Dome Keeper: The Lost Keepers Review Summary

New characters are fun, DLC value is great, Infiltrator movement satisfies, but clunky controller feel, DLC bugs and overpricing, and Beastmaster performance issues hurt.

Beastmaster praised as fun and useful: Many players describe the Beastmaster as fun, cool, and mechanically interesting, with good utility. Several call it their favorite character and note its strong resource collection and expansion.

New characters are very fun: The two new characters are consistently described as incredibly fun, with many enjoying both in different ways. Some note their gimmicks are just okay, but overall reception is highly positive.

DLC considered excellent value: Reviewers widely praise the DLC as a perfect expansion that adds great value, variety, and a strong reason to return. It is often described as just as great as the base game.

Infiltrator fun with satisfying movement: The Infiltrator is praised for fun tech, interesting movement, and satisfying snappy gameplay when used correctly. Some find it hard to master but rewarding once learned.

New keepers fun and unique: Both new keepers are described as fun, unique, and welcome additions to the roster. They add interesting playstyles and mechanics that enhance the game.

Infiltrator feels clunky on controller: Multiple reviewers report that the Infiltrator is awkward and difficult to control with a gamepad. Some feel the character was specifically nerfed for controller users, making it less playable than with keyboard and mouse.

DLC is bugged and overpriced: Reviewers complain that the paid DLC is riddled with bugs and should have been a free update instead. The high price is also seen as unfair given the lack of new content.

Infiltrator requires excessive practice: Players report that the Infiltrator demands a lot of practice to play effectively, with platformer-style movement being particularly hard. Some find it extremely difficult and rage-inducing.

Beastmaster digging slower than Infiltrator: Even at max upgrade, the Beastmaster's digging speed is much lower than the Infiltrator's. This makes the Beastmaster less efficient and harder to justify using.

Beastmaster feels slow and clunky: Reviewers describe the Beastmaster as slower and more cumbersome than other characters. Digging feels sluggish, making the character less enjoyable.

DLC adds two new characters: The DLC introduces two new playable characters: the Infiltrator and the Beastmaster. These characters are also referred to as Keepers and have distinct playstyles.

Beastmaster uses catgoblins for mining: The Beastmaster summons catgoblins that can dig, mine, and transport resources back to the dome. They function as miners and haulers for the character.

Infiltrator has unique movement mechanics: The Infiltrator features a movement-based playstyle with bouncy fluidity, platformer-style controls, and tech such as wall jumps and a grappling hook. Its movement differs significantly from other characters.

Game supports co-op and multiplayer: The game includes co-op and multiplayer modes, with split-screen support for up to four players. Both local and couch co-op are available.

Infiltrator requires specific input devices: The Infiltrator is best played with a keyboard and mouse or a controller, but the tutorial states it can only be played on gamepad or mouse and keyboard. Controller play is possible but with less accuracy.

Beastmaster Performance Issues: The Beastmaster causes severe frame rate drops, stuttering, and lag across various platforms including PC and Steam Deck. Performance worsens in co-op and mid-to-late game scenarios.

Beastmaster Crash Bugs: Multiple reports indicate the Beastmaster character crashes the game during basic actions such as mining, summoning cats, and breaking walls. This makes the character nearly unplayable without risking data loss.

Steam Deck Performance Concerns: Performance on the Steam Deck is reported as problematic, with the Beastmaster specifically causing terrible performance. This limits portable playability.

General Optimization Problems: The game is poorly optimized overall, with performance degrading significantly over time. This affects all aspects of gameplay beyond just the Beastmaster.

Launch and Exit Crashes: Crashes occur at launch and when exiting the game, potentially linked to HDR settings or Windows 11 updates. These issues prevent smooth session transitions.

Not worth full price: Several reviewers feel the DLC is overpriced and not worth the full asking price. They suggest waiting for a discount or skipping it altogether.

Mixed or conditional recommendations: Some reviewers give conditional recommendations, such as buying only on sale or if certain issues are resolved. Others are more negative, citing the game becoming worse or needing tweaks.

New Keepers after experience: Players are advised to play the new Keepers only after gaining experience with the base game, particularly the Assessor. This ensures they understand the mechanics first.

Beastmaster bug causes issues: The Beastmaster bug is a significant problem that can hinder gameplay. Some players recommend waiting until it is fixed before purchasing or playing.

Multiplayer bugs and host restrictions: Multiplayer mode suffers from bugs, especially in the first month. Additionally, DLC characters cannot be used when joining another player's host, which is a major limitation.

Community fair range: $3.00 - $5.00.

The core game hooks players immediately, and the DLC's new keepers plus co-op update add strong enjoyment for many, though multiplayer bugs, control awkwardness, and character performance issues create friction.

Friction: Infiltrator tutorial requires gamepad, forcing keyboard-only players to switch controls mid-game; Infiltrator button prompts often fail, making the character feel bugged; Multiplayer interactions are janky and buggy, especially in the first month; Beastmaster stutters and lags after upgrades, worse in co-op; Solo digging can feel slow and tedious; Multiplayer challenges are unbalanced and lack common upgrades.

Unlock drivers: Co-op/multiplayer addition: reviewers now enjoy playing with friends; Infiltrator's grappling hook and platforming: turns movement and mining into fast fun; Ongoing patches: reviewers note progress on multiplayer and character issues.

Co-op Social Player: Coordinates with friends in co-op, uses DLC keepers like Cat Goblins, and tolerates early multiplayer bugs. Motivation: Shared multiplayer fun and playing with friends in co-op or split screen. Stance: buy.

Solo Keyboard Purist: Plays solo on PC with keyboard only, including dome defense, and resists mid-game control switching. Motivation: Preserving a familiar solo keyboard control scheme while enjoying new keepers in the base loop. Stance: sale.

Curious Newcomer: Starts with Assessor to learn developer-designed mining mechanics, then experiments with DLC keepers and multiplayer. Motivation: Learning the game's unusual mining kits and experiencing new playstyles. Stance: buy.

Across the two Windows hardware cohorts, player reports are mostly negative, with stuttering, frame drops, freezes, crashes, and pathfinding-related lag affecting playability.

Windows <8GB VRAM: negative. Players report stutter that worsens after upgrades, FPS drops to around 20 while mining with freeze spikes, and at least one mining crash.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: negative. Reports describe severe screen stuttering once faster movement speeds unlock and pathfinding-related lag that disrupts task assignment.

Steam Deck: Steam Deck users report significant performance degradation with the Beastmaster character, including lag mid-to-late game and 'terrible' performance, plus a controller aiming issue for the ninja's kunai. No evidence of launch failures, anti-cheat blocks, or required Proton toggles, but the game is not seamless on Deck. Friction score: 60.

Linux and Proton: The available evidence is limited to two reviews. Both flag Steam Deck performance as problematic, with one explicitly calling Beast Master performance terrible. No Proton launch failures, anti-cheat blockers, DRM issues, or required launch options are reported. The issue is severe performance-related friction on SteamOS/Linux rather than complete non-functionality, so Linux support appears rough but not broken.

Monetization: The reviewed content focuses on a traditional paid DLC/expansion. Positive reviews praise the DLC as substantial, fairly priced, and not cut base content, while negative reviews complain about DLC pricing and future paid DLC. No review provides evidence of in-game microtransactions, loot boxes, gacha, paid currency, battle passes, boosters, or pay-to-win purchases. Therefore the monetization is assessed as fair under the audit rules, with the score capped below 20 because only traditional DLC is discussed.

Paid DLC adds two keepers: The DLC is a paid character pack called The Lost Keepers that introduces the Beastmaster and Infiltrator as new playable keepers. It also brings new cosmetics, music, and assignments alongside the characters.

Multiplayer update launched alongside DLC: A free multiplayer update was released together with the DLC, though they are separate products. The update also added features like twin-stick aiming and guild challenges for progression.

Cosmetics added more than before: The DLC adds more cosmetics than previous DLCs, and cosmetics are acceptable as DLC. It includes new cosmetics and skins for all characters.

Some launch bugs and fixes: Launch bugs and crashes have been largely fixed, and the developers are actively working on remaining issues like Beastmaster screen stuttering and multiplayer resource synchronicity. A beta update addresses almost all bugs.

DLC includes new soundtracks: Two soundtrack volumes, The Infiltrator with 18 tracks and The Beastmaster with around 17 tracks, are included in the DLC. These OSTs were initially only available in MP3 format, with FLAC and WAV added later for free.