Keeper was provided by Xbox Game Studios for review. Thank you!
I had a lot of feelings come to me when I first saw Keeper. My first thought was how weird it looked, you play as this lighthouse with a bird sitting on top of you, walking through this crazy, alien-like world. Then, the beauty of that world hit me. There's just something about the worlds that developer Double Fine Productions makes that finds a way to captivate me. They did it with Psychonauts, so I was ready for them to do it again. And I am pleased to say that yes, they did do it again.
With Keeper, Double Fine set off to create an atmospheric, gorgeous puzzle game, and they crushed it. The world is just beautiful and mystifying. From the grassy landscapes filled with dodo-like birds to the desert town that has these gear-faced inhabitants, each section of the world just feels unique and crazy in its own right. It was definitely enhanced by the OLED screen I played on, but the colors and world just pop in all the right ways.
With this being a weird alien-like planet, Double Fine was able to go crazy with what we could see, and they took advantage of that. The gorgeous world is coupled with insane creatures like a giant flying whale and a giant tree with a face that reminded me of E.T. It was hard not to love the weirdness before me, and it was a huge motivator for me to keep playing. I wanted to see what else was waiting for me, and there was always something around the corner I hadn’t expected.
The visuals and soundtrack meld wonderfully with each other to create this atmosphere that stands out above a lot of the other games I have been playing. The diverse landscapes, lighting, and ambiance just work so well together, and it feels like it keeps getting more and more intriguing to see as I keep playing. It felt like they kept one-upping my expectations of what could come next, with some twists throughout the game that kept me hooked in.
Ultimately, the story was more difficult to understand, yet still had some impactful moments that I ultimately enjoyed. We take control of this lighthouse that somehow gained its own legs and consciousness, and after being awoken by a bird named Twig, we will go on this journey together throughout the island we are on. The story features no dialogue or lore, which can be a little frustrating when trying to understand what is going on, but that's part of the beauty of the tale being told.
Keeper is a game where taking a step back and just interpreting the events in your own way truly makes it shine. Trying to figure out what is going on will be a little irritating, but just going with the flow and seeing the events happening in the present and taking it one step at a time just makes it so much better. For me, the game was about companionship and rebirth. There are multiple times where time will move forward, and we essentially are reborn, having to, quite literally, learn how to move again. Even still, we get on our way, keep moving forward, and find a way back to our companions.
This, coupled with the atmospheric world, is just a joy. Once I figured out that taking a step back could actually help, I found myself loving and enjoying the game much more. It is a weird one, very weird, yet still finds a way to stay magical and rewarding to play through.
Aside from walking around the world, watching our lighthouse body sway back and forth, there will be puzzles to complete that will help us progress. There’s a solid variety of puzzles, where we have to utilize our wits, our light, and our flying friend Twig. Most of them are interesting, and there’s a good variety as well, but the bulk of them aren’t that challenging. Apart from maybe 1 or 2 that come to mind, it was pretty easy to figure out what to do. The new mechanics introduced for some sections, like going into the past or future, do keep it intriguing enough to play through them.
However, sometimes I just wanted to keep on playing and not stop for puzzles. With them being relatively easy, I was more interested in continuing the narrative and figuring out what was going to happen next. There were a couple of moments in particular where I felt that it lingered just a little too long, like the desert town where we have to go to three different paths to get three medalions and continually need to walk slowly to each spot.
In a way, it feels forced to have to stop and progress. This is a gorgeous, atmospheric experience with a solid story about two companions who keep coming back to each other throughout time. I just started wishing I could focus on that and see what would happen next, instead of being stopped to shine a light on specific spots to open a pathway to continue walking on. The elements and mechanics are still interesting, and I enjoyed them, but with this kind of game, they just got in the way at times, enough to the point where I wanted to skip them if I could.
Keeper feels like it could be the perfect fit for the Steam Deck and portable play, but unfortunately, it just isn't there yet. Even on the lowest possible settings, there will be plenty of areas where the framerate drops below 30. It's a shame, too, because the world of Keeper is gorgeous and inviting, but just not enjoyable on the Deck yet.
There are some playable spots where the game can hit up to 40 FPS, but there are many more that drop below to 23 FPS at the lowest. It never went below 20, but since it can't hit 30, I would consider it not a great fit just yet.
Xbox did confirm to me that the game wasn't optimized yet, and patches for handheld devices are in development. So, I fully expect Keeper to be very enjoyable on the go, but it just isn't ready for portable play yet.
There is an accessibility tab, where we can change language, text size and thickness, toggle motion blur, toggle whether the interaction prompt is displayed, and vibration sensitivity. We can also change audio sliders, change keybindings, and modify camera sensitivity.
The game doesn't support 16:10 resolutions, but it has cloud saves and controller support. The game does have HDR settings and recognizes the Steam Deck OLED's screen.
Keeper is one of those experiences that grew on me the more I played. While the visuals blew me away immediately, I didn't start enjoying the story and experience until I let go and just stopped trying to make sense of what was going on. From there, I could just let myself get sucked into the beauty of rebirth and companionship that I fell in love with. The puzzles we will encounter are interesting and have some cool mechanics, but some overstayed their welcome more than I would have liked. Still, the good heavily outweighs the bad, and I highly recommend playing through this magical experience.
However, I would not play it on the Steam Deck just yet. While it is possible, there will be lots of drops below 30 FPS, and with the sacrifices needed, the beauty of the world can't be enjoyed to the extent it should. A patch is coming, which is great, but it isn't there just yet.
Our review is based on the PC version of this game.
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Keeper is an incredible, atmospheric, and deep experience that is a joy to lose yourself in, though it isn't ready to be played on the Steam Deck yet.
