Dome Improvement: Meet the Assessor!

Greetings, Keepers!

We hope you've been having a smashing time (quite literally) in Dome Keeper and are diligently keeping your Drillberts happy, healthy, and full of delicious treats. Today we'd like to introduce you to The Assessor, Dome Keeper's all-new Keeper! With an exciting new set of skills and abilities, we reckon The Assessor will turn the underground Dome Keeper experience completely upside down as up until now, you've only been able to experience the wonder of Dome Keeper playing as The Engineer, the gritty, non-nonsense miner who powers through the bedrock with force. A band of technologists living right on the precipice of experimental science, one might think of the Assessor as the high-tech yin to The Engineer's brute force yang. Here's everything you need to know about the all-new Keeper and their unique skill set [previewyoutube=i3a7RTOxD7M;full][/previewyoutube]

Self assessor-ment

Furnished with the latest state-of-the-art equipment from the Guild, Assessors are equipped with their trusty electromagnetic power pack. Unlike The Engineer's separate drill and jetpack, Assessors use their equipment to levitate both themselves and their finds, zipping through tunnels and mining out iron, cobalt, and water not by drilling but by smashing up the rock with their astonishing kinetic spheres!
Initially, you'll have two spinning spheres you'll launch toward the rocks. They'll hit the wall, damaging it, and after a few hits reducing that rock to rubble. Things get even more exciting when you start unlocking upgrades. One pathway, for instance - Sphere Reflection - lets the Assessor reflect the spheres to rebound, essentially creating a mini-game of breakout. That lets you quickly chip away with good timing. Another option offers to add more spheres or buff how powerful they are, helping you mine much more rapidly. Carrying your resources back to the dome works differently, too; thanks to the Assessor's mysterious force field, you'll not carry your resources back up to the dome as much as they'll levitate alongside you. You can even fire the resources off, flinging them closer to the dome or straight into there if you're a good enough shot!
But all of the Assessor's fancy tech also requires you to do one thing well: plan your shots! Once unleashed, you have little control over the spheres. A bad shot will vanish quickly, a great shot will destroy swathes of rock, so you always want to make sure you place your spheres where it matters. Sometimes you won't find a great spot. Then you can rely on your rotational mining for help - often you'll be able to prepare the rock layout to maximize the power of your spheres.

Jeepers Keepers

No longer will you be playing in the straight forward fashion you get with the Engineer. It'll be up to you to ensure you properly plan your sphere shots and time your reflections well, to maximize your mining capabilities! So go on then, get in there and let those spheres fly! Let us know what you think, and what ideas you have for any future Keepers that may join the team! Make sure you're following Dome Keeper on Twitter or join our Discord to meet and swap tips with other Keepers, as well as tell us all about your favorite map modifiers, gadgets, and anything you'd like to see us bring to Dome Keeper in the future!

Changelog

• - added the Assessor, a new keeper based around control of gravity. Also comes with a completely new OST and 4 Achievements.
• added a new monster, the Stingray. It's a lowest tier flying monster, bringing a bit of variety early on, replacing the flyer in some worlds.
• improved sprites for Rockman
• buffed orchard: - Root explosion deals a fixed, high amount of damage. - Fruit buff upgrades are much cheaper. - Shield last for much longer and is a bit cheaper.
• more community translated languages now available
• reworked sword impact recurperation and added visual effect for when it's active. It will now activate during the battle, as soon as the damage threshold is reached.
• added alternative tooltips for other controller types than xbox. Automatic detection should work for Playstation and Switch Pro controller.
• improved sprites for keepers in loadout screen
• added option to set how often music plays
• improved colors of orchard fruit in HUD, for better readability towards the end
• improved animations for unlockable screen
• improved some worm and sword sounds
• wave counter and inventory now cost 1 water

Until the next one, Keepers - Dome Sweet Dome!