Keeper Review - A Perfectly Psychadelic Pixar Puzzle Adventure
Reviewed On: Xbox Series X
Also On: Xbox Series S, PC
Genre: Adventure
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Developer: Double Fine
Release: October 17th, 2025
Rating: E10+
From Lee Petty and Double Fine Productions, Keeper is an atmospheric puzzle adventure in which a long-forgotten lighthouse is awakened and, joined by a spirited seabird, it embarks upon a heartening tale of unlikely companionship, and an unexpected journey into realms beyond understanding
The premise of Keeper is a strange one. You play as a lighthouse that wakes up after a cute bird flies to it while being chased by some creepy bat-type creatures, and you use your light to banish the aggressors. Then you sprout legs and learn to walk.
Seriously, that's it.
There is no narrator offering any back story or plot. In fact, there isn't a single line of dialogue in the entire game.
But after you spend a few minutes getting your sea legs, where you tumble over a handful of times as you learn to distribute your weight properly on your newly grown appendages, you suddenly find yourself setting out on a brief but beautiful and Pixar-like grand adventure.
Describing Keeper to someone who hasn't played it can be a bit of a challenge as the game is wholly unique in its presentation and truly appears to be more art than video game. That definitly isn't a bad thing.
At its core, you could describe Keeper as a puzzle adventure game. As you make your way through this strange and wonderful world, you'll find environmental puzzles that you have to complete with the help of your feathered companion, perfectly named Twig, in order to advance to the next area.
As you do so, you'll notice small story beats unfolding as you help curious inhabitants, who appear torn straight from psychadelic fantasy, by repairing their settlements and battling back this odd sort of scourge that has devoured the land.
Along the way, you'll find several desecrated statues that can be repaired by shining your light on a nearby flower. These statues serve as the primary "collectible" in the game and unlock Xbox Achievements that have lore contained in their descriptions.
But with these core gameplay elements in mind, you might find yourself breaking Keeper down into a genre that you don't truly vibe or mesh with, or maybe one that you're sure you've experienced before, and I'll happily stop you there.
Keeper is an experience unlike any other. It is a beautiful piece of art poured out across your screen with enchanting visuals that border around, and then often dive fully into, psychadelic scenarios that are accompanied by pitch-perfect music and sound design.
As strange as it is to say, it's hard to view Keeper as a video game at all, because it somehow breaks the boundaries of what we consider gaming and comes to life in ways that we don't often see.
The closest thing I can think to compare Keeper to is a travelling art exhibit that my wife and I attended called "Immersive Van Gogh", an exhibit where you walk into a hall and everything around you becomes art, including the floor, cieling, and walls. It was a place where you didn't just examine and admire the work of Van Gogh, you lived it.
Because of this, Keeper doesn't surpass expectations in regard to gameplay elements. The puzzles are often very easy, a design choice that creator Lee Petty specifically stated as intentional at a preview event prior to the games launch, because Double Fine didn't want to subtract from the experience by leaving the player stuck in one place for too long.
The core gameplay loop really breaks down to just walking (or traveling by other methods that I won't spoil here) to an area, moving a few things around and shining your light on some stuff, and then heading to the next area.
Despite this, the presentation of the title is so strong that it provides its entertainment value almost exclusively through emotion, something that I find is often very difficult to achieve within an interactive medium.
With an average completion time ranging between 3½ to 6 hours, depending on how often you stop to smell the flowers and appreciate the artistry around you, and easy access to Game Pass subscribers, it's difficult to not recommend Keeper to everyone, regardless of the type of gamer they are, because something this special deserves to be played by everyone.
In an age where video games are often built to capitalize on player retention and engagement through various battle passes, daily login bonuses, and push notifications, it has become increasingly rare to find a game that is unashamed to exist as a single contained experience.
In recent memory, no other title has succeeded in achieving this feat as well as Keeper.
Existing as a short and contained adventure that focuses almost entirely on artistry and presentation, Keeper is an experience that should not be missed.
The game serves as a beacon of light, pun intended, for art and expression to thrive in the gaming space.
I truly hope that both Double Fine and Xbox Game Studios continue to nurture and expand that space, and no matter what, I'm glad Keeper exists to light the way.