Creature in the Well Reviews
Developer Flight School Studio has found a way to combine exploration, fast paced hack-and-slash, pinball, and dungeon crawling all into one neat package that doesn’t overstay its welcome.
What we have in front of us is a successful mix of genres, which guarantees fun and a high rate of challenge, plus a pinch of old-fashioned arcade joy.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Creature in the Well is an undeniably slick and unique experience that blends together action with pinball-like puzzling in a very satisfying way. Whilst the concept is simple, there’s a fair amount of skill and strategy required to progress – it’ll definitely take a bit of time to master its mechanics, but who cares when the action itself is so much fun? The only real downside is that the game can feel repetitive at times, with some of the rooms you encounter utilising the same ideas over and over again. It’s not too much of a bad thing since the core mechanics of the game work so well, but I couldn’t help but to feel a little bored during the more repetitive moments. Still, there’s a heck of a lot more good than bad in Creature in the Well and it certainly stands tall as one of the more unique titles I’ve played so far in 2019. It might not be perfect, but it’s SUPER COOL and will offer plenty of satisfying action to anyone who decides to play it.
It’s tough at times, there no denying that, but figuring out how to use each sector’s layout to your advantage will soon make you appreciate the subtly implemented progression system and impeccably designed rooms, adding to the pinball hack and slash gameplay that feels fantastic in all its forms from the moment you step foot in the mountain.
Oblique storytelling combines with comic book art, atmospheric music, engaging "pinbrawler" mechanics, and rewarding dungeon crawling gameplay to create one of the more memorable indie games of 2019.
Creature in the Well has a promising premise, but fails to build it into something as challenging (and rewarding) as it ought to be.
An interesting and intelligently brief experiment that blends ball games with dungeon crawling in a few nice, albeit a little repetitive, ways.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
It won’t turn you into a pinball wizard, but it will provide you with several hours of unique entertainment.
Overall, I had an amazing time with Creature in the Well. It’s one of the best dungeon crawlers on the Switch and most certainly deserves to be the pioneer in a new genre that Flight School is calling the “Pinbrawler.”
Creature in the Well excels. It’s launching at $14.99, and considering I’ve sunk nearly a dozen hours into it, that price seems more than fair, even if the difficulty isn’t always.
Despite some of its flaws, the few hours you’ll spend with Creature of the Well will be some of the most satisfying you’ll spend in all of gaming in 2019.
Flight School Studio has created an exceptional world to explore in Creature in the Well. Its prodigious art direction is enticing, wooing players into a unique puzzle game that very much feels like a history lesson on the medium itself. It combines ideas and concepts found throughout gaming into a single, dynamic experience with a memorable antagonist eerily watching your every move. I absolutely love it, but I recognize there is room for improvement. With a bit more variety in design and a fine-tuned difficulty curve, it could have been one for the ages.
Creature in the Well is a hypnotic flipper 'n' slash with astonishing art design. A brilliant mix that explodes in pure arcade pleasure, despite its dungeon crawling being quite repetitive and little inspired.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While it has a fantastic high level concept, Creature in the Well quickly realizes it has no idea what to actually do with it and becomes a repetitive slog before long.
The periphery is unfortunately a little maddening, with death gameplay loop and general lack of explanation topping the complaints. My advice would be to not go into it fully blind and don't be afraid to ask for help at the outset. It's well worth trotting through the rough opening to get to the gooey center of excellent genre blending.
I didn't know how interested I was in Creature in the Well until I've first seen it. I didn't know how much I wanted it until I first played it. Creature in the Well is a mashup of some stellar genres and it serves up a fresh dish of well-balanced gameplay. There's more skill needed here than a simple hack & slash, but the challenge is enough that it feels satisfying at any level. Though some puzzles are rather simple, others challenge you in all the right ways and reward you for it. It's a unique game that remained fun for its entirety and one that begs for more content and/or a sequel. Another indie highlight for the books.
I think Creature in The Well is a unique take on the action genre that successfully blends puzzle and pinball mechanics. The gameplay is very satisfying and the world is beautifully animated. You’ll most likely be drawn in by Creature in The Well’s story which starts off vague and unravels itself into quite the interesting narrative. If you’re not the type of person that’s willing to make a few attempts to get things right, then maybe avoid this one. However, if you’re alright with putting in the time to improve Creature in The Well is a genuinely terrific adventure.
The game is just as addictive as playing a real pinball machine, and the stages last just long enough to comfortably play in short bursts, but the challenge of “just one more run” is ever-present as you repair the giant construct to save the village and simply must know what happens next.
While Creature in the Well looks like a game that would test my might, instead it tests my wits. It’s dark, a little bit funny, and it delivers puzzles that are more satisfying to solve than defeating standard dungeon crawling monsters.
"The beast is inside the pinball machine."
Review in Finnish | Read full review