Making an arcade style game has to be one of the most challenging tasks for a game designer I can imagine. Arcade games seem so simple and obvious, but the ones we all remember are literally the cream of a decade of trying to get the formula right. Weapons grade game loops and laser focused design that keeps you playing is truly an art, and dome keeper sadly falls short of such lofty goals.
It's a game of two halves, the defensive dome phase and the exploratory digging phase. The defending is simple and enemies steadily grow larger and more threatening. The digging meanwhile is slow and methodical as different tiers of dirt intentionally prolong each level. Either mode could work fine on its own but together it's like having two different dishes served and every 5 minutes the waiter insists you swap to the other meal or he'll take both away.
The digging could be a relaxing endeavour, after all it's too slow and tedious to be a mad dash to uncover the exit far beneath, breaking blocks is passive and relentless as you hold your direction down with only colourful baubles to occasionally reward your 'effort'. Then suddenly monsters demand you defend, but defending is itself a distraction from digging. You swing back and forth from 'active' gameplay to 'passive' and neither lets you get comfortable with the other.
The baubles then are the link between them, but this is abstraction. Your laser or sword is unrelated to your digging, and your unearthed discoveries have to be fed into a machine to translate them into numbers and upgrades for your defence tools. Making the weapons and defences more powerful brings you no closer to the end of a level other than to withstand the tedious and constant attacks peppered throughout.
Maybe if you detached your laser and used it to dig we could say they are connected meaningfully, but dome keeper sadly doesn't blend or mix it's ingredients. The novelty of juggling two games wears off quickly when neither really stands strong on its own, it just takes you longer to realise the lack of depth either holds. Fun for a few hours but it lacks staying power.
It's a game of two halves, the defensive dome phase and the exploratory digging phase. The defending is simple and enemies steadily grow larger and more threatening. The digging meanwhile is slow and methodical as different tiers of dirt intentionally prolong each level. Either mode could work fine on its own but together it's like having two different dishes served and every 5 minutes the waiter insists you swap to the other meal or he'll take both away.
The digging could be a relaxing endeavour, after all it's too slow and tedious to be a mad dash to uncover the exit far beneath, breaking blocks is passive and relentless as you hold your direction down with only colourful baubles to occasionally reward your 'effort'. Then suddenly monsters demand you defend, but defending is itself a distraction from digging. You swing back and forth from 'active' gameplay to 'passive' and neither lets you get comfortable with the other.
The baubles then are the link between them, but this is abstraction. Your laser or sword is unrelated to your digging, and your unearthed discoveries have to be fed into a machine to translate them into numbers and upgrades for your defence tools. Making the weapons and defences more powerful brings you no closer to the end of a level other than to withstand the tedious and constant attacks peppered throughout.
Maybe if you detached your laser and used it to dig we could say they are connected meaningfully, but dome keeper sadly doesn't blend or mix it's ingredients. The novelty of juggling two games wears off quickly when neither really stands strong on its own, it just takes you longer to realise the lack of depth either holds. Fun for a few hours but it lacks staying power.