Ocean Keeper: TouchArcade's Game of the Week

TouchArcade Rating: A winning formula: seamlessly blending distinct gameplay styles into a cohesive whole. Think Blaster Master's blend of side-scrolling and top-down action, or the recent hit Dave the Diver's fusion of roguelike diving and restaurant management. Ocean Keeper from RetroStyle Games achieves this same magic, creating a compelling gameplay loop and upgrade system that keeps you coming back for more.

In Ocean Keeper, you're stranded on a bizarre underwater planet in your powerful mech. Your mission: delve into underwater caverns to mine resources. But time is of the essence! Waves of enemies are constantly approaching, demanding you pilot your mech to defend your base. Mining, viewed from a side-scrolling perspective, involves excavating rocks to uncover resources and artifacts, earning you in-game currency along the way. This mining phase is time-limited, forcing a strategic balance between resource gathering and defense preparation. Once the enemies attack, the perspective shifts to a top-down twin-stick shooter with light tower defense elements, challenging you to repel waves of unique underwater creatures.

Earned resources fuel upgrades for both your mining equipment and your mech, with extensive branching skill trees for both. As a roguelike, death during combat means losing your run's progress, but persistent upgrades and customizations between runs ensure continuous advancement. Expect varied overworld and cave layouts with each playthrough.

The game's initial stages are admittedly slow, and early runs might feel challenging. However, persevere! As upgrades accumulate and skills improve, you'll master the game's flow, transforming into an unstoppable underwater mech. The synergy between weapons and upgrades is Ocean Keeper's core strength, offering endless experimentation with different builds and strategies. While my initial impression was hesitant due to the slow start, the game's later stages proved incredibly captivating, making it difficult to switch to other games.