Codename: Ocean Keeper takes Dome Keeper and puts you in an underwater twin-stick mech

Take the mining and defense idea from Dome Keeper, stick you in an underwater mech with exploration and twin-stick shooting and you've got Codename: Ocean Keeper. Note: key sent by the developer.

Available in Early Access with Native Linux support, it is an interesting idea, and one I'm keen to see evolve during the planned few months it will remain there before being fully released.

Here you explore the bottom of the ocean in a robotic spider-mech, one which you can customize with various different types of weapons and upgrades as you go. It's a wave-based twin-stick shooter, although your wipes can fire automatically, you can also fire the main weapon manually in a focused-fire mode. The battles range from small mites running at you, to bigger boss battles.

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On top of the battling and exploring, you also have the cave-dwelling, which is really where the Dome Keeper-like feeling sets in. You jump down into a cave and get drilling for different riches, and occasionally a special artifact to get some extra upgrade. Unlike Dome Keeper though, you're not limited to the one area to drill. You drill through one, grab the goodies, and then get back in your mech to go explore somewhere else.

Features:

• Explore the ocean floor and remnants of civilization on a huge robotic spider.
• Find deep caves and drill tunnels in search of valuable resources and artifacts.
• Upgrade mechanisms to survive in this aggressive environment as long as possible.
• Fight hordes of sea monsters under the energy dome, using a huge arsenal of weapons
• Earn meta-currency for complete customization of your robotic spider.

The initial EA release had some issues, like the right stick for aiming not actually working on Linux / Steam Deck, but they very quickly solved that. Now it appears to run without issues!

It's a good start from what I've played, and clearly its hitting the mark for a few with it getting a Very Positive rating on Steam, but my initial feeling is that it's just a bit too slow until you can get a decent bunch of upgrades going. A lot of games start of slow, which is fine, but here it all feels a bit too sluggish. They need to spice up the intro a fair bit I think because it's too plain. Once you do get going though, and have a few runs for the meta upgrades, it does get at least more interesting.

Check it out on Steam now in Early Access.