Currently, I’ve been feeling that Dome Keeper itch… you already know that feeling of taking part in a chill however deep kind of recreation a lot alongside the traces of that recreation however with a distinct tackle it, in a approach. I imply, certain, there’s Wall World however Wall World has its personal points, particularly meta development that’s virtually required with a purpose to play the sport and never simply lose to a boss or no matter.
So, whereas looking Steam, I discovered this recreation known as “Ocean Keeper: Dome Survivor“, in my library it’s simply known as “Ocean Keeper” and on all of the artwork for the sport, it’s titled “Codename: Ocean Keeper”. It’s a bit odd however hey, typically you simply have three completely different names, I assume.
Ocean Keeper is a recreation that launched onto Steam into Early Entry again in summer season and I gave it a attempt extra just lately however ended up having blended emotions about it. Therefore, I’ll discuss a bit about that immediately and hope that this a) works to tell others of what they’ll get into in the event that they seize this recreation for themselves, and b) supplies suggestions to the builders as to what positively wants to vary within the recreation.
Developer: RetroStyle Video games
Writer: RetroStyle Video games
Style: Early Entry, Indie, Prime-Down Shooter Motion Mining Roguelike
Launch Date: July nineteenth, 2024
Reviewed on: PC
Obtainable on: PC
Copy was bought.
Earlier than we speak about Ocean Keeper, let’s speak about its inspirations. For what it’s value, this recreation is especially impressed by two video games, the aforementioned Dome Keeper in addition to Wall World. In Dome Keeper, you land on an alien planet in seek for an alien relic, mining sources by day and defending your dome towards the hordes of aliens by night time. In Wall World, you discover a wall and transfer round in your mech spider alongside that wall. Caves that you simply discover are finite, so that you’ll should maintain going to seek out extra sources for upgrades and you need to defend your mech spider or die attempting.
If I needed to say which video games this was nearer to, it could positively be Wall World. That is advantageous, in and of itself, however I discovered it a bit jarring how little the sport itself innovates.
Apart from the angle being isometric while you defend towards the enemies, that is virtually simply Wall World however within the ocean – which is okay in a approach, after all. You search for caves to discover, mine sources, get upgrades, after which combat waves of enemies.
The fight itself feels fairly good initially. You’re in a mech spider and gun down enemies with a wide range of weapons that you simply’ll should unlock. You will discover new weapons however are restricted by what number of you may equip at a time. That is the place meta progressions is available in, letting you unlock extra slots for weapons and skills alike. It will get stale shortly although and no quantity of everlasting unlocks will repair that. It’s simply “gun ’em down” or “gun ’em down however with an exclamation mark!” slightly than really having attention-grabbing weapons or something…
That stated, what I discover attention-grabbing right here is the number of enemies out there – from hordes of Zerg-like squishy enemies to angler fish that camouflage themselves on the bottom or worms spitting acid at you from afar. There’s a lot.
Moreover, you need to cope with bosses. They don’t reward you with something while you kill them however the bosses a minimum of give you a very good problem and completely different assault patterns, though additionally they seem to like simply spawning inside you and dealing injury that you simply can not keep away from. That is the place meta development is available in, letting you unlock higher stats and a dodge and a defend and stuff. Issues that ought to be within the recreation from the get-go, I’d think about.
Contained in the caves, you dive deeper into the scuffed-looking blocky mines and seize sources that you’ll want to haul nearer to the doorway. There are a number of completely different sources out there and any block harvested provides you meta forex – similar to in Wall World. Like, straight up taken from there.
Once I say that it seems “scuffed”, I imply that in a “it clashes with the artwork fashion in different areas” type of approach. I don’t thoughts Indie Video games trying iffy right here and there so long as they’re enjoyable or good video games however on this case, you’ve acquired the gorgeous mech-spider sequences within the overworld… and you then actually should mine blocks contained in the caves and your mannequin simply doesn’t look that attention-grabbing. Coherence would have been good there. Therefore the scuff remark. Even pixel artwork would have been higher in all probability, in my view.
Now, primarily based on these options I’ve talked about already, a few of you may assume “bizarre, this sounds similar to Wall World” and also you’d be proper. Wall World is an attention-grabbing one as a result of it introduces lore right into a Dome Keeper like expertise and has positively its personal takes on the components. Ocean Keeper doesn’t actually try this. In reality, it has “Dome Survivor” within the title however you neither should cope with Survival or any “Survivors-like” parts nor with a Dome. It feels prefer it’s setting the incorrect expectations right here. It simply comes throughout as an amalgamation of inspirations with no soul of its personal. And that’s tough.
Like, fight is usually kiting and capturing a machine gun. The upgrades depart little to no participant company. You actually simply improve your injury, well being and no matter however there aren’t any good or attention-grabbing selections to make both proper right here. After your very first run, you realise swiftly that you simply’ve been struggling as a result of the sport expects you to grind actually any block to then purchase upgrades to make your diver sooner and your mech sturdier or to present you a dodge since dodging some boss assault patterns is virtually unimaginable with out some talents. You simply take the hits, I assume.
I now talked about meta-progression thrice on this overview as a result of I dislike it simply that a lot. The entire cause why meta development exists in video games is to stretch out content material in order that the participant doesn’t get by means of it too shortly. In video games like Hades it is smart to do that. You nerf the participant in order that they’ve a tough time ending the sport which in flip allows to expertise the story and become involved with the world and the assorted quests and parts. This, nevertheless, comes on the draw back that individuals who don’t care in regards to the narrative parts will really feel aggravated at it.
As such, meta development sometimes serves no goal in video games with no narrative like Ocean Keeper as a result of it simply is meant to make you grind out runs and waste your time so as to finally benefit from the recreation correctly.
One thing Ocean Keeper supposedly has is ruins with puzzles and lore and whatnot however I haven’t encountered any in my playtime and critiques on Steam, I additionally didn’t appear to seek out many others that have been in a position to. Some skilled them, some didn’t, some discovered them boring, some preferred them rather a lot. No thought.
Edit: I, since I wrote this, did encounter ruins twice in different runs, comparatively early on, too, so there placement appears to be random-ish. The puzzles themselves are nothing main. Be aware of colored numbers, press a button, drop a block, hyperlink a colored cable. When you’re colour-blind, you’ll hate these. They’re quite simple but additionally you’ll should maintain defending towards waves every time the timer ticks over which is annoying.
It’s a cool thought in all probability however the map is big, getting markers that present you which of them caves you’ve been to prices meta forex (why?) and with some procedural era, it makes it at occasions troublesome to get there.
All in all, I’d wish to say that Ocean Keeper feels uninspired. It takes a number of inspiration but it surely’s missing the soul to face by itself and do one thing completely different and distinctive and one thing that solely RetroStyle Video games might make. This recreation right here is trendy, yeah, however not retro nor distinctive. I discovered it a bit jarring.
When you like meta development, this recreation’s in all probability a very good match for you however personally, I worth my time extra, and I don’t need to grind out runs whereas being bored solely to then finally probably be in a state as a participant that was meant within the first place.
To not point out that you may actually get all achievements for this in like lower than an hour. It actually awards you with achievements for simply taking part in the sport slightly than really doing something that will be an achievement.
As such, we are able to be taught that apparently, based on the World Achievements stats, solely 20% of gamers have defeated 20 waves in whole. Solely 30% have defeated 10 waves in whole. That’s a giant drop off proper there. Solely 47% of gamers have accomplished 5 or extra waves of enemies. You will get to 10 or fifteen waves in a single run, btw. In fact, solely 62.2% of gamers accomplished the obligatory tutorial, so chances are high excessive that there’s practically 40% of people that personal this recreation that simply haven’t performed the sport however that appears tough.
Achievements, and it is a big pet peeve for me, want to present you a reward for going out of your solution to do one thing. Suppose, as an example, dealing a billion injury in a single shot in Threat of Rain 2, touchdown the little drone within the Solar in Outer Wilds, beating a run in twenty minutes in Dome Keeper, et cetera. There are such a lot of methods of doing it that present enjoyable significant challenges.
In Ocean Keeper, you can’t play the sport with out getting an achievement pop-up each two to 5 minutes. “Full the (obligatory) tutorial!”, “Dig a single Copper Ore”, “Dig a handful of blocks!”, “kill enemies”, “get a relic”, “dig 5 copper”, “dig one iron”, ughhhhhhhh
I really feel like Ocean Keeper: Dome Survivor has an id disaster. It has “dome” in its identify however there is no such thing as a dome within the recreation… It has survivor in there but it surely doesn’t actually do something that’s survivor-like. Even the “Keeper” in its identify, doesn’t do a lot. You’re not taking good care of the ocean. You’re destroying its fauna and exploiting its caves.
The gunplay is enjoyable initially however wears out shortly, turning into fairly a little bit of a boring mess whereas the mining simply feels janky, particularly when talents don’t recharge or don’t cease recharging or with you bouncing off edges and never really mining the block in any respect.
So, yeah, I’m not a fan.
I’m not recommending this recreation. It feels uninspired and boring. The meta-progression made it worse for me and the achievement stuff is simply so darn annoying, actually. When you’re into all of the issues I disliked, go for it. However I can’t suggest it in its present state.
This publish was initially written by And duck from Indiecator.
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