Ocean Keeper: Dome Survival
- July 18, 2024
- RetroStyle Games
- 6h median play time
Get on Steam"Ocean Keeper: Dome Survival" is a game where players explore the ocean floor on a robotic spider, fighting off sea monsters and gathering resources to upgrade their machine. The game features a huge arsenal of weapons and a meta-currency system for customization. Players can discover lost remnants of civilization and mine resources in caves while trying to survive in this underwater world.
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Reviews
- The game features a unique blend of mining, base-building, and survival mechanics that keeps gameplay engaging and addictive.
- The underwater visuals and art style are stunning, creating an immersive atmosphere that enhances exploration.
- There is a surprising amount of depth and strategy involved, with various upgrades and modifiers that allow for diverse playstyles.
- The game suffers from slow progression and clunky movement mechanics, making it feel tedious at times.
- Many players find the combat unbalanced, with overwhelming enemy numbers that can lead to frustrating gameplay experiences.
- UI elements and upgrade benefits are often unclear, leading to confusion about how to effectively progress in the game.
- gameplay79 mentions
- 43 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a refined loop that combines mining and combat phases, offering a mix of strategic planning and engaging mechanics. While many players find it addictive and enjoyable, some note that it can feel slow-paced and grindy, with a need for more variety in enemy types and scenarios. Overall, the game provides a satisfying experience with solid core mechanics, though it may require further development to enhance depth and pacing.
“Core gameplay is highly refined with modifiers, difficulties, and loadouts that keep it interesting every single time.”
“The gameplay loop is perfectly tightened and ends as soon as you feel you've overdone it a bit.”
“The underwater world is beautifully crafted, with stunning visuals and immersive gameplay.”
“Think Dome Keeper as the closest analog that I know of - there's a mining phase, then there's a fighting phase, and neither seems to connect super well with each other visually, thematically, or gameplay-wise, and both start out quite slow and limited.”
“Gameplay takes a massive drop compared to Dome Keeper and Wall World, completely automating attacks, and having turn speed not be an issue.”
“The starting pace and movement of the mech and diver feel sluggish, which can hinder the early-game experience.”
- graphics25 mentions
- 64 % positive mentions
- 24 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received widespread acclaim for their stunning visuals and unique art style, particularly in the vibrant underwater environments and intricate mech designs. Players appreciate the detailed isometric graphics and the contrasting aesthetics between exploration and combat modes, which enhance the overall immersive experience. Overall, the game's artwork, animations, and dynamic visuals contribute significantly to its charm and appeal.
“The underwater world is beautifully crafted, with stunning visuals and immersive gameplay.”
“Detailed isometric graphics with vibrant underwater environments and intricate mech designs.”
“Codename: Ocean Keeper is an exciting underwater arcade game with stunning graphics and dynamic gameplay.”
“It was very surprising that the art styles between dig/exploration mode and mech/combat mode are so different.”
“It's not possible to set graphical settings.”
“In terms of graphics:”
- story24 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 75 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The game's story is currently minimal, with many players expressing a desire for more narrative depth and engaging content, such as additional maps and secondary missions. While some appreciate the environmental storytelling and gameplay-driven narrative, others find the lack of a traditional story arc disappointing, describing the experience as monotonous and akin to a simple scoring loop. Overall, there is a strong hope among players for future updates to enhance the storyline and overall gameplay experience.
“The story unfolds through environmental storytelling and interactions with the game's world.”
“The game’s story is complemented by its intriguing setting and gameplay-driven narrative, making each dive an adventure in itself.”
“While the narrative is not heavily focused on traditional story arcs, the rich setting and gameplay elements provide depth and engagement.”
“At its current stage of development, it's essentially a flash game with no story or endgame, just a loop to see how high you can score, aka how many rounds you can survive.”
“There are a few modifier upgrades, I see that the developers promise a story for the game, but they all seem to go the same way, or at least feel the same.”
“Feels like someone took Wall World and removed all the fun elements and story and just left this boring and slow garbage.”
- music14 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 21 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its ability to enhance the atmosphere and immersion, with many players enjoying the soundtrack and its alignment with the game's themes. However, some critiques mention that certain tracks feel forced and lack proper pacing, detracting from the overall polish. Overall, while the music contributes positively to the experience, there are calls for improvements to ensure it complements the gameplay more effectively.
“First of all, the game absolutely captures the atmosphere, sound effects, music, and elements of satisfaction.”
“Deeply in love with this precious game, the graphics, the music, and the whole idea behind it.”
“The music also helps immerse you in this underwater world.”
“The designs and art are very contrast, the music feels forced and not paced well with the game itself, making the game feel less polished and more of a constant turn off.”
“The music needs rework and there are a few bugs that break the game sometimes, like you can't rotate the weapons very occasionally, but the core game loop is fun and it will be great.”
“Ambient music in between fights reminded me of the Stalker: Shadow of Chernobyl soundtrack.”
- replayability12 mentions
- 58 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Overall, the game is praised for its high replayability, driven by procedurally generated levels, diverse customization options, and frequent updates that enhance content. While some players feel it lacks depth and additional content, many appreciate the potential for community-driven replayability and find the game easy to pick up and enjoyable to revisit.
“Super easy to pick up and great replay value!”
“There is a lot of replayability and a lot of content to enjoy.”
“High; procedurally generated levels and diverse mech customization offer significant replayability.”
“The game has no depth; it needs much more content and options to have replayability.”
“And add some replayability not only from the developers but also with the help of the community.”
“That looks awesome... but why isn't it showing up in the store's DLC page? Well, that's because this massive boon to the game's replayability is absolutely free.”
- atmosphere10 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game excels in creating a captivating atmosphere, characterized by its stunning underwater visuals, vibrant color palette, and immersive sound design. Players appreciate the detailed environments that enhance exploration, making it a standout title in the rogue-lite genre despite its lack of a storyline and multiplayer features. Overall, the atmospheric elements significantly contribute to the game's appeal and enjoyment.
“The game absolutely captures the atmosphere, sound effects, music, and elements of satisfaction.”
“The underwater world is visually stunning, with a vibrant and immersive environment that enhances exploration.”
“Despite lacking a storyline and multiplayer mode, it captivates with its atmosphere and visual style.”
“The atmosphere really draws you in, making exploration a visually stunning experience.”
“First off, the atmosphere and color palette of the locations are amazing!”
- grinding9 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 11 % neutral mentions
- 78 % negative mentions
Reviews indicate that the grinding aspect of the game is often perceived as overly tedious and time-consuming, with players feeling that the progression is frustratingly slow and repetitive. While some appreciate the balance of mechanics and find certain elements engaging, many express dissatisfaction with the endless nature of grinding, particularly in later stages where gameplay becomes monotonous. Overall, the grind is seen as a significant detractor from the overall enjoyment of the game.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“Overly hard and tedious... an endless grind for the 11 or so items you can unlock. You will be doing good after 40 games or so when you have 1 or 2 items unlocked and some 0.03% useless upgrades that are ridiculously priced. Then, you will be met with a wave clearly designed to end the game regardless of your progress.”
“I am okay with the kill, die, upgrade, repeat genre of gaming, but this is just not enjoyable as they have made it overly grindy and tedious instead of creating a game with depth and serious development.”
“After about wave 25, it turns into an endless boss loop (of only 1 type of boss); where instead of a wave, you just fight the same boss over and over... it's boring and tedious.”
- stability3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
Overall, users report mixed experiences regarding stability; while some praise the game's performance and graphics, others highlight persistent bugs and lag issues that detract from the experience.
“Awesome game, no messing around. Even with the graphics the way they are, it runs great, and I love mining while being armed like a cyborg diver to squash bugs.”
“The last update was a few days ago (August 26) and it's still incredibly buggy.”
“Laggy and frustratingly buggy.”
- optimization2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is generally well-optimized, running smoothly on various systems with only occasional minor bugs. It performs particularly well on the Steam Deck compared to other titles in the same genre.
“The game runs smoothly with occasional minor bugs, and is generally well-optimized for various systems.”
“It is much better optimized for Steam Deck than other games of the same genre.”
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Many users express concerns that the game's monetization strategy feels like a quick cash grab, leading to skepticism about its overall value and integrity.
“The monetization feels like a quick cash grab, leaving a bad taste in my mouth.”
“It seems like the developers are more focused on making money than providing a quality experience.”
“The in-game purchases are so aggressive that it ruins the overall enjoyment of the game.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by its comedic take on failure, with players experiencing amusing deaths while upgrading their mech and battling monsters.
“Upgrading my mech and fighting monsters leads to some of the most hilarious deaths I've ever experienced.”
“The humor in this game is top-notch, with unexpected and funny outcomes in every battle.”
“I can't stop laughing at the ridiculous ways my character meets their end during fights!”
