Well Dweller Abilities Guide: Every Movement Unlock and Where It Matters

Ability gates are the engine of any metroidvania: a ledge you cannot reach, a gap you cannot cross, a wall you cannot cling to - and each unlock quietly reopens half the map behind you. This game follows that structure faithfully, and reviewers describe it as a greatest-hits take on the genre: sprawling map, shortcuts, ability gates. Below is every movement unlock we can actually support with recorded 1.0 footage, what each one changes about how you travel, and an honest list of what we cannot confirm yet.

Which Abilities Are Confirmed, and What Do They Open?

The slingshot - your first game-changer

The earliest unlock is also the strangest: an in-game pickup explains that the slingshot “allows you to launch your matchstick and use it to gain additional height.” In practice you fire your own health bar at a wall and bounce off it, and one reviewer counts the matchstick springboard among the game’s genuinely novel abilities. Community runs place it within the opening half hour, and from that moment vertical clutter stops being decoration - every high ledge becomes a routing question instead of a boundary.

Wall jump and climbing - the vertical key

Later in the early game, an egg pickup grants the wall jump with explicit instructions: pull jump while pressing against a wall to climb. Climbing drains a stamina meter - the little wing above your head - which refreshes when you stand on solid ground, while wall jumping itself appears unlimited. This is the key that opens cliff faces, towers and the upper reaches of early zones, and one runner notes that a whole lookout town only makes sense once you can scale it.

Sticking the match into the wall

While climbing, you can plant the matchstick itself into the wall, buying a stamina-free rest stop mid-climb. The same runner calls this trick something that breaks the game wide open for travel speed once internalized, because long climbs stop requiring careful rest planning.

The ground dash - dodge first, mobility second

The dash works on the ground only as of 1.0; one runner repeatedly corrects himself mid-run that it is not an air dash. Treat it primarily as your dodge - he remaps it straight onto his dodge button - and secondarily as a gap closer. He also suspects dashing into a jump gains slightly more height, which is worth testing whenever a gap looks just barely too wide.

Hover - the brief but load-bearing pause

An in-game pickup spells it out: hold jump while midair to temporarily hover. The window is short, but reviewers count it among the maneuvers boss fights demand of you, alongside a slide that grants invincibility frames. In practice hover is what makes precise landings and certain boss dodges possible rather than lucky.

Wind riding and gliding - the flight layer

This is the thinnest evidence in the list, so it carries a players-report label. One 100% runner acquires an ability he calls wind ride, describing it as holding jump while standing in a wind current to fly, and remarks that it feels far better than the gliding he had before. He also notes you glide automatically on air drafts and can hold the button to ride them upward. The mechanics read consistently, but this is a single commentary-backed source, so treat the specifics as community-reported.

Tent fast travel - the unglamorous unlock

The game announces it plainly: you can fast travel to any previously used save tent from the map screen. It is not a jump or a dash, but it changes routing as much as anything on this list, and paired with purchasable hints at tents it is why runners praise the game’s navigation so much.

What Can We Not Confirm Yet?

Being honest about the gaps is the point of this section:

• A double jump. It never appears in the footage we reviewed, and one runner jokes it has become a meme to keep expecting it. The game may simply not have one.
• An air dash or an air slingshot. The same runner explicitly expects one or the other mid-run and never gets either on camera.
• The total ability count. Mid-run he tallies four more abilities to go, and late in the run he still expects one more flight-flavored unlock. Exact totals are unverified.
• Endless climbing. Late in the same run he reports being able to climb endlessly, without showing what granted it - an upgrade, a trinket or a story beat is unknown.
• Official names and order. Names like wind ride come from a runner’s shorthand, and routing can reorder unlocks between players.

How Should You Plan Around the Kit?

The habit that pays is the one from our tips and tricks page: when a ledge mocks you, leave a note and move on, because the game reliably lets you return. The endgame expects every maneuver listed here, so resist tunnel-visioning the main path. If you are still in the opening hours, the beginner guide sequences these unlocks in context, the full boss list shows where the kit checks begin, and the free demo only covers the earliest layer of this progression - our demo versus full game breakdown explains where that slice ends.