With new games from Double Fine, you never know what to expect. But even by their standards, a wandering lighthouse is really something else!
Shigeru Miyamoto knows that the best ideas come while walking. In the case of Lee Petty, the lead developer of Keeper, it was a hike along the coast during the coronavirus pandemic. He walked through woods and fields until he eventually arrived at an old lighthouse, full of seagulls lounging around.
This sight, as well as his love for the art of film studios like Ghibli and surrealists like Salvador Dali, sparked various ideas in his head. He took these ideas to Double Fine boss Tim Schafer, who is known for being up for anything.
And since Lee had previously been the art director for games such as Brütal Legend, Tim gave him free rein to realize his vision, which involved lighthouses and birds.
Lighthouse from the left
The result is called Keeper, releasing on October 17, 2025 exclusively on PC (Steam) and Xbox Series (and, since it is financed and distributed by Microsoft, also directly in Game Pass), and is… well… what is it?
An adventure. But not one with muscle-bound, weapon-wielding heroes, but with a lighthouse that has surprisingly grown legs.
Whereupon it does the only logical thing in this situation: it sets off on a journey. However, it doesn’t do so alone, but in the company of a giant bird, whose design and fidgetiness are somewhat reminiscent of Kevin from Pixar’s 2009 classic film Up. So this unlikely pair sets off to… um… do things. And explore the area.
For more sticky clouds!
This already very bizarre premise is then rolled out with impressive consistency in the game and world design. Because a forest and meadow lighthouse can’t do much on its own, except, and I can’t believe I’m writing this, run and shine.
Once it has collected enough sticky clouds, it can also jump and float briefly.
The left stick (or keyboard) controls the tower, while the right stick (or mouse) controls the beam of light.
The left stick (or keyboard) controls the tower, while the right stick (or mouse) controls the beam of light. Or rather, the beams of light, because the tower can shine in different ways: The normal lamp provides a weak beam that makes cave plants glow, makes plants grow, or inspires inexplicable little creatures to jump into the air at the same time on the surface of a frozen lake, causing the ice to crack.
Alternatively, the tower can also focus its beam, assigning an action to the bird. The bird then flies off and turns gears to open gates, flips levers, or collects certain objects, which then dangle from the tower.
Oh, hello time travel egg!
Every now and then, you’ll have to do without the bird’s help. For example, one game scene showed a puzzle that had to be solved with the help of a short trip into the past.
In this case, it is not the bird that perches on the spire, but an oversized egg.
When bored, the bird sometimes flies away and occupies itself with some distraction in the environment. This is somewhat reminiscent of the 1993 point-and-click classic Sam & Max Hit The Road, in which killer rabbit Max also repeatedly wanders off because something in the area interests him.
Wait, what?
And there are also lots of interesting things to see in Keeper. Even for a company whose portfolio includes sensory overloads such as Psychonauts 1&2, the graphic design is really something else: the design of the expansive landscapes is as lovingly detailed as it is bizarre.
Among other things, you trudge through a city that looks like it was built out of plasticine and is populated by bizarre little machine creatures.
Or colorful canyons that look like they’re filled with pink cotton candy and fluttering swarms of butterflies. Past gigantic flying turtles with ten eyes and crab legs. And all this while the time of day and night is constantly changing.
Editor’s conclusion
We really have to be grateful for companies like Double Fine. With them, it’s just never boring! I really don’t know how much fun a crazy game concept like Keeper can be in the long run, but I’m very happy to live in a world where I get to find out.
This is not a hectic action title, not a collection of quick time events, not a stealth level anywhere in sight. Instead, it’s a deeply relaxing adventure that wants nothing more than to serve you a few not-too-challenging puzzles and let you sink into its completely inexplicable landscape design.
The lighthouse and the bird are the heroic duo that no one expected, but that we need right now. Not a word is spoken between the two throughout the entire game. And yet, during the presentation, Tim Schafer promised an emotional storyline—one that is told by the environment and the sound design. What a beautiful little bit of madness!