It’s a testomony to the builders at Double Nice that it doesn’t take lengthy earlier than controlling a sentient lighthouse with spidery legs begins to really feel nearly regular. Keeper, the newest from the studio behind Psychonauts and Grim Fandango, is clearly an odd recreation. You play as a constructing that may stroll and clear up puzzles and which befriends a cute hen whereas on a quest to rid a fantastical realm of an encroaching darkness. It’s like a cross between the wordless storytelling of Wall-E and the cinematic platforming of Limbo, with a psychedelic splash of Lisa Frank’s paints coating all of it. It’s additionally a recreation that proves to be far more than it first appears. Someway, issues get even weirder.
Issues begin out easy. For unexplained causes, you, a lighthouse, sprout legs and begin stumbling about. There’s not a lot you are able to do except for stroll — awkwardly, at that — and level your large highlight at issues. Shortly sufficient, and after perhaps unintentionally crushing just a few homes as you discover ways to transfer, you’ll meet a giant hen who instantly turns into your finest good friend. All you are able to do is preserve shifting ahead, and as you do, you’re pulled into an odd world that’s clearly in want of assist.
While you first begin out, Keeper performs like a really linear sort of puzzle recreation. You stroll down set paths so you’ll be able to’t actually get misplaced, and there are easy obstacles in your manner. Generally, you’ll be able to set off a magical change or remove a hazardous obstacle by shining your mild on it. I’m glad the sport begins gradual as a result of it took some getting used to; in contrast to most fashionable video games, Keeper has a set digicam, and also you as a substitute use the precise persist with rotate the sunshine on the high of the lighthouse.
From there, issues slowly however certainly open up. Even with only some actions at your disposal, the puzzles can get surprisingly advanced. You’ll be sending off your hen to gather objects and flip switches and even messing round with the movement of time. Keeper manages to squeeze so much out of its restricted vocabulary — after which immediately, it turns into one thing very completely different, a number of occasions. I don’t wish to spoil something as a result of these moments are a few of the most satisfying components of the sport, however finally, you’ll be capable of leap and swim and, I child you not, by the tip the sport, it resembles one thing like Tony Hawk. And together with this, the world equally expands, giving you extra space to discover.
And actually, that world is the guts of Keeper. The puzzles are simply there to present you one thing to do when you take all of it in. It’s an odd, colourful, vibrant place, one teeming with life (although there’s not a human in sight). There are big creatures made out of bushes and cute child turtles the dimensions of faculty buses. At one level, it’s a must to discover your manner out of a clockwork city populated by little robots on wheels; later, you’re traversing caves that pulse with a hideous sort of life. Although you’re a bit of structure, Keeper makes you’re feeling part of this world, such as you’re making it higher over time. You additionally make a variety of cute pals who stick round to assist when issues get powerful.
I put Keeper in the identical class as experiences like Gris or Inside, the place enjoying them is only a means to an finish, and that finish is shifting by way of an imaginative, weird, and always altering house. The intelligent puzzles and unusual types of motion are simply methods for me to really feel extra part of the world. By the tip of the sport, which lasts simply lengthy sufficient to not overstay its welcome, it was nearly arduous to think about I ever thought a strolling lighthouse was bizarre in any respect. Nearly.
Keeper is out there October seventeenth on Xbox and PC.