Currently, I’ve been feeling that Dome Keeper itch… you recognize that feeling of taking part in a chill however deep form of sport a lot alongside the traces of that sport however with a distinct tackle it, in a method. 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 shopping Steam, I discovered this sport 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, generally you simply have three totally different names, I suppose.
Ocean Keeper is a sport 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 speak a bit about that at this time and hope that this a) works to tell others of what they’ll get into in the event that they seize this sport for themselves, and b) supplies suggestions to the builders as to what positively wants to alter within the sport.
Developer: RetroStyle Video games
Writer: RetroStyle Video games
Style: Early Entry, Indie, High-Down Shooter Motion Mining Roguelike
Launch Date: July nineteenth, 2024
Reviewed on: PC
Accessible on: PC
Copy was bought.
Earlier than we speak about Ocean Keeper, let’s speak about its inspirations. For what it’s value, this sport 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 assets by day and defending your dome in opposition to the hordes of aliens by evening. In Wall World, you discover a wall and transfer round in your mech spider alongside that wall. Caves that you just discover are finite, so that you’ll need to hold going to search out extra assets for upgrades and it’s important to defend your mech spider or die attempting.
If I needed to say which video games this was nearer to, it might positively be Wall World. That is high quality, in and of itself, however I discovered it a bit jarring how little the sport itself innovates.
Other than the angle being isometric whenever you defend in opposition to the enemies, that is virtually simply Wall World however within the ocean – which is ok in a method, after all. You search for caves to discover, mine assets, 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 just’ll need to unlock. You’ll find 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 talents 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!” relatively than really having attention-grabbing weapons or something…
That mentioned, what I discover attention-grabbing right here is the number of enemies accessible – 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, it’s important to take care of bosses. They don’t reward you with something whenever you kill them however the bosses a minimum of offer you an excellent problem and totally different assault patterns, though additionally they seem to like simply spawning inside you and dealing injury that you just can’t 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 sport from the get-go, I’d think about.
Contained in the caves, you dive deeper into the scuffed-looking blocky mines and seize assets that it is advisable haul nearer to the doorway. There are just a few totally different assets accessible and any block harvested offers you meta foreign money – similar to in Wall World. Like, straight up taken from there.
Once I say that it appears “scuffed”, I imply that in a “it clashes with the artwork model in different areas” form of method. 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 received the beautiful mech-spider sequences within the overworld… and then you definately actually need to 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 most likely, for my part.
Now, based mostly on these options I’ve talked about already, a few of you would possibly 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 method. Ocean Keeper doesn’t actually do this. Actually, it has “Dome Survivor” within the title however you neither need to take care of Survival or any “Survivors-like” components nor with a Dome. It feels prefer it’s setting the improper 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 generally 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 are not any good or attention-grabbing decisions to make both proper right here. After your very first run, you realise impulsively that you just’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 provide you a dodge since dodging some boss assault patterns is virtually unimaginable with out some skills. You simply take the hits, I suppose.
I now talked about meta-progression thrice on this evaluation 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 way 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 permits to expertise the story and get entangled with the world and the assorted quests and components. This, nonetheless, comes on the draw back that individuals who don’t care concerning the narrative components will really feel irritated at it.
As such, meta development usually serves no function 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 to be able to finally benefit from the sport 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 taking a look at evaluations on Steam, I additionally didn’t appear to search out many others that had been capable of. Some skilled them, some didn’t, some discovered them boring, some favored them quite a bit. No concept.
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. Pay attention to colored numbers, press a button, drop a block, hyperlink a colored cable. Should you’re colour-blind, you’ll hate these. They’re quite simple but additionally you’ll need to hold defending in opposition to waves each time the timer ticks over which is annoying.
It’s a cool concept most likely however the map is large, getting markers that present you which of them caves you’ve been to prices meta foreign money (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 loads of inspiration however it’s missing the soul to face by itself and do one thing totally different and distinctive and one thing that solely RetroStyle Video games may make. This sport right here is fashionable, yeah, however not retro nor distinctive. I discovered it a bit jarring.
Should you like meta development, this sport’s most likely an excellent 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 presumably be in a state as a participant that was supposed within the first place.
To not point out that you would be able to 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 relatively than really doing something that may be an achievement.
As such, we are able to study that apparently, based on the International Achievements stats, solely 20% of gamers have defeated 20 waves in whole. Solely 30% have defeated 10 waves in whole. That’s an enormous drop off proper there. Solely 47% of gamers have accomplished 5 or extra waves of enemies. You may get to 10 or fifteen waves in a single run, btw. After all, solely 62.2% of gamers accomplished the obligatory tutorial, so likelihood is excessive that there’s almost 40% of people that personal this sport that simply haven’t performed the sport however that appears tough.
Achievements, and this can be a enormous pet peeve for me, want to provide you a reward for going out of your technique to do one thing. Assume, for 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 identification disaster. It has “dome” in its title however there isn’t any dome within the sport… It has survivor in there however it doesn’t actually do something that’s survivor-like. Even the “Keeper” in its title, doesn’t do a lot. You’re not caring for 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 skills 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 sport. It feels uninspired and boring. The meta-progression made it worse for me and the achievement stuff is simply so darn annoying, actually. Should you’re into all of the issues I disliked, go for it. However I can’t suggest it in its present state.
This put up was initially written by Dan Dicere from Indiecator.
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