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Typically, when a bird discovers an abandoned lighthouse, it may perch, relax momentarily, leave a mess, and take off. Not so in Keeper, an forthcoming third-person puzzle adventure game created by the development studio; here, the lighthouse sprouts tiny limbs, becomes BFFs with the bird, and embarks on an ambitious hike.

Although a recent preview at the gaming convention answered some questions, it also ignited a curiosity to discover additional details about this surreal lighthouse-meets-bird tale. Therefore, we connected with the creative director, the creative director behind Keeper, to illuminate on his team's vibrant creation.

An Unconventional Adventure Experience

While at its core designed as an adventure game, Petty explains that Keeper aims to deliver a unique experience through a blend of dreamlike visual style, world mystery, accessible puzzles, and, importantly, the lack of words. He calls the game a “palate cleanser,” a brief adventure unlike anything gamers have experienced before.

“Keeper communicates fewer details than a typical game,” he says. “It was important for us to let the player relax and not stress about making mistakes; just take a moment to try and embrace the weirdness.”

As a result, Keeper is not merely a sequence of challenges, nor is its exploration highly goal-oriented. Set in a post-apocalyptic realm without humans, you will explore the world as a sentient lighthouse joined by a bird sidekick named Twig, but you can’t die, the game lacks skill trees, and you’ll never have to farm for items.

Gameplay Mechanics and World Integration

“When we set out to design the puzzles, we aimed to develop puzzles that felt very integrated into the world and the characters there. In a standard adventure game, you might find a problem first,” Petty explains. “For instance, oh, I can't get in this door, and you typically grasp that, since there are characters there telling you so with dialogue.”

“But in our game, we wanted to truly establish this sense of an peculiar, atmospheric world and not tell you exactly what it's about. Our puzzles function a bit uniquely, so you often sort of stumble upon them without knowing what you're supposed to be doing.”

Artisanal Feel and Limited Interactions

To impart the game a “handmade” atmosphere, Keeper steers clear of using numerous variations of the same concept. “We implement that to a degree, as it's not like everything is created only one time and discarded,” Petty explains, “but there is a lot of unique setup. Every short distance away, you encounter something distinctly new from the rest of the game.”

When asked about maintaining gamer’s attention without of failure and defined objectives, Petty stands firm: “I believe we captivate the player's attention through the unexpected. You're not really sure what's going to happen around each corner.”

This curated approach is additionally noticeable in Keeper’s limited set of interactions. To find your way through its dreamlike world, you don’t need only a few buttons, as the lighthouse’s primary way of interacting with the world is through its headlight, which has a default mode and a concentrated mode. For example, you can aim it at plants to make them grow, shine toward a creature to make it react, and use it to reveal secrets and solve puzzles.

Partner Mechanics and Diverse Interactions

Twig, the lighthouse’s reliable bird companion, is typically perched on the lighthouse, from where he’ll sometimes take flight to show the path forward or trigger secrets. In addition to these automatic movements, the lighthouse can also command the bird to do things like lifting objects, operating levers, or — maybe the intriguing one — connecting itself to creatures.

The latter is a prime illustration of how Keeper’s minimalistic design to the control system still provides a wide variety of interactive features. The various environments, items, and creatures open the way to unique interactions, and especially metamorphosis.

“For instance, there's a moment where a sort of pink pollen, which resembles cotton candy, gets attached to the lighthouse, rendering it less heavy. For that portion of the game, the lighthouse can leap, float, and navigate,” Petty says. “A welcome change from being anchored to the ground. So we aim to change the rhythm up in a lot of different ways.”

Narrative Devoid of Words

But exploring and interacting with their environment isn’t the only task bestowed upon the lighthouse and its bird; they must additionally convey a story of companionship, bonding, and surmounting obstacles together as they travel toward a breathtaking mountain peak. To add to the challenge, 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 one would expect from a lighthouse, it’s the bird, specifically, who is instrumental in conveying emotions. “When the bird is perched on the lighthouse, you actually have a dedicated button assigned for just emoting with the bird, and often it will mirror the emotional tenor of that area,” he says.

“For instance, when you enter a kind of unsettling or gloomier area, the bird will crouch and coil around the top of the lighthouse. And if you hit the emote button, instead of a cheerful chirp or guiding you, it will sort of look around and duck down.”

Threats and Friendly Inhabitants

By “darker area,” Petty is talking about the threat that stems from something called the “Wither,” a hostile ecosystem. As the lighthouse and Twig continue their journey, they’ll see increasing amounts of this violet, vitriolic substance, which may occasionally appear as of thorns, vines, and insects. “It's what Twig is flying away from,” Petty clarifies.

Unlike the Wither, most creatures in Keeper are actually amicable. When Twig emotes at one of the peculiar critters, for example, it may respond and possibly produce an ambient noise — without of words, audio cues and music are another tool used to narrate Keeper’s story.

Story Conclusion and Inspiration

This method of non-verbal storytelling makes me wonder if Keeper’s narrative ends in a ambiguous ending, but Petty reassures that there will be a middle ground. “It's not a total mystery, but because it's without dialogue, it's naturally open to interpretation. We did intentionally aim to leave some room for that as that's my favorite thing about art; the conversations that happen once people experience something,” he says, “But we do provide specific narrative arcs and closure.”

A quick look at Keeper’s icy mountaintops, elaborate cave systems, and odd rock formations will tell you that natural scenery served as one of the main influences for this human-less adventure. As Petty shares, the scenery is not only inspired by any old place: “I live in California and there's a lot of really cool mountains around here,” he says. “Near where I live, there's an abandoned Mercury mine that was left like a hundred years ago, and they've turned it into hiking trails; that's one of my big inspirations. It's not anything extraordinary, but what makes it interesting is the many hills, and as you ascend, you sometimes discover old pieces of machinery that you're not even sure what they were for.”

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

Metaphorical Meaning and Closing Thoughts

Although Petty jokingly refers to the lighthouse main character