Dome Keeper

Verdict

Dome Keeper is two games pulling against each other. Below the dome you dig for iron, water and cobalt with a jetpack-wearing keeper; above it, on a timer you can see, monsters arrive to batter the glass. Every trip down is a race against that clock: one more vein, or back up now. The result is a defence game where the tension is in your own greed, and it is beautifully judged.

Four domes with different weapons, several keepers with their own tools, and a gadget tree that changes each run make the roguelite side stick. The Lost Keepers add-on and the co-op update that followed have turned a tight little game into a generous one. It is still the best thing to play in fifty minutes on this list.

Towers 16 of 20

Four domes (laser, sword, artillery, tesla) plus a shield, a repellent and a tree of gadgets that are upgrades in all but name. The kit is small but every piece changes your run, and the keepers themselves count as towers of a kind.

Lanes 15 of 20

A single vertical shaft and a single dome: there are no lanes to speak of, and the map is whatever you dig. The mine layouts vary enough to keep the choice of where to dig interesting, which is the point, but map lovers should know what they are buying.

Waves 17 of 20

Waves come on a visible timer, scale with depth and time, and the monster roster grows with each. The balance between digging time and wave strength is the best-tuned thing in the game.

Economy 19 of 20

Every resource is a trade: spend iron on the drill and dig faster, or on the dome and survive longer. No real-money anything, no grind, just decisions. Top marks.

Longevity 17 of 20

Relic Hunt and Prestige modes, daily and weekly challenges, co-op for the whole thing, and an add-on that adds keepers and a mode. Runs do start to rhyme after thirty hours.

In pictures

Report written against the Steam build current on 31 October 2026; prices read the same day.