Xbox Game Passis having a very good year, and while June has been a little slow for new releases on the subscription service, there’s plenty more to come in the latter half of 2025. One game set to come out later this year isKeeper, an indie title by Double Fine, the studio behind 2021’sPsychonauts 2. In it, players take control of a crumbling lighthouse with legs as it explores strange new environments with its sea bird friend, solving puzzles and discovering why it feels the urge to head to the center of its island.
Keeperwas announced for Xbox Game Pass earlier this month, and only one trailer has come out so far, so not much beyond the basic premise has been revealed so far. The style of the game, with its mute protagonists and beautiful landscapes, lends to the feeling that it will be a heartwarming indie darling.Keeperwill be a Day One release for Game Pass, in part because Microsoft bought Double Fine back in 2019, which will add to the stellar indie catalog currently available on Game Pass.
Keeper Comes To Game Pass Day One This Fall
A Creative New Indie Title From Double Fine
Keeperwill release later this year on June 17, 2025 as a Day One Xbox Game Pass release on Xbox Series X/S and PC. First revealed earlier this month by Xbox, the announcement trailer for the game showsa colorful, stylized world in which a decrepit lighthouse starts to walk. Spurred onward by whatXbox’s official description of the game describes as “a mysterious sense of purpose”, the lighthouse and its accompanying seabird explore their island and the nearby mountain.
Keeperwill bea single-player puzzle-based adventure, which will likely make clever use of both the lighthouse’s beam of light and the sea bird’s mobility to craft interesting challenges. As seen in the trailer, available on the officialXboxYouTube channel, players will pass through towns full of robot residents, lush green forests, and underground caves, all of which may lead to “realms beyond understanding”. The game promises “an odyssey of mystifying metamorphosis”, which sounds enticing, especially as neither of the main characters can speak. Wordless storytelling often has thoughtful, poignant themes, which is likely the case forKeeper.
Strange Indie Games Make Game Pass Worth It
Discovering Something New Is Far Easier On Game Pass
When Xbox Game Pass reveals its monthly lineup, the big AAA games tend to make the headlines. Titles likeOblivion Remastered,theacclaimed RPGMetaphor: ReFantazio,andCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2have all come to Game Pass in the last few months and attracted the most attention from players. While those titles are fun,the best part of Game Pass is the availability of weird little indie gamesthat, without Game Pass advertising them, would likely get far less attention from players.
EvenClair Obscur: Expedition 33, now one of the most popular and highly rated games of the year, might not have taken off with such gusto withoutXbox making it more accessible to the huge Game Pass audience. The ease with which players can check out something that might not have seemed worth dropping $10 to $20 on upfront just to try makes discovering a game off the beaten path a lot easier.
Titles like To a T, the"Overwhelmingly Positive"Crypt Custodian, andRevenge of the Savage Planetareinventive, strange, and, most importantly, fun games. Hitting up the AAA titles that come out onXbox Game Passis great, but discovering short, strange adventures that might not be as eye-catching, likeKeeper, is what truly makes the subscription worth it.
