Keeper Reviews
Keeper is a visually stunning game from Double Fine that trades traditional gameplay for a surreal, art-like experience. You guide a mysterious lighthouse and its bird companion through a silent world filled with puzzles, pulsing light, and painterly landscapes. While the gameplay remains simple and occasionally dull, the atmosphere and aesthetic elevate Keeper into something more visually enjoyable than playable.
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Double Fine’s Keeper is one of the best arguments for gaming as an art form in recent memory, a nature walk with puzzles that make up for their lack of challenge with a sense of bittersweet whimsy and colorful decay. While it might not be for everyone, Keeper is a good reminder about the artistic core of Double Fine as a studio and what gaming can do when it’s willing to experiment with style and form.
If unpredictability is Double Fine Productions' signature style, then with Keeper we can say that the development team has proven it once again. An adventure that focuses primarily on atmosphere, thanks to “a story that needs no words,” as poetic as it is dreamlike. Surreal and allegorical, comforting and moving, the journey of the sentient lighthouse and the seabird delicately touches on important themes, stimulating even greater reflection. It is an achievement that expresses great artistic sensitivity, but one that comes at a price. Namely, a very simplified and linear gameplay, alternating between simple puzzles and long walks through incredible scenery. This title is inevitably not for everyone, but it is equally impossible to remain indifferent to it.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Keeper is Double Fine at its most imaginative – a beautifully strange experience that somehow makes you care deeply about a walking lighthouse. It’s gentle, relaxing, and bursting with personality, proving that a game doesn’t need complex mechanics, lengthy dialogue, or a constant sense of challenge to leave a lasting impression. And sure, it’s not going to push your skills to the limit and its slower pace probably won’t be for everyone, but honestly? That’s part of its charm. This is a game about slowing down, soaking in the scenery, and finding light in unexpected places, and believe me, it’s all comes together wonderfully to make for a very special experience.
Keeper begins as a sensory experience of immense artistic value. An adventure that's more about feasting your eyes on beauty (and strangeness) than it is about fulfilling your purpose. The walks are—precisely—just that, the puzzles are simple, but they seem to be building something more complex for the adventure's future. It's a shame that the climax of this construction arrives after just an hour and a half of gameplay, with a very challenging section that never returns, as Keeper is eager to transform. At that point, Double Fine's title pursues a different goal: to surprise the player. A candy with a filling, containing many different flavors. The surprise element is always nice in a video game, but what follows must be more stimulating than what we left behind; otherwise, as in this case, we arrive at the end with a bitter taste in our mouths.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Overall, this is a lovely, calm exploration game that’s all about the journey and little to do with a definitive end state. It’s meditative and gently puzzling, trying to always be more about being in the moment than the usual gaming tropes of ‘do this’ and ‘do that’ right now.
There will be those that aren't fans of its pace, but Keeper is a stunning game both visually and in the poignant story it tells.
Keeper is a short, peaceful, and beautiful journey that combines a moving story with creative landscapes. Its simple gameplay and unique art style create an enjoyable experience from start to finish. Although Xbox didn't promote it as much as it deserved, its quality speaks for itself.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Keeper is a calm, contemplative adventure where players take on the role of a walking lighthouse, using light to navigate and interact with an surreal world. The game delivers a polished and cohesive experience, but its mechanics and puzzles are familiar and straightforward, offering little innovation or challenge. While charming and serene, it ultimately struggles to stand out in a crowded market and does not fully realize its potential, making it feel safe and predictable compared to other notable titles in the genre.
Review in Unknown | Read full review
Keeper delivers a calm, reflective journey built around light, movement, and quiet discovery. Its wordless storytelling and thoughtful pacing create something personal and memorable. The puzzles stay simple, but the atmosphere, visuals, and sense of growth make up for it.
Keeper isn't just another independent experiment; it's a "meditation on existence." It's about what's left over when everything else is gone. The lighthouse and the bird's journey show how we long for meaning and fight to move forward even when things are unstable.
This growth is not just history. What the Keeper team achieves is to bring together all the concepts that make up a video game and turn them into one.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Keeper shows off Double Fine's beautiful art direction and creative minds, but fails to tell a compelling story despite its best efforts. Combine this with a largely uninteresting gameplay loop until the final hour, and we have a rare misfire by one of the best studios working today. Hopefully, Double Fine returns to this world in another capacity at some point, as there is a lot of potential here that could still be salvaged.
Keeper delivers a focused six-hour journey built on movement, light, and confident pacing. Puzzles are fun to complete, and curiosity is rewarded with nice secrets. Presentation stands out with a hand-painted look, lively wildlife, thoughtful camera work, and a score that swells at the right moments. For narrative-first adventures, it’s an easy recommendation.
Keeper is the latest original work from Double Fine, which this time takes us into surreal atmospheres reminiscent of Salvador Dalí's paintings. We couldn't play a more unusual protagonist: we are, in fact, a living lighthouse, and it will be up to us to explore a world in search of rebirth. Of course, Keeper suffers from a few technical issues, but it is an experience that will delight players who are looking for original and relaxing works.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While a game where you control a lighthouse and a bird might look extremely odd on the surface level, give Keeper a chance and you'll discover one of the most beautiful games I've played in years
Keeper is one of those experiences that grew on me the more I played. While the visuals blew me away immediately, I didn't start enjoying the story and experience until I let go and just stopped trying to make sense of what was going on. From there, I could just let myself get sucked into the beauty of rebirth and companionship that I fell in love with. The puzzles we will encounter are interesting and have some cool mechanics, but some overstayed their welcome more than I would have liked. Still, the good heavily outweighs the bad, and I highly recommend playing through this magical experience. However, I would not play it on the Steam Deck just yet. While it is possible, there will be lots of drops below 30 FPS, and with the sacrifices needed, the beauty of the world can't be enjoyed to the extent it should. A patch is coming, which is great, but it isn't there just yet.
Keeper is a wordless journey that trusts players to uncover meaning through exploration. Its psychedelic visuals, minimalist storytelling, and gentle puzzle design create a relaxing time that, although brief, is a joy to experience.
Keeper is an essential Double Fine adventure with its weird, unique, and wholesome nature. The odyssey of the lonely lighthouse felt like playing through the some of the greatest works of the singular Dr Seuss, which doesn’t get more wholesome, weird and unique than that. In Keeper, you become a walking lighthouse that embarks on a journey with no reasoning, no words and nothing to guide you. With only a mountain in your sight, you embark on a journey full of ups and downs, that is anything but predictable. Keeper has a gorgeous painterly aesthetic, a captivating score, interesting gameplay that evolves with great pacing and although it doesn’t demand much from the player, it can offer plenty in return.
With Keeper, Xbox Game Studios adds another standout to its diverse and artistically driven lineup. While its relaxed, “chill” gameplay may not satisfy those seeking challenge or intensity, it offers everyone else a visually stunning, heartwarming experience brimming with positivity and surprises - one of the year’s most delightful and memorable adventures.
Review in Italian | Read full review