Ocean Keeper Early Access Review (Mobile) | A Thrilling Deep Sea Roguelike Adventure Where Survival Is Key

Ocean Keeper: Dome Survival is an upcoming title described as a “roguelike survival game” where you plunge into the unknown depths of an underwater world as a lone member of the Space Pirate Team. With nothing but your trusty Mech and Digger by your side, you’ll need to explore deep caves to find resources to upgrade your items and increase your chances of survival against alien enemies.

Developed by RetroStyle Games, a team based in Ukraine, Ocean Keeper is the latest in their expansive games catalog, which includes titles such as Last Pirate: Survival Island, Spirit Run, and many more.

The game is currently in its Early Access phase, and we were able to test out Ocean Keeper and see firsthand how the game plays on a mobile device, specifically that of an Android.

Table of Contents

1. Game Concept
2. Gameplay
3. Graphics / Visual Presentation
4. Sound
5. Performance
6. Microtransactions
7. Uniqueness
8. Conclusion
9. Final Rating

Game Concept

Ocean Keeper is centered around two core game elements – roguelike and survival – creating a blended gameplay experience that’s interesting and unique, especially if you’re a fan of the two genres. Now, these two co-exist but shine individually depending on the phase you’re in.

The roguelike elements are more nuanced when you enter a cave and begin digging for valuable items. Once you dive into one, you’ll be met with a 2D, grid-like layout where you can mine through various terrains. It certainly has a dungeonesque feel (which I appreciate a lot) but wasn’t able to get too caught up in it as there’s a timer before a wave of monsters attacks your Mech in the land above.

The survival experience comes in this phase when you’re in control of your Mech on the ocean floor. You’ll need to use a variety of Guns, Upgrades, and Skills to defeat hordes of enemies that appear in every wave. In between these waves, you’re free to explore the world, dive into new caves, and collect resources but only for a brief period before the next wave begins.

Gameplay

Ocean Keeper does a great job of creating an open, underwater world that feels inviting yet dangerous. The concept of deep-sea exploration and consistent item improvement reminded me of Unknown Worlds Entertainment’s Subnautica.

The overall gameplay experience was engaging and didn’t feel repetitive even after multiple sessions. The world environment changed every time I jumped into a new session and this definitely contributed to keeping the game feeling fresh. I needed to quickly identify bottlenecks, open spaces, and caves to prepare myself for incoming waves.

In addition to this, the many Guns and Skills you can equip and various Upgrade paths offer you the ability to experiment with different setups which might improve your chances of survival. As a fan of strategy games myself, I enjoyed these RTS elements.

Ocean Keeper employs haptics in the gameplay experience. I felt it when I attached items to myself in the caving phase and it’s a great immersive feature. With that in mind, I think it could be taken a step further. I felt like haptics would’ve been a great effect to have whenever the cave shakes when you’ve run out of time before a wave starts or whenever an enemy deals damage to your Mech.

Now, there are a few other additions to the game I think could level up the game’s realism. For one, it could be nice to see a gravity effect when players attach themselves to many items in the caving phase. As it stands, your movement speed will be slowed down the more items you carry, but these items don’t drag you down when you’re stationary. On that note, it would also be nice to have the ability to choose which item to drop.

Graphics / Visual Presentation

I was impressed by the visual presentation of the underwater world. With the game set to the highest graphics quality possible, I saw the intricate details in the 3D-animated rocks, corals, aliens, and surrounding elements. I also came to appreciate the shadows cast on the surface floor from the water above. It was reminiscent of the shadow effects found in Command and Conquer 3.

As I dove into the caves, I was met with a slightly different visual presentation. It was more 2D and blocky for sure, but with noticeable attention to detail regarding your character and Skills. The developers may have cited Dome Keeper and Vampire Survivors as gameplay references, but I can also see that they were inspired by these games’ traditional roguelike appearance.

Sound

I’ll be honest, I’m a big fan of the sound design, especially concerning the background music. It’s extremely minimal, using a combination of natural underwater sounds with an eerie space-like soundtrack to create a somewhat liminal atmosphere when you’re exploring the caves and the world itself.

On the other hand, when you’re defending against hordes of enemies, the music is kicked up a notch with energized music that makes you feel like you’re on edge. The sound effects of the Mech and its weaponry may sound generic to some but they’re oddly similar to those you’d hear in old-school arcade games. It’s exhilarating no doubt and I believe the developers have created an immersive atmosphere with their sound design.

Performance

I tested Ocean Keeper on a Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra with the default settings on and the game ran smoothly without encountering any performance issues. However, even without a high-end device, you could easily run this on a phone from at least 2019 given the relatively low software requirements.

The game also offers the ability to customize its performance on your device with a range of low to high options for frames per second (FPS) and graphics quality. So, if you feel like your device can’t handle the graphical demands, you can lower it until the game runs smoothly. These settings will always come in handy and certainly welcome for any mobile player.

Microtransactions

Microtransactions can often be the bane of any mobile game’s existence.Too much of it can make the game feel more like a pay-to-win experience rather than a rewarding experience where you earn items and upgrades through your efforts.

Ocean Keeper does a fairly good balancing act in that regard. At the moment, the in-game store only offers you the option to purchase Meta-currency. However, it’s not a necessity as you can obtain Meta-currency for free by simply playing the game. This option is good not only because you can buy it if you want to accelerate your upgrade progress, but it doesn’t paywall items that could be a massive improvement to your gameplay experience.

Uniqueness

I’ve rarely encountered a game structured like Ocean Keeper. Yes, it has the hallmarks of traditional roguelike games. It incorporates familiar survival elements but does so in a refreshing manner that feels different and not a replica of other games in the scene.

Roguelike, survival games are hard to come by in the mobile gaming scene. That said, I think if you were to stumble upon this game in the app store and managed to play a few sessions, you’d find – like myself – that it’s truly unique from other games you might have downloaded on your phone.

Conclusion

Ocean Keeper may only be in its Early Access phase, but it already feels like a complete game. It has a firm foundation from which it draws its inspiration and I can attest that they have honored the multiple genres for which the game aspires to be.

RetroStyle Games has outlined in its development roadmap that it aims to introduce a narrative story mode, Bosses, and further optimization to the game in the near future. I thoroughly enjoyed the existing features and feel like these additions could really take it to the next level. The game is also slated to be released on PC via Steam.

If you’re a fan of traditional roguelike games and testing both your survival and strategy skills, then Ocean Keeper might be a game for you. I am certainly looking forward to its full release and eagerly await the other features it might have in store.

Final Rating

Our final rating considers the game's performance across six key areas. Namely, the areas are gameplay, performance, graphics / visual presentation, sound, uniqueness, and the level of microtransactions in the game.

Here is an overview of the scoring in each area:

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