Keeper Review - A Lighthouse's Duty Never Ends

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We often believe that the most extraordinary stories feature characters who deliver epic lines before a fight or while watching a starry sky, or something between those lines. While it is true in a way, many recent games have eliminated the need for speech to tell a compelling story. That’s what Keeper is. It is a fantastic wordless journey accompanied by a beautiful art style that delivers a short, yet excellent narrative that will stick around in your mind for a very long time.

The Surreal Climb

A flock of seabirds is escaping from a black cloud. One of those poor avians gets hit and falls on top of a lighthouse. The lighthouse wakes up and shines its light upon the black cloud to drive it away. Then, the bird pecks the lighthouse, and the latter grows legs to start walking. After stumbling like a toddler, it starts walking toward a mountain to help the seabird reach the top. These are the first five minutes of this surreal story, and they were more than enough to hook me.

At a glance, Keeper might seem one of those cases where you need to double-check what you’re playing for it to make sense. You’d never expect to take the role of a heroic lighthouse, but Double Fine Productions makes it work by making an inanimate object feel more alive than many other protagonists we’ve seen in recent games.

Furthermore, it is truly surprising just how solid the plot is without the need for words. It took me around five hours to see the credits roll, and that’s without me finding all the secrets across this colorful map, and I enjoyed every single moment of it, even if some gameplay segments were a bit janky, but more on that later.

I could ramble about the story, but since it is a massive part of the game and a short experience, I’d rather wait for you all to experience it fully. Still, it is an unforgettable journey that explores topics such as change, unlikely friendships, and finding purpose. It’s one of the few games of this year that has left me staring silently at the credits as I reached the journey’s end.

Shining Bright Like a Lighthouse

Enjoying a peaceful and alluring story isn’t the only thing that Keeper offers. It also brings some exploration and puzzle-solving-focused gameplay moments that, for the most part, are incredibly engaging. I say for the most part because there is just one segment of the game where the camera and frames work against you, but it is such a small part that it doesn’t really detract from the overall experience.

You begin taking your first steps as a lighthouse (yes, that’s a thing). Soon after, you reach your first puzzles, and Keeper teaches you that shining your light on certain objects can open new paths, solve puzzles, and even activate some time-traveling mechanics in a few areas.

Initially, the gameplay seemed a bit too simple, and I was worried it wouldn’t add any challenge to this enthralling story. Fortunately, it did. For instance, there’s a gate that requires three medallions to open. You must go through different gates to recover these items and bring them back to continue on your path. However, each of these gates has different mechanics, requiring you to shine your light on different pillars that travel in time. The catch here is that the seabird that’s following you will turn into an egg, or, in other cases, a ghost. Here, you need to place the bird in specific spots to solve the puzzle.

Some of these brain teasers get better as you progress through the story, as you won’t always be a walking lighthouse. The actual playstyle changes after certain story aspects, but I won’t go into details because it would be a spoiler, and I don’t want to ruin the experience for you. Yet, I can say that most of these are highly enjoyable and add interesting gameplay features that mix flawlessly with the current story moment you’re experiencing.

My only minor complaints about Keeper are two: performance in the game’s penultimate act, and the camera not being completely controllable during some gameplay segments. For the former, I noticed my frames dropped below 40 in one specific area, and I experienced a lot of texture popping. Fortunately, it was short-lived, but it was pretty distracting after experiencing a flawless ride. The latter was more frustrating because the camera would sometimes stick to a weird angle, blocking my view of the puzzle I needed to solve. I had to leave the area for the camera to reset before trying again. Just like the above, it only happened in a couple of instances, so it wasn’t a deterrent whatsoever.

A Wordless, Unforgettable Ride

Usually, we believe that the bigger the game, the better it will be, but Keeper shows the complete opposite. It focuses first and foremost on its narrative and visuals to create a cohesive and memorable gaming experience, and frankly, one of my favorites this year.

Ultimately, Double Fine Productions shows that words are optional when it comes to telling a heartwarming story. Instead, it brings a lighthouse full of personality, a gorgeous art style that feels as if you were diving inside a kaleidoscope at times, and interesting puzzles to keep you entertained throughout the whole campaign.

Review copy provided by the publisher.

Keeper (PC Reviewed)

9 Superb!

Keeper is a fabulous story-driven adventure with a beautiful art style that doesn't need words, a bloated open world, or trend chasing to weave a compelling narrative all its own.