Goo Keeper

Goo Keeper is a pure Metroidvania that I originally wasn’t too eager about - the demo didn’t really impress me. I was put off by the art style and the (at the time) strange character physics. But now that I took the plunge - it is a game that does many things right. To name them: An extremely large arsenal of both permanent and equippable upgrades with interesting combinations. Biome diversity. A good mapping system with plenty of hidden secrets. Bosses that you can exploit and cheese. Stupid overpowered builds. It scratches many itches. To be honest, you will know immediately if it’s the type of game you can get into. The flaws are readily apparent when you first start playing… it’s not the best art style and there’s a little bit of jank in the movement (though the devs have tweaked it to feel MUCH better). But, if you’re someone like me that can look past the first-dev-game vibe for the fun gameplay beneath - it has a whole lot to offer. It’s a very fun time and it scratched that Metroidvania itch perfectly.

A charming, enjoyable metroid-like — heavily inspired by Metroid 3 — with some more modern twists. Tiny duo dev team but a decent sized map and some good exploration to be found. While a little rough around the edges, it's a solid evening's worth of fun, clocking in for me at around 3 and a bit hours for the ending, and a further couple hours to get the 100%. (Your mileage for the 100% will vary as I'd missed a couple of secret doors which, in retrospect, should have been more obvious to me.)

Played on OG 512 steam deck without issues; this game is decent with a devoted dev. It’s a light recommend, has maybe the worst dash in any game, feels neutered, it just doesn’t thrust forward as expected and is feels impotent.

Super cute, charming game. I'm happy to find this game easier to play than Ori, or Hollow knight.

Um metroidvania curto, divertido e meio desajeitado. Me surpreendeu o quanto de diversão conseguiu entregar, a clara inspiração na série Metroid ajudou bastante nisso.

True metroidvania that encourages you to progress in different ways. The game reminds me a bit of Insect Adventure in some ways. While I'm not a huge fan of the art style and thought process behind some of the layouts, this is still a fun ride that I would suggest, especially to fans of the genre. The dev is also incredibly responsive and helpful, and I highly appreciate that.

Super responsive and tight controls. Rolly feels amazing to control and the game has really charming hand drawn art. Looking forward to spending countless hours in this game like I did with Hollow Knight!

On a peaceful day in Goo Town, a tiny universe of slime and mold, A black toxic oil drip came down from the world above, infecting and polluting this micro world, turning some of the peaceful villagers to monsters, while others had to escape their fate. The defender of this universe, from a long line of powerful super Goos, hears the calamity above his cave. Armed and ready, his adventure starts. 10/10. Easy 100% and a lot of fun to speedrun

I almost gave this a narrowly positive review, It's a fairly jank metroidvania but by no means the worst of its kind. Movement is mostly okay but the dash feels jank. You find powerups, it has a charm system like in Hollow Knight. The straw that broke this camels back was the Spider Boss. He seems to warp instantly, often right on top of me and it feels like a bug. It's pretty annoying dodging his projectiles and trying to position yourself in relation to him when he just seems to randomly appear all over the place. This only seems to happen when he's taking damage. If you can tolerate some jank, Goo Keeper is an okay, short filler Metroid-like.

From what little I've played already, I already love it! It is clearly a game built with passion and love for the craft. The controls are great, level design is cute, and it is difficult, even on the normal difficulty. I plan to play it multiple times, whenever I can get time. There are even additional settings to make my next play through more challenging. Great job, especially for a small but dedicated dev team!