Gatekeeper

About

Gatekeeper is a single player and multiplayer shooter game. It was developed by Gravity Lagoon and was released on August 1, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

Gatekeeper is a fast-paced rogue-like. Go on a quest to chase down Chaos and reclaim the stolen Heart of Time, fighting your way through relentless enemy forces. Play solo or in 4-player co-op and become the next Gatekeeper!

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86%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,703 reviews

gameplay101 positive mentions

grinding34 negative mentions

Smooth and responsive twin-stick shooter gameplay with satisfying combat and build variety.
Strong multiplayer co-op experience with scalable difficulty and player revives enhancing teamwork.
Beautiful, clean art style and great music that complement the fast-paced sci-fi roguelike action.

Repetitive objectives and limited enemy and map variety reduce replayability over time.
Unbalanced characters, with melee feeling underpowered compared to ranged, and some abilities or items not impactful.
Occasional bugs and technical issues including terrain collision problems and lack of mid-run saves hinder gameplay experience.

gameplay
248 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
55%
4%
The gameplay is fast-paced, smooth, and engaging, drawing strong inspiration from Risk of Rain 2 but grounded in a top-down perspective with unique builds and mechanics. While praised for its satisfying combat, fluid controls, and co-op fun, some reviewers note repetitive loops, limited stage variety, and a lack of deeper build customization that can affect long-term replayability. Overall, it offers a solid roguelike shooter experience with potential for growth through future updates and added content.
- “The combat feels very smooth, the character abilities are very unique, and I've never seen these kinds of gameplay mechanics before. Along with the random events keeping the gameplay fresh every time, this game brings me back again and again.”
- “The gameplay loop is satisfying: you land in some unknown place, fight waves of enemies, do some objectives, loot chests with items that give you certain bonuses, level up your characters with perks like +attack speed, +damage, +HP regen, -cooldowns... so far it seems promising.”
- “Gatekeeper is a fast-paced, top-down roguelike shooter with a core gameplay loop that is excellent, blending twin-stick shooting with roguelike mechanics. It rewards fast reflexes, build experimentation, and a bit of luck.”
- “Remove or rework the on-death AOE balls; they do so much damage and force you to move in a straight line away to avoid getting hit, simplifying the gameplay to the point of tedium.”
- “The gameplay gets repetitive very quickly, and it feels like after a few hours of playtime, even with roguelike mechanics, the game becomes boring and nothing feels new or changing.”
- “As most negative comments mention, enemies are not interesting, maps are bland, and items do not feel like they add any value to your gameplay after some time.”
music
153 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
45%
3%
The game's music is widely praised for its energetic, bass-heavy EDM style that perfectly complements the fast-paced gameplay and immersive atmosphere, often described as a key highlight and worthy of standalone listening. While most find the soundtrack engaging, dynamic, and integral to the game’s vibe, a minority feel it becomes repetitive or generic over time. Overall, the music significantly enhances the experience, with many players valuing it as a major strength of the game.
- “Sound/music: music is phenomenal, great stuff, few roguelikes get me to just listen to their music instead of having my own in the background.”
- “They took plenty of inspiration from other games in the genre and blended the most intriguing and fun stuff together, bringing their own take to the table, but it appears the inspiration for the music was "we just need to make a banger without excuse," because it is absolute peak.”
- “The game’s soundtrack is equally fun—a pulsing, bass-heavy electro jam that scales up or down based on on-screen intensity.”
- “The enemies, items, music, bosses, skills, etc. are pretty bland and uninteresting compared to Risk of Rain.”
- “The music isn't as good here, the gameplay isn't as good.”
- “I mean it tries hard to sound cool but being honest, it's all 'hufta pufta' music and somewhat unfitting.”
graphics
133 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
66%
30%
4%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their clean, stylized, and visually appealing art style that draws favorable comparisons to Risk of Rain 2, featuring distinctive enemies and varied biomes. While vibrant and engaging, some players note occasional clutter in crowded scenes and minor UI scaling issues, but overall the visuals deliver solid performance and enhance the fast-paced, roguelike gameplay experience.
- “The visual design of Gatekeeper is sleek and clean, leaning into a minimalist sci-fi aesthetic that doesn’t overwhelm but still provides a clear and engaging environment for the action.”
- “Visually great, very clean and crisp graphics with unique appeal, well designed effects, level design too.”
- “The art style and general concept are cool, with beautiful art style, smooth, clean visuals and animations, and superb monster designs that keep the experience engaging.”
- “All in all Gatekeepers is a game that, though lacking in aesthetic presentation, certainly makes up for it with clean, solid gameplay, even at the upper levels of difficulty.”
- “The visuals suffer from pretty bad jagged outlines.”
- “The graphical component looks outdated, even for an indie project, and the poor quality of textures and lack of detail give the impression that you are playing a game from the 90s.”
grinding
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
6%
94%
Grinding in the game is widely described as tedious and excessive, with slow pacing, repetitive runs, and bland enemies contributing to a tiresome experience. Unlocking items and building characters often requires long, repetitive gameplay loops that lack meaningful variety or payoff, making progression feel slow and unrewarding. While some enjoy the grind and replayability, many find it frustrating compared to smoother or more rewarding roguelikes.
- “The unlocks aren't too grindy so far, but given that they're achievement based, there will probably be a few bad eggs in the basket down the line.”
- “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
- “Way too grindy, expects you to do way too many long, repetitive runs with no save points and boring unlocks.”
- “If you open 100% of the database, the game becomes excessively hard and tedious because you literally can't build what you want.”
- “Once you first clear out the map of enemies, they then spawn in waves of approximately 8 enemies per wave, making money and unlock grinding a long and tedious process.”
story
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
73%
9%
The story is generally minimal and often takes a backseat to gameplay, with many users noting a lack of clear narrative or lore depth. While some find the simple story setup sufficient to justify the action, others criticize it as underdeveloped, repetitive, or nearly nonexistent, desiring a more fleshed-out campaign or plot. Overall, the game is praised more for its gameplay and progression than its storytelling.
- “While the story takes a backseat to the gameplay, the narrative framework provides just enough of a setup to justify the relentless action that unfolds across procedurally generated alien landscapes.”
- “The story is simple, but thought provoking and well written.”
- “The characters (mostly) are a lot of fun, and the story concept is great.”
- “No clear story, no sense of what you're doing or why.”
- “Any sorta lore and story also has been thrown overboard and it's just a mindless horde shooter now.”
- “Gatekeeper is a story-less, stage-based roguelite that gives you control of one of seven unlockable gatekeepers, then asks you to murder everything in sight over and over again until you, yourself, are inevitably murdered.”
replayability
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
37%
19%
Replayability in the game is generally praised for its fast-paced action, co-op potential, and artifact-based upgrade system that allows varied playstyles, offering many hours of engaging gameplay. However, critiques point to a lack of content variety, repetitive objectives, and insufficient depth, which currently limit its long-term replay value. Many reviewers see strong potential for improvement and recommend revisiting the game as future updates add more content to enhance replayability.
- “The replayability, music, atmosphere, and ramping difficulty are some of the main reasons players can easily lose 3 to 4 hours playing, feeling as if only 15 minutes have passed.”
- “Excellent replay value with high replayability due to the roguelike nature of the game and the endless survival mechanic.”
- “A lot of replayability thanks to achievements unlocking different items, keeping the gameplay fresh and new.”
- “The upgrade system is neat, the characters are fun but everything else lacks depth and replayability.”
- “As good as the core gameplay is, Gatekeeper suffers from a severe lack of variety, which drastically affects replayability.”
- “Absolutely no replayability.”
optimization
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
38%
14%
The game is generally praised for its solid and impressive optimization, delivering smooth, stable performance with minimal frame drops even during intense moments, and runs well on modest PCs. However, some users note that further optimization is needed for devices like the Steam Deck and lower-end systems, as performance can occasionally dip. Overall, the optimization is viewed as a strong point, enhancing the enjoyable gameplay experience.
- “Performance is outstanding, even in a flurry of chain item procs in an ocean of enemies there's no visible frame drops.”
- “Seems to be well optimized and runs locked at 144 fps with no crashes.”
- “Performance is generally stable, and the game runs well even on modest systems.”
- “Played exclusively on Steam Deck, it can usually hold 60fps but once it starts getting crazy with a lot of enemies and particle effects, it will drop down to 40fps or less, so it definitely needs more optimization.”
- “I want to like this game but it needs work... The content isn't bad but everything is so poorly optimized you can't tell if your game is crashing, freezing, or just stopped working.”
- “The performance is god awful now and it feels like the demo was miles ahead.”
atmosphere
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
10%
30%
The atmosphere is consistently praised for its depth, enhanced by beautiful visuals and a standout soundtrack that immerses players effectively. Combined with a clean interface and polished design, the game creates a captivating and engaging environment that draws players in for extended play sessions.
- “The atmosphere is very deep, the music is great, the visuals are nice, and the user interface is clean and informative.”
- “Still, the game’s polish—evident in its vibrant visuals, atmospheric soundtrack, and bug-free experience—makes it shine.”
- “The user interface, the characters' models, the sounds, the music, the atmosphere, the mechanic with the pillars pushing you away... I want to make it clear that I have zero issue with creators getting inspired by other games, but Gatekeeper feels more than 'we were inspired by Risk of Rain,' if you follow me.”
- “The atmosphere is okay.”
- “The replayability, music, atmosphere and ramping difficulty are one of the main reasons for someone to easily lose 3 to 4 hours playing, with a feeling that only 15 minutes have passed.”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
88%
The game's stability is notably problematic, with frequent bugs, freezes, and crashes occurring especially after extended play sessions around the one to two-hour mark. While it runs smoothly on some devices like the Steam Deck, issues such as game browser failures, audio dropouts, and disconnects significantly hinder the overall experience. However, a few users have reported not encountering any bugs.
- “Runs great on Steam Deck, too.”
- “Arena gets buggy after a while, and after two hours the game can lag and players disconnect.”
- “For one, when any of us exits to the main menu, the game completely freezes on the loading screen.”
- “Consistently just freezes, audio dies, or the game outright shuts down once you get past the hour mark—this hour mark being necessary for half of the achievements just causes the game to fail to operate.”
character development
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
57%
14%
29%
Character development is generally praised for its unique and fun movesets, though opinions on character design itself are mixed, with some appreciating the variety and creativity while others find certain designs unappealing or too similar. Overall, the characters offer engaging gameplay through distinct abilities despite some critiques of their visual design.
- “Great game — I really liked the character design and their abilities.”
- “I like the 2-stage level mechanic, and the character design is interesting and has good variety.”
- “Having now unlocked every character, I can confidently say that each of them has a unique and fun well put together moveset.”
- “Even things like the basic character design have bizarre elements.”
- “Character design definitely needs some work.”
humor
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is praised for its entertaining and memorable moments, such as amusing character actions and witty interactions with friends. Players enjoy the playful item stacking effects that add a lighthearted touch, though some find the comedic elements occasionally frustrating after extended play. Overall, the humor enhances the fun and social experience.
- “I can't stop laughing at Bastion's two-hand hammer slam.”
- “My favorite memory is literally dying laughing listening to Dracula flow with my friends as we blast through levels.”
- “It's tight, fun, and more importantly, it mimics that Risk of Rain 2 style that other games should, especially stacking items for funny effects.”