Dome Keeper: Defend your own Dome Base using Drills and Laser Systems

Dome Keeper is a roguelike mining and base defense game that combines resource gathering, strategic upgrades, and intense wave-based combat. Players control a lone explorer tasked with digging beneath an alien planet’s surface to collect resources while defending their glass dome from relentless waves of hostile creatures. With procedurally generated worlds, a variety of upgrades, and a risk-reward balancing act between mining and defense, Dome Keeper delivers a tense and rewarding gameplay loop.

Plot and Setting

Set on a hostile alien planet, Dome Keeper follows a lone explorer who crash-lands with a protective dome as their only shelter. Armed with nothing but a basic drill and a laser defense system, they must mine for valuable materials, upgrade their equipment, and withstand increasingly aggressive enemy waves. The deeper they dig, the more secrets and relics they uncover, but every moment spent underground is time the dome is left vulnerable to attack.

The game provides minimal narrative exposition, focusing instead on the player’s own emergent story of survival, efficiency, and strategic decision-making.

Gameplay Mechanics

Mining and Exploration:
- Players drill through layered underground terrain, searching for resources like iron, water, and cobalt to upgrade their dome.
- Deeper mining yields more valuable relics but increases the risk of not returning in time for the next attack.
Wave-Based Defense:
- At regular intervals, alien creatures attack the dome, forcing players to return to the surface and operate a mounted laser or other weapons to defend it.
- Different enemy types require unique strategies, from fast-swarming creatures to slow but powerful brutes.
Upgrade System:
- Resources collected underground can be spent on improving the dome’s defenses, mining efficiency, and movement speed.
- Players must decide between strengthening their dome, upgrading weapons, or improving their drill to reach deeper resources faster.
Risk-Reward Balance:
- Time management is key—staying underground too long can leave the dome defenseless, while returning too early may result in inefficient mining.
- Finding ancient relics grants game-changing upgrades but often requires venturing into dangerous depths.
Different Modes and Upgrades:
- Multiple dome types and gadgets allow players to tailor their playstyle, such as faster movement, automated defenses, or powerful melee weapons.
- Alternative game modes, including Prestige Mode, challenge players to survive as long as possible while collecting high scores.

Themes

Survival and Isolation: The game creates a feeling of loneliness and vulnerability as players dig deeper into an unknown world while fending off relentless attacks.
Efficiency and Time Management: Success hinges on balancing mining and defense, making every second underground a calculated risk.
Relic Discovery and Progression: The deeper players go, the more they uncover powerful technology and hidden mysteries, pushing them to take greater risks.

Visuals and Audio

Dome Keeper features a striking pixel art style with a mix of retro and modern aesthetics. The underground is dark and oppressive, while the surface provides a stark contrast with haunting alien skies and an eerie atmosphere.

The soundtrack, composed by Nicolas Delgado, is a blend of ambient sci-fi tones and suspenseful combat music, heightening the tension between the calm, methodical mining phase and the frantic, adrenaline-pumping defense sequences.

Have you played Dome Keeper? What’s your favourite part of it? We’d love to hear from you.

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