Chasing down Chaos
Gatekeeper is a top-down action rogue-like where you push through waves of enemies to track down the stolen Heart of Time. Chaos's minions have taken it, and the trail leads through five distinct planets, each with its own enemies and bosses. Before the final showdown in the Throne Room you have to defeat Chaos's elite Sirens and the endless legions serving them. Every location has one of four mission types, and completing it summons a Siren for a boss fight. Runs are built around fighting through relentless enemy forces, so expect dense bullet-hell encounters and a difficulty tag of Difficult attached to the game.
Playing together
You can go in solo or bring up to three friends for 4-player online co-op. The whole thing is PvE, so the group works together against the enemy forces rather than against each other. With friends along, the power-fantasy side of the game opens up: you split the pressure of the legions between you, cover each other during the Siren battles, and stack abilities toward a shared build. Since it's a rogue-like, each attempt is a fresh push toward the Throne Room, which makes running it again with the same group a natural next round.
Building your Gatekeeper
There are 9 playable characters, each with unique skills, so the group can spread across different playstyles instead of everyone filling the same role. Experience unlocks each Gatekeeper's potential, and their abilities combine with artifact effects. Over a hundred unique artifacts are on offer, and combining them into Triads is how your combat power grows across a run. That combination system is where the replay value sits: different characters, different artifacts, different Triads each time.
Before you start
Know that this is a difficult game by design. Enemies come in large numbers and the shooting is fast and dense, so positioning matters as much as aim. Progress within a run comes from picking up artifacts and shaping a build, which means early choices set up how strong you get later. Pick a Gatekeeper that suits how you want to fight, decide as a group how you'll handle the four mission types, and expect to need several attempts before the Throne Room is in reach.