Dome Keeper's combat looks simple, and that's by design. Move your weapon, attack, and knock out the baddies. Easy, right?
How you fight isn't quite as straight-forward, of course, because –
as we talked about last time – you'll quickly have to master the art of prioritization, learning which enemies you need to tackle first to minimize damage.
We didn't stop there. Battle abilities for primary gadgets add another option to your combat tactics. Here's a little more about how they work and why they'll be different from the gadgets you've been playing in the demo (which is back, by the way:
give it a try if you haven't played it yet!)
Tech-tree-tastic!
What's that? You played with the three gadgets in the demo and loved them? Us, too! And though it may look like you get the same gadgets in the full version of the game… Well, we have a little surprise for you. ;)
During Dome Keeper's development, the tech trees have been completely reworked. That means we've enhanced the design of every gadget – especially the primary ones – with expanded upgrade options, too, in order to bring added depth and complexity to the game.
Take the Orchard, for example, which lets you plant a tree that bears fruit that will buff the speed of both you and your drill. Originally, the Orchard offered eight possible upgrades but now, in our reworked system, you can choose from six different unlock-able abilities that altogether offer 17(!) options.
Or take a look at Snare Roots, a nifty little defence mechanism that briefly catches wandering monsters and locks them in place. This gives you time to deal with them or, alternatively, keeps them out of the way whilst you deal with more troublesome monsters first.
What's that: you'd like roots that not only catch monsters but destroy them, too? Sounds good to us! Unlock further Snare Roots upgrades and you'll discover that monsters trapped in the roots will explode and damage nearby enemies, too. Yet a further upgrade lets you grow even more roots around your dome.
Another Orchard upgrade lets you cover your dome with an additional carpet of protective roots that shields your dome from projectile damage. Upgrading this one even further lets you double that protective layer.
As for the Repellent? That can slow down all the monsters - or even stun them completely if you upgrade it enough - and you also have an ability that reduces the amount of health each monster has.
The Shield, on the other hand, has three abilities: Electro Blast, Invulnerability (later upgrades for this trigger automatically, as soon as your shield depletes, or kick in when your dome is about to be destroyed; cool, eh?) and Reflection.
Each of these abilities have their specific uses and advantages, enabling you to mix and match your skills to match your Dome defense strategy… or tackle your world's trickiest monsters, as the case may be!
Charged Up
Before we go, there's one more change we wanted to talk to you about, and that's water!
Whereas previously the Repellent and Orchard required water to operate – and the Shield didn't – we realised this left the game a little unbalanced. Because the amount of water you have in the world is fixed, you could find yourself running low or, alternatively, drowning in the stuff! So, to improve this, we've removed the requirement to use water and given every primary gadget an overcharge ability instead.
What's an overcharge, you ask? Good question! It does exactly what it says on the tin, enabling you to go to the gadget in your dome and – quite literally – overcharge it.
Every primary gadget's overcharge is a little different, so - for example - the Shield overcharge means you get to absorb more damage during the next monster wave. And yes, just like your other abilities, overcharging can be upgraded further, too…
We didn't just rework the primary gadgets, of course – we've been working to revise and expand all our tech trees! – but we hope this has given you a wonderful sneaky peek into the changes we're making and how they will improve Dome Keeper.
Make sure you're following Dome Keeper on
Twitter or join our
Discord and tell us all about your favorite gadgets – and what gadgets you may like to see in the future! And don't forget: Dome Keeper is out on September 27, 2022.
Until the next one, Keepers - Dome Sweet Dome!
