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Typically, if a bird stumbles upon an deserted lighthouse, it may land, rest momentarily, make a deposit, and fly away. Not so in Keeper, an forthcoming over-the-shoulder puzzle adventure game developed by the development studio; here, the lighthouse sprouts tiny limbs, forms a friendship with the bird, and sets off on an ambitious hike.

Although a latest preview at the gaming convention clarified some questions, it also ignited a desire to discover additional details about this surreal lighthouse-meets-bird story. Therefore, we sat down with the creative director, the visionary lead behind Keeper, to shed light on his team's vibrant creation.

An Unconventional Adventure Experience

While at its core designed as an adventure game, Petty states that Keeper aims to provide a unique experience through a blend of dreamlike graphics, world mystery, approachable puzzles, and, importantly, the absence of words. He refers to the game a “refreshing break,” a brief adventure unlike any title gamers have experienced before.

“Keeper conveys fewer details than a standard game,” he notes. “It was important for us to let the player unwind and not worry about messing up; just pause to attempt and embrace the unusual aspects.”

As a result, Keeper is not merely a series of challenges, nor is its exploration highly goal-oriented. Taking place in a post-civilization realm without humans, players traverse the world as a sentient lighthouse joined by a bird companion named Twig, but you can’t die, there are no skill trees, and there is no need to farm for items.

Gameplay Mechanics and World Integration

“When we began to create the puzzles, we wanted to craft puzzles that felt very woven into the world and the characters there. In a typical adventure game, you might encounter a problem first,” Petty clarifies. “You're like, oh, I cannot enter in this door, and you typically understand that, because there are people there telling you so with dialogue.”

“But in our game, we wanted to really create this feeling of an peculiar, atmospheric world and not tell you precisely what it's about. Our puzzles work a little differently, so you frequently sort of wander into them without understanding what you need to be doing.”

Handmade Feel and Minimalist Controls

To impart the game a “handmade” feel, Keeper avoids using many iterations of the same concept. “We implement that to a degree, as it's not like everything is done only one time and thrown away,” Petty elaborates, “but there is a great deal of unique setup. Every few steps away, you see something distinctly new from the remainder of the game.”

In response about sustaining player’s interest without of failure and clear objectives, Petty is adamant: “I believe we captivate the player's attention through the unexpected. You're not really sure what's will occur around each corner.”

This thoughtfully designed method is additionally evident in Keeper’s restricted set of interactions. To navigate through its dreamlike world, players require more than a few buttons, as the lighthouse’s main way of interacting with the world is through its headlight, which has a standard mode and a focused mode. For example, you can direct it at plants to make them grow, beam toward a creature to make it react, and use it to reveal secrets and tackle puzzles.

Partner Dynamics and Diverse Interactions

Twig, the lighthouse’s reliable bird companion, is usually perched on the lighthouse, from where he’ll sometimes fly off to show the path forward or trigger secrets. In addition to these automatic movements, the lighthouse can also command the bird to do actions like raising objects, operating levers, or — perhaps the intriguing one — connecting itself to creatures.

The latter is a great example of how Keeper’s streamlined design to the input scheme nevertheless offers a wide variety of interactive features. The various environments, items, and creatures pave the path to unique interactions, and particularly metamorphosis.

“For instance, there's a segment where a sort of rosy dust, which looks like cotton candy, gets stuck to the lighthouse, rendering it less heavy. For that portion of the game, the lighthouse can leap, float, and move around,” Petty says. “A welcome change from being stuck to the ground. So we try to change the rhythm up in a lot of various ways.”

Storytelling Devoid of Words

But hopping around and fiddling with their environment isn’t the only task bestowed upon the lighthouse and its bird; they must additionally convey a story of friendship, companionship, and surmounting obstacles as a team as they travel toward a breathtaking mountain peak. To make matters more complicated, they must do so without using words — and without the type of expressions and emotional cues a human character might’ve relied upon.

Although Petty assures that gamers will experience greater emotion than might expect from a lighthouse, it’s the bird, in particular, who is instrumental in expressing emotions. “When the bird is perched on the lighthouse, players have a dedicated button assigned for just emoting with the bird, and often it will reflect the emotional tenor of that area,” he states.

“For example, when you get in a somewhat unsettling or gloomier area, the bird will hunker down and coil around the top of the lighthouse. And if you hit the emote button, instead of a playful tweet or directing you, it will sort of glance about and hide.”

Dangers and Benevolent Inhabitants

By “darker area,” Petty is referring to the threat that stems from something called the “Wither,” a malevolent ecosystem. As the lighthouse and Twig continue their journey, they’ll see more and more of this purple, corrosive substance, which may occasionally appear as of brambles, creepers, and insects. “It's what Twig is escaping,” Petty clarifies.

Unlike the Wither, the majority of creatures in Keeper are in fact amicable. When Twig expresses at one of the odd critters, for instance, it might emote back and perhaps produce an background sound — without of words, sound effects and music are an additional tool used to tell Keeper’s story.

Narrative Closure and Inspiration

This method of non-verbal storytelling makes me wonder if Keeper’s narrative concludes in a ambiguous conclusion, but Petty reassures that there will be a balance. “It's not a total mystery, but since it's wordless, it's naturally subject to interpretation. We purposely aim to leave some room for that as that's my favorite thing about art; the discussions that occur after people experience something,” he says, “But we include defined narrative arcs and closure.”

A quick look at Keeper’s icy mountaintops, elaborate cave systems, and odd rock formations will tell you that the outdoors served as one of the main influences for this people-free adventure. As Petty shares, the scenery isn’t just based on any old place: “I live in California and there's a lot of really cool mountains in this region,” he explains. “Near where I live, there's an old Mercury mine that was abandoned like a hundred years ago, and it has been converted into walking paths; that's one of my major inspirations. It's nothing super remarkable, but what makes it interesting is the numerous hills, and as you ascend, you occasionally discover remnants of machinery that you're not even sure what they were for.”

“They kind of resemble strange monuments, just sitting among nature, with nature reclaiming the space. When I look back at the game and the remains of humanity in there, I can see the direct connection to me trekking around all that stuff.”

Metaphorical Significance and Final Thoughts

While Petty humorously calls the lighthouse main character