The Stardew Valley Easter Egg You Missed In Dome Keeper
ConcernedApe's acclaimed "Stardew Valley" captured the love — or Friendship levels — of gamers everywhere for its smorgasbord of resource management mechanics and undeniable charm of its NPCs. Despite the first part of the game's title, it has not typically dealt in extraterrestrial matters save for that one time (via Stardew Guide). Meanwhile, another indie developer announced a resource management game sharing similarities with "Stardew," but it has gone all-in on aliens. Slated for release later in 2022, "Dome Keeper" has promised a "unique rogue-lite mining game" (via YouTube), where the player progresses by collecting materials and defending their base against shadowy alien hoards. Aside from the general similarities of mining and fighting monsters, the "Dome Keeper" demo actually held a direct Easter egg referencing "Stardew Valley."
Steam described "Dome Keeper" with the tags Mining, Action Roguelike, and Time Management, some of which apply to "Stardew" as well. As Twitch streamer CohhCarnage discovered while playing "Dome Keeper's" demo, the similarities went deeper. The popular streamer called out a sound effect that plays when vanquishing certain aliens, one many "Stardew" farmers will recognize.
Blasting the crop out of aliens
CohhCarnage hosted a "Dome Keeper Demo" livestream series on YouTube. The player began the series with only a single laser to defend his domed home from relentless waves of aliens. Using that laser, he discovered the Easter egg by blasting a specific variety of aliens. Targeting the mini ones that approach in hoards, the laser destroyed them instantly with a familiar popping sound.
"You know what the popping sound is?" Carnage said. "It's the freaking harvest sound from Stardew Valley. That's why it triggers so much dopamine in me, I was wondering what was going on there."
The popping sound of the imploding little aliens carried a remarkable resemblance in timbre and quality to the sound of freshly picked-up crops present in all versions of "Stardew Valley." CohhCarnage has admitted on Twitter to thoroughly liking "Stardew Valley," so his familiarity with the game supports the theory of an intentional Easter egg on the part of developer Bippinbit.
The townsfolk of "Stardew Valley" may not be the happiest bunch, but streamer CohhCarnage certainly seemed happy when he figured out the near-identical sounds linking "Dome Keeper" to "Stardew Valley." In reusing the harvest sound effect, Bippinbit has implemented a clever, harmless way to pay homage to a beloved indie game.