Dome Keeper

Dome Keeper merges digging and base defence but struggles to make either a success in their own right.

A simple yet nuanced roguelike packed with interesting decisions, tense fights and lots of digging.

A simple, but powerful blend of meditative mining and wave-based tower defence, Dome Keeper keeps you coming back for more.

Priced at under $20, Dome Keeper will keep you on your toes for several mining sessions. Its cyclical design is simple and executed fairly well, keeping the tension consistent throughout a run. However, upgrades quickly become restrictive in terms of effective builds, and both mining and defense become predictable in subsequent playthroughs. That said, the game has plenty of room for future updates that could help balance things out. Dome Keeper, without taking too many risks, fits simply and innocuously inside the world of the iterative survival genre.

Dome Keeper isn't a game to relax but it greatly motivates me. I just wish I could take a few more things into my next run. I really recommend it to you when you're fine to do the same things again and again but want to learn to worship your dome.

Dome Keeper is a survival game in an alien world where you have to dig for resources and defend yourself against hordes of enemies. The game has an interesting theme and a unique concept, where it offers progression and strategy elements as well as action adventure. It is exciting and challenging for survival lovers.

Dome Keeper is a well-disguised time-management game with a great atmosphere and plenty of ways to engage with its content.

Dome Keeper is the game I didn’t know I needed but now I cannot stop thinking about. One of the most enjoyable, replayable, tense and enriching roguelikes I’ve played in a long, long time with atmosphere in abundance.

Dome Keeper is a labour of love for developer Bippinbits, a two-person team based in Dresden who are also a couple. According to publisher Raw Fury, it was in profit from day one and it is easy to see why – this is a simple game, but one made to a high standard. Its pixel art, wealth of upgrades, and clever sound design are all praiseworthy. Those looking for a deeper roguelike experience should look elsewhere, but ironically Dome Keeper is ideal for players in the hunt for something a bit more surface-level.

Dome Keeper mixes mining, base defense and resource management into a simple and creative experience. The game alternates between calm moments mining resources and frantic combats to create interesting situations in which the challenge is to manage time and items. However, the game is very shallow in content, which makes the runs very similar to each other. Some options, like different upgrades and planets, try to diversify things, but they aren't enough to end the feeling of repetition. In the end, Dome Keeper is great, if only for a short time.