TouchArcade Game of the Week: ‘Ocean Keeper’

TouchArcade Rating: A masterful blend of distinct gameplay styles is what makes Ocean Keeper shine. It seamlessly integrates side-scrolling mining with top-down mech combat, creating a compelling and consistently engaging experience reminiscent of titles like Blaster Master and Dave the Diver.

In Ocean Keeper, you pilot a powerful mech on a mysterious underwater planet. The gameplay alternates between side-scrolling mining segments, where you excavate resources and artifacts within underwater caves, and top-down twin-stick shooter sequences, where you defend your mech against waves of hostile aquatic creatures. Mining yields coins and resources used to upgrade both your mining equipment and your mech. The limited mining window adds strategic tension, forcing players to balance resource gathering with the impending enemy assault.

Resource management is key, fueling extensive upgrade trees for both your miner and mech. The roguelike structure means death resets your progress within a run, but persistent upgrades ensure continuous advancement between playthroughs. Procedurally generated overworld and cave layouts guarantee replayability.

While the initial stages might feel somewhat slow, and early runs challenging, perseverance is rewarded. As you unlock upgrades and refine your skills, Ocean Keeper transforms into a thrilling, fast-paced experience. The strategic depth lies in experimenting with diverse weapon and upgrade combinations, fostering endless replayability. Despite a slow start, the game's addictive gameplay loop and satisfying synergy between upgrades make it incredibly hard to put down once it gets going.