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Typically, if a bird discovers an abandoned lighthouse, it might land, rest briefly, leave a mess, and take off. That's not the case in Keeper, an forthcoming over-the-shoulder adventure puzzle game developed by Double Fine Productions; in this world, the lighthouse grows tiny limbs, becomes BFFs with the bird, and embarks on an daring hike.

While a recent preview at the gaming convention answered a few questions, it also sparked a curiosity to learn more about this surreal lighthouse-meets-bird tale. Thus, we sat down with Lee Petty, the visionary lead behind Keeper, to shed light on his team's colorful creation.

A Unique Journey Experience

While fundamentally designed as an adventure game, Petty states that Keeper aims to deliver a distinctive experience through a blend of dreamlike graphics, world mystery, accessible puzzles, and, most notably, the lack of words. He refers to the game a “palate cleanser,” a short adventure different from any title you’ve played before.

“Keeper communicates fewer details than a typical game,” he notes. “It was important for us to let the player unwind and not stress about messing up; just pause to attempt and embrace the weirdness.”

Consequently, Keeper is not merely a series of challenges, nor is its exploration very objective-driven. Set in a post-apocalyptic realm without humans, players traverse the world as a sentient lighthouse accompanied by a bird sidekick named Twig, but there is no death, there are no skill trees, and there is no need to grind for items.

Puzzle Design and Environmental Interaction

“When we began to create the puzzles, we aimed to craft puzzles that felt deeply integrated into the world and the characters there. In a typical adventure game, you might encounter a obstacle first,” Petty explains. “For instance, oh, I can't get in this door, and you usually understand that, since there are characters there explaining so with dialogue.”

“But in our game, we aimed to truly create this feeling of an unusual, atmospheric world and not reveal precisely what it's about. Our puzzles function a bit uniquely, so you frequently kind of wander into them without understanding what you're supposed to be doing.”

Handmade Aesthetics and Minimalist Controls

To impart the game a “crafted” feel, Keeper steers clear of using numerous variations of the identical concept. “We do that to a degree, as it's not like each element is created exactly once and thrown away,” Petty elaborates, “but there is a great deal of distinct setup. Every few steps away, you see something very different from the remainder of the game.”

When asked about maintaining gamer’s interest without of failure and defined objectives, Petty is adamant: “I think we captivate the player's attention through the surprising. You're not really sure what's going to happen around each corner.”

This thoughtfully designed method is also noticeable in Keeper’s restricted set of interactions. To navigate through its surrealist world, players require only a few buttons, as the lighthouse’s main way of interacting with the world is through its headlight, which has a default mode and a concentrated mode. For instance, you can aim it at plants to make them grow, beam toward a creature to make it squint, and use it to uncover secrets and solve puzzles.

Companion Mechanics and Diverse Interactions

Twig, the lighthouse’s reliable bird companion, is usually sitting on the lighthouse, from where he’ll occasionally take flight to indicate the path forward or activate secrets. Apart from these automatic movements, the lighthouse can additionally direct the bird to perform actions like lifting objects, pulling levers, or — maybe the intriguing one — attaching itself to creatures.

The latter is a prime example of how Keeper’s minimalistic approach to the input scheme still offers a broad range of gameplay mechanics. The various environments, items, and creatures open the way to distinctive interactions, and particularly metamorphosis.

“For example, there's a moment where a type of pink pollen, which looks like cotton candy, gets stuck to the lighthouse, making it less heavy. For that segment of the game, the lighthouse can leap, float, and move around,” Petty says. “A welcome change from being stuck to the ground. So we try to vary the pace up in a many different ways.”

Storytelling Devoid of Words

But exploring and interacting with their surroundings isn’t the only task bestowed upon the lighthouse and its bird; they must additionally express a story of friendship, companionship, and overcoming obstacles as a team as they travel toward a breathtaking mountain peak. To add to the challenge, they must do so without using words — and without the type of expressions and emotional cues a person might’ve relied upon.

Although Petty confirms that players will experience greater emotion than might expect from a lighthouse, it’s the bird, in particular, who is instrumental in conveying emotions. “When the bird is perched on the lighthouse, you actually have a whole button dedicated to just expressing with the bird, and often it will mirror the mood of that location,” he says.

“For example, when you get in a kind of tense or darker area, the bird will crouch and curl around the top of the lighthouse. And if you hit the expression button, instead of a playful chirp or directing you, it will kind of look around and duck down.”

Threats and Benevolent Creatures

By “gloomy zone,” Petty is referring to the threat that stems from something called the “Wither,” a hostile ecosystem. As the lighthouse and Twig continue their journey, they encounter increasing amounts of this violet, corrosive substance, which sometimes appear as of brambles, vines, and insects. “It's what Twig is escaping,” Petty clarifies.

In contrast to the Wither, the majority of creatures in Keeper are actually friendly. When Twig emotes at one of the peculiar critters, for example, it may emote back and possibly produce an background sound — without of words, sound effects and music are another tool used to narrate Keeper’s story.

Story Closure and Inspiration

This method of wordless storytelling makes me wonder if Keeper’s narrative concludes in a cryptic ending, but Petty assures that there will be a middle ground. “It's not a complete mystery, but since it's wordless, it's naturally open to interpretation. We purposely want to leave space for that as that's my most loved thing about art; the discussions that happen once people play something,” he says, “But we do provide specific narrative arcs and closure.”

A quick look at Keeper’s icy mountaintops, intricate cave systems, and unusual rock formations will tell you that natural scenery served as one of the main inspirations for this human-less adventure. As Petty tells, the scenery is not only based on any old place: “I live in California and there's a lot of really cool mountains around here,” he says. “Near where I live, there's an old Mercury mine that was left like a century ago, and it has been converted into hiking trails; that's one of my big inspirations. It's not anything super remarkable, but what makes it interesting is the many hills, and as you're climbing up, you occasionally come across old pieces of machinery that you can’t identify what they were for.”

“They kind of resemble weird monuments, just sitting among nature, with nature reclaiming the space. When I look back at the game and the remains of humanity in there, I can see the clear connection to me hiking around all that stuff.”

Metaphorical Meaning and Final Reflections

While Petty jokingly refers to the lighthouse main character