Pyrite glitters like gold, but closer inspection reveals a generic imitation. Gold Keeper dazzles with its graphics much like fool's gold, though digging deep unveils gameplay that's just as generic and without much value.
In control of a territorial red-skinned demon, your sole objective is to guard a pile of treasures that lie in the centre of a dank cave. Human bandits sneak in from all directions trying to nab pieces of gold, while armoured fighters attempt to keep you busy in combat so the bandits can make off with the booty.
Jamming on the 'attack' button in the lower-right corner bashes enemies with your beefy crimson arms. A yellow power gauge lining the right side of the screen fills up with each power token collected from a fallen foe. Once full, tapping the yellow symbol that appears unleashes a special ground pound attack that kills everything on the screen.
That's it. There's nothing more to Gold Keeper than bashing enemies to keep them away from your gold, collecting power tokens, and occasionally unleashing a special attack. A series of weapons can be earned with enough points, but these just extend the range of your attacks and don't do anything to add substantive variety.
An online leaderboard encourages replay, though the gameplay is so shallow that returning for another go is hardly appealing. Broadening combat to include a wide range of attacks, special moves, and upgrade system would at least put a motive behind all the button-mashing. Greater variety in the enemies that come into the cave would also help.
The visuals are eyecatching, yet Gold Keeper doesn't have the gameplay to hold your attention once the sheen of its graphics has faded away. Even for a quick play, its gameplay isn't appealing enough to draw you back after discovering all that glitters isn't gold.