The Keyper is a casual adventure game for Playdate that unexpectedly made me cry

Generally it’s the only video games that find yourself leaving you all teary-eyed and emotional.

Once I first downloaded Cool Lemon Membership’s The Keyper for Playdate, I didn’t have a lot in the way in which of expectations past a common sense that it ought to be fairly good, since a number of individuals on-line appeared to be recommending it. The journey recreation, which is out there on and the official , sees the participant trying to find the various completely different keys wanted to unlock areas of the mysterious Winchester 21 constructing after taking on the position of caretaker. The one who previously held the job is gone, leaving just some cryptic notes behind, and the residents are various levels of bizarre.

On its face, it looks like a reasonably normal recreation of puzzle fixing and exploration. It’s successfully irritating all through, as you repeatedly retrace your steps making an attempt to navigate the Winchester 21’s a number of flooring and labyrinthine tunnel system to search out the keys and the doorways they unlock. However because the plot unfolds and also you uncover extra of the constructing’s secrets and techniques, The Keyper reveals itself to be a recreation with loads of coronary heart.

Its attraction lies within the unusual interactions between you and the individuals who dwell within the flats (and tunnels… and partitions) of the Winchester 21. They every have their very own little storylines, a few of which current new mysteries and side-quests so that you can tackle. One in every of these specifically actually tugged at my heartstrings, however I wouldn’t dare spoil it for you right here.

The Keyper is slightly darkish, slightly humorous and simply the correct amount of difficult. Whereas it does provide the choice to avoid wasting your progress so you may stroll away from it and are available again later, I’d suggest setting apart a number of hours and simply taking part in this by means of in a single shot for essentially the most affect. By the point you attain the top and at last determine what’s been occurring all alongside, your complete tone of the sport has shifted into one thing much more heartwarming than all of it first seems. I could even have cried slightly in the course of the closing scene.