Well Dweller Patch Notes and Updates

Well Dweller's October 2 Steam patch should add missing spirit-return trinkets when you load your save, restore the missed Bog campfire achievement on loading, and add checkpoints to the Innkeeper chase on Easy. Update and load your existing save first. For an older save that crashes on loading, use the backup recovery steps.

This page turns the developer's October 2 second patch and September 26 first update into checks you can perform on your own save. These announcements cover Steam; confirm your platform's installed update before applying their conclusions to a console edition.

October 2 update: rewards, chase and vessel changes

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The patch also fixes spa healing, shop price mismatches, healing that ended no-damage challenges, a death-animation replay on teleport, the timer counting up on the menu and a leftover debug skip in Looter's reassembly story. Compare your specific symptom with these changes before restarting a run. For the post-Queen lock icon, the developer specifies new games only.

September 26 update: what changed for players

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The developer also mentions smaller fixes. For the items in this table, the useful distinction is whether your problem involves an input, a display, an achievement trigger or a file that was already damaged. Those require different checks. For example, rebinding Alt is an immediate settings test; an old zero-byte save requires looking for a healthy backup.

Is the save-corruption problem fixed?

The announcement addresses a particular timing collision: pausing on the frame that saving occurs. Install the patch to remove that reported trigger. When testing an old save, start by preserving its folder outside the game's save directory so you can return to the original files if the result is worse than expected.

If loading still fails, check the active save's file size. The developer's recovery instructions distinguish a non-empty save from a zero-byte file, and then look for a non-empty BACKUP_WellDweller file. Follow save location and backup recovery for the complete sequence, including matching the numbered slot and protecting the backup before renaming anything.

A patch and a backup solve different parts of the problem. The update changes future game behavior. A backup provides an earlier copy of your progress. Your restored run may resume at the backup's last save, so check the area, inventory and recent objectives before replacing your recovery copy with a new backup.

Looter's Shop achievement after the update

If you bought items but the shop goal did not unlock, the September 26 announcement is directly relevant: the old trigger only recognized trinket purchases. Install the update before spending currency on another test. Keep the purchase type and your achievement state together in your notes, rather than counting every item you have ever obtained as a shop transaction.

Finding an item in a challenge room is a different action from buying it. The achievement checklist separates purchases, trinkets, slots, upgrades and returned spirits so you can identify which task is actually unfinished. The trinket guide helps if you are comparing inventory items with equip capacity.

If the achievement stays locked after a fresh purchase, record the platform, the purchased item and the current game version when reporting it. That gives the developer a reproducible case instead of an ambiguous statement that the collection counter is wrong.

Time Trials, capture and controls: a quick retest

For the camera problem, use the same room and zoom that caused it before. A changed zoom can hide the symptom, while repeating the original setup tells you whether the announced correction applies. If tracking still fails, note whether the character is moving beyond the camera or the whole scene has stopped updating.

For Steam capture, make a small test before recording a complete boss attempt. Check that the resulting screenshot or clip appears in Steam, then start your longer session. This is especially useful if you want footage of a route or a problem for a support report.

After rebinding controls, verify jump, attack, slide and any movement action you need in a safe room. The slight wall-jump adjustment is also a reason to rehearse a familiar wall before starting the Webdrench Inn chase. That chase combines several traversal actions, so testing one at a time makes a missed input easier to identify.

Issues to check separately from this patch

The September 27 bug thread warned about leaving the nest before collecting a spirit reward. The October 2 announcement supersedes that warning with a repair for affected saves: load the updated game and inspect the inventory. See known bugs and fixes if a reward is still absent.

The same notes suggest changing V-sync and reducing resolution for stutter, and trying windowed mode for the specific GPU-disconnection crash. Those are troubleshooting steps, not entries in the September 26 fixed list. Match the error or symptom before changing settings; a missing reward will not be repaired by a display option.

Sources, platform and review date

Reviewed October 3, 2026 against Kyle Thompson's October 2 and September 26 Steam announcements and September 27 developer thread. The tables summarize announced changes; the retest order is editorial guidance. Dollmaker changes are preventive, while reward recovery is described as an automatic load-time repair, rather than a guarantee that every file problem is repaired.