, according to Tech Times. That early buzz carried through launch week, and Pure Xbox called the game an easy recommendation for Ultimate and PC Game Pass members who pay nothing extra to play it.

Thompson has reason to enjoy this moment. Liam Croft at Push Square gave Crypt Custodian an 8 out of 10 two years ago, praising its chill soundtrack and relaxed tone, and he argued last month that Well Dweller deserved not to be buried in the crowded September release calendar. Sitting one week after Marvel's Wolverine and two days before Control Resonant and Silent Hill: Townfall, the game is easy to miss on paper. The scores are making it hard to miss in practice.

A solo developer's third game

Well Dweller is published by Top Hat Studios, but the game itself is the work of one person. Thompson made Islets and Crypt Custodian the same way, and both games established his style: hand-drawn worlds, precise platforming, and a gentleness of tone that his new game deliberately pushes into darker territory.

That track record matters to the audience that follows him. Players who picked up Crypt Custodian for its relaxed pacing are getting something moodier this time, and the review consensus suggests the jump worked. The game arrives on five platform families at once, which is a wide net for a solo release, and the day-one Game Pass placement puts it in front of millions of subscribers on its first morning.

It lands in one of the busiest release weeks of the year

Well Dweller shares its launch day with Funcom's Dune: Awakening, which reaches PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S today alongside a major update. That update adds a full single-player mode with scalable difficulty and the final act of the game's Book One story, and the Xbox version launches into Game Pass with Play Anywhere support and shared progression between Xbox and the Microsoft Store, according to Pixels in Orbit.

PlayStation owners get something too. Sony is adding Ball X Pit and Slitterhead to PS Plus Extra in the UK, US, and Japan starting today, according to Push Square. Slitterhead comes from Bokeh Game Studio under Keiichiro Toyama, the director behind Siren and Gravity Rush, while Ball X Pit mixes Vampire Survivors-style roguelite play with Breakout.

The packed calendar explains why Well Dweller's review scores matter so much. In a week where a Dune MMO, a Silent Hill entry, and Control Resonant all compete for attention, a 91 from a solo developer is the kind of signal that cuts through. Game Pass members can try it today without paying anything extra, and everyone else can start with the free Steam demo.