The dome keepers separate me. A part of me, every time I play, it’s really nice to come back and feel the changes on the ground under my training, victoriously raise my mined resources to my command center, and turn them into upgrades to improve my base. This time, I told myself I would build better, live longer, and make my dome defenses impregnable. This game will be one time.
Then, inevitably, it wasn’t. Just as I was gaining some real momentum, a particularly savage shadowy monster overwhelmed me from the air and from the ground, my precious dome burst, and I was screwed. Game over, try again. Another part of me was pissed that it failed. But I know the thing is, these games are about trial and error, and figuring out ways to win upgrade combos, so I grit my teeth and dig the ground under the dome again.
But every time I repeat the cycle, some of the luster fades because the core activity in the game, mining, hasn’t really changed. Every time I face it, it feels more like a tough job, and I know it’s going to be a while before I unlock the upgrades that make it despise it. Just as I was doing this, just as I was building that momentum again, the inevitable and overwhelming wave of enemies came, and I died again, and my willingness to start over diminished.
Let’s backtrack a bit. Dome Keeper is a two-part game: a base defense game and a mining game. Base defense takes place at the top, under the base’s domed roof. You’re a spaceman who’s been bumped into a hostile enemy planet, and that’s the base from which you pop up like a festive tent. It’s a small base, you don’t extend it, but you upgrade its functionality.
A lot of the upgrades have to do with your defense, and they’re either centered around a dome-mounted cannon or a sword – yes, that’s right: a greatsword – cool, eh? Both can move the dome left and right to deal with enemies approaching from both sides.
Cannons are the simpler of the two defenses, as you hold down a button to fire beams from them. The sword is more complicated because it does two things: it swings left and right to slice through enemies, and it can be fired to hit enemies in the air within range – you have to direct the attack.
Almost all of the above can be upgraded. The beam of the cannon can get stronger and you can make it go through the dome faster. You can even split the cannon in half, like a mirror image, but it will cut the beam’s power in half – all upgrade routes you take come with tradeoffs.
At the same time, the sword has more possibilities. It can be made thicker to deal more damage, or longer and slender to move faster. You can also make the launcher charge faster so you can keep popping it, or you can turn it into a slower-charging death projectile, much like Yondu’s Amazing Arrow in Guardians of the Galaxy, that will It weaves enemies throughout the sky. If you’re in the right spot, you can also add a kind of hilt to the base of the sword that bounces enemy projectiles. As you can see, mastering the Kendo Defense Dome is where the real skill lies – it’s not easy.
On top of that, you can improve the health and shields of the dome; add a pulse charge; add an auto-moving stun gun – offering various additional defense upgrades.
Upgrades are funded by resources, and resources are hidden beneath your base – the ground you dig. You do this by simply moving into a block of dirt, which automatically lets you dig into it, and some blocks break down faster than others. Figuring out easier routes across the ground is part of the skill you build up in the game.
Resource blocks are of different colors, and you’ll get clues that they’re close at hand. When you find one and take it apart, smaller resource tokens pop out of it and you need to drag it back to base.
Simply put, it’s mining, and just like the base defense, almost every aspect of it can be upgraded. You can increase the power of your drill, your traction, your flying speed. You can even do a lot of the heavy lifting for you by restoring special relics, opting for major upgrades, like lifts that automatically bring resources to your base, or cute little dinosaur pets that automatically dig for you. There’s also a scanner for pinpointing resources, and a bomb for blowing up entire blocks of land – there are plenty of options, and they all have their own upgrade trees.
In other words, there are a lot of upgrades to choose from, but not a lot of resources to spend on them. There’s an almost purposeful crunch in the game, which forces you to think hard about what to specialize in. The key to all of this is timing.
Time rules everything you do. Every few minutes, a new wave of enemies will try to break through the dome above you, and if you’re not in control of your defenses from the command stand below the dome, they’ll attack unchallenged. First of all, it’s not a big deal because you’re not going to dig very far, so you’re close at hand. But when you start digging deeper, it takes a lot of time to get home, and you look for any edge to speed things up. The question is always, how much time can you save and how can you gain more time?
But you also need stronger defenses, as the wave strength of enemies will increase, and Dome Keeper won’t hesitate to punish you if you let yourself down in this area. So you get torn; “What to do?” is the strategy of the game.
The problem with this design is a lot of interesting things exist upgrade. Smashing paths through obstacles that used to slow you down is great; chopping through hordes of enemies with an upgraded sword is delicious; and vaporizing enemies with giant canons is awesome. The game knows this – the game makes you want this. But taking too long without them slows down the whole formula and makes it tedious, feels repetitive, and provides room for frustration, especially when you seem to be ahead and another wave of enemies comes to destroy you .
By the way, you can play the game in several different modes. The simpler Relic Hunt mode has you hunting for large relics underground, and once you drag it to the top, you win and unlock new options to start a new game, such as a sword defense base. This mode feels more polite and doesn’t really make you nervous.
“Making and hauling often feels like chores and inherently no repeatable fun, like combat in Hades or card strategy in Slay the Spire.”
But it’s another game mode, the Prestige mode, that feels like a main event where you get high scores and compete with other players. As far as I can tell, this mode goes on indefinitely, and the longer you play, the harder it gets. It also introduces more to spend your limited resources around your ability to earn points for every wave of enemies you survive.
Dome Keeper, to me, is a game as divided as my mind. I don’t mind the difficulty. I’m even starting to think that its unadorned nature is part of the charm. The moody, contemplative nature of the music and the ominous feeling that you will die at some point are perfectly juxtaposed with the cute pixel art look. Beating the hard stuff is always half the charm, earning you the literal prestige the game mode is named after.
But by dividing itself into two games — digging and base defense — Dome Keeper has struggled to master either game, both of which feel like they haven’t quite succeeded. Digging and hauling often feels like chores and inherently no repeatable fun, like combat in Hades or card strategy in Slay the Spire. And base defense never develops enough to allow you to fight off hordes of attackers in thrilling combat – it often ends in confusion as to why you died suddenly. Many times it ends in frustration. Not often enough, it’s going to be fun.
