Well Dweller Demo Bosses: The Groundskeeper Fight, Full Roster, and What Comes Next

What the Well Dweller Demo Bosses Actually Include

The Well Dweller demo bosses list is short — one named fight — but that single encounter tells you a lot about how the full game handles its big moments. The demo covers the first two areas of Kyle Thompson's fairy-tale metroidvania plus one boss in the middle, so most players finish it with a win, an achievement, and no idea that the release build carries 13 boss title cards. If you are hunting for Well Dweller demo bosses, here is what the demo actually runs, what the developer has confirmed for the full roster, and which details remain unverified.

That gap is the interesting part. The Well Dweller on Steam demo gives you a taste of the combat loop, the matchstick weapon, and the slide-dash, then ends on a boss that actually requires a few attempts. The full release has far more waiting, and the demo's own files hint at some of it.

The Groundskeeper: The Demo's Only Named Boss

The Groundskeeper is the only boss the demo names, and it appears in a garden arena. NiaMeowDB's Well Dweller boss database, updated September 22, 2026, notes that three complete recordings show the fight and that the Dark Garden achievement rewards the win with 14 Gamerscore. A creator post dated August 25, 2026 captured the same first boss fight in the demo build, which is a useful snapshot of when the demo was publicly playable.

Why the fight takes a few tries

Hardcore Gamer's April 24, 2026 hands-on preview describes the Groundskeeper as beatable but demanding. The reviewer needed several attempts and framed the fight as a matter of learning escalating attack patterns. The same piece highlights that checkpoints are forgiving, so there is almost no downtime between tries.

Two demo abilities make those retries easier. The slide-dash grants a brief window of invulnerability, which is built for slipping past spikes in narrow tunnels. A gem found early on restores a large chunk of health when timed correctly. Together they turn a rough first attempt into a manageable one.

What you get for winning

Beating the Groundskeeper unlocks the matchstick's wall-throw ability, which turns the weapon into a springboard for higher jumps. That upgrade matters more than the achievement. Later platforming in the demo assumes you have it, and optional challenges — including a time trial tuned to be beatable with about half a second to spare — get easier once you do.

All 13 Boss Titles in the Full Roster

The developer's release-date announcement counts 13 bosses or boss-style sequences across 15 main biomes. The Windows release names 13 boss title cards matching that count, though the list does not establish fight order. Nine of the 13 names also appear in the published Xbox achievement list. Four names — The Colony, Creature From the Deep, Dollmaker's Mirror, and Lida the Terrible — show up only in the build's own files.

The title list reads:

• THE GROUNDSKEEPER
• LADY OF THE DRAINS
• THE SWARM
• THE COLONY
• CREATURE FROM THE DEEP
• SHRINE OF THE SEVEN SONS
• STARSINGER
• DOLLMAKER'S MIRROR
• LIDA THE TERRIBLE
• GRAVEDIGGER
• FOREST KING
• THE QUEEN
• SILVER DOLL

Not every entry is a stand-and-fight encounter. Achievement data shows two chase sequences: Late Night Guest rewards escaping Webdrench Inn, and Hide and Seek rewards evading the Queen. The End then rewards the final battle with her. Six boss objects also ship with finished artwork and no placement in any packaged room, and the build never links a title card to a piece of artwork — so those images are a preview, not a map.

Where Each Boss Sits: Reported Areas and Order

A guide published by gamersocialclub.ca on September 21, 2026 places each of the 13 bosses in an area. Treat this mapping as community-reported rather than confirmed, because two area names drift from the build's own spelling and one entry contradicts itself.

Two caveats matter. The guide writes Graven Valley for the build's GravenValley and The Depths for The Deep, and it lists The Colony in two different regions. Because of that, the middle of the run stays open.

What sources do agree on is the bookends. Gabe and the Goat's timestamped completion walkthrough and the gamersocialclub.ca guides both put the Groundskeeper first, in the Night Garden, and the Swarm second, in The Bog. Beating the Swarm grants Climb and Tent Travel. The Silver Doll comes late in the Queen's Castle, and the Queen is last. Everything between the Swarm and the Silver Doll remains unordered across the sources used here.

Health Pools, Phase Thresholds, and the Queen's Scripted Finish

The demo build's files carry starting health values for three late-game bosses. These are opening numbers, not the total damage a fight requires, and they come from demo build 23772623.

Starsinger shifts into a second phase at 225 HP or below on Easy, or 285 HP or below on Normal and Hard. Reaching the threshold starts a transition, and the next phase begins after that transition completes.

The Queen works differently. Her second-round attack mode holds her at a minimum of 49 HP, so you cannot simply chip her down. Below 50 HP she schedules a final block; move close to that block to advance the sequence, which eventually sets her HP to zero and leads into a cage scene. Her late-fight attack stages begin below 300 HP on Easy or 400 HP on Normal and Hard, and the stage after that begins below 200 HP on every difficulty.

Boss Rush, Achievements, and Open Questions

Boss Rush is the biggest unresolved detail for Well Dweller demo bosses fans hoping to refight encounters. A GameBlast review thread on r/metroidvania reported before launch that Boss Rush was Switch 2 only. The Windows release includes Boss Rush help text describing replays of previously beaten bosses, but that text alone does not establish platform availability. Until someone plays through the release build, the platform question stays open.

Achievement data gives a decent outline of what the game expects you to fight. Rewards cover defeating the Silver Doll, the Gravedigger, the Shrine of the Seven Sons, the Starsinger, the Lady of the Drains, and the swarm, plus winning over the Forest King. Two encounters are chases rather than fights, and The End covers the Queen.

One more demo detail worth flagging: the demo contains a second Groundskeeper arena. It does not prove that the release build's playable progression reaches a second Groundskeeper fight, so treat any claim about a rematch as unverified.

FAQ

How many Well Dweller demo bosses are there?

One. The Groundskeeper is the only boss the demo names, and it sits in a garden arena partway through the demo's two playable areas. The demo's files also contain a second Groundskeeper arena that the playable route never reaches.

Is the Groundskeeper the first boss in the full game?

Community sources agree on that. Gabe and the Goat's completion walkthrough and the gamersocialclub.ca guides both place the Groundskeeper first, in the Night Garden, with the Swarm second in The Bog. The middle of the order remains unordered.

How many bosses does Well Dweller have in total?

Thirteen, according to the developer's release-date announcement, spread across 15 main biomes. The Windows release names 13 boss title cards that match that count, though the list itself does not confirm the order you fight them in.

Can you refight bosses in Well Dweller?

The Windows release includes Boss Rush help text describing replays of previously beaten bosses. A pre-launch report described Boss Rush as Switch 2 exclusive, but platform availability is unconfirmed, so verify it on the Well Dweller Steam page before you plan around it.