THE WELL

The nameless main character—a hermit who lives many miles away from the nearest human soul—after a splendid feast, he suddenly realizes that someone has doomed him to death. Any connection with the outside world was cut off by an unknown force: there was no electricity, the car was broken, and someone destroyed a battery-powered landline phone—the last chance to escape. The protagonist is physically unable to escape; he had chosen to live far away from other people, which was his undoing.

Slowly starving and going mad, he drinks water from the well in the hope of at least slightly dulling his unbearably growing desire to eat. One day, realizing that the bucket has caught something heavy, he puts all his strength into pulling out…

A human corpse.

GAMEPLAY OVERVIEW

THE WELL is a first-person psychological linear horror game with elements of exploration, hunting, and story progression. Explore the main character’s property and the surrounding forest.

After discovering the corpse straight from the well, the protagonist begins to carry out its orders, as if they came from a living person.

• Day-by-day plot progression. Explore the main character’s property, shrouded in thick fog, as the story progresses. Find notes, books, and other interactive items that tell you what happens.

• Execute the corpse’s requests. Even though communication is mostly one-sided, you understand what she needs.

• Hunting. As a player, you will find yourself in the forest thicket teeming with humanoid creatures. You have to kill them with a slow-reloading rifle and finish them off them with a machete. Basic stealth and noise management included.

• The core gameplay loop consists of exploring locations, reading notes, finding required items, completing simple objectives, and hunting creatures in small forest areas.

KEY FEATURES

• A short psychological horror game (approximately 30 minutes long). It includes the full story experience, several in-game days, multiple locations to explore, notes to discover, and short hunting encounters.

• A gradual descent into madness. The transformation of the house into a dump, complete moral decay. Each day alters the environment, giving the player new objectives and areas to explore.

• Exploration and minimalist combat cycle. A slow-reloading rifle for the ranged attacks and a machete. The basic noise system is implemented—NPC will react to the player’s movement and gunfire, making noise an important part of the encounters.