Dig Deep Underground in This Ultimate Game of Exploration and Discovery

The Core Keeper release officially reached the shores of gaming at the very end of the summer this year, 27th of August to be precise and it has already garnered quite the support by many fans. Of course, it does seem that the PUGSTORM title is a fresh take on the base-builder 2D adventure survival genre which does place a tick on many of the right boxes for players to enjoy it.

It intricately mixes and combines elements that have been established as effective over the years while also having a cool narrative and visual aesthetic. The Core Keeper steam release managed to get a universal praise since the Rated E title is already available for all the major platforms from PS5, XBOX X|S to the XBOX ONE, PS4 and NINTENDO SWITCH.

In this review we are going through all the underground tunnels Core Keeper has to offer and are going to dig our way deeper into the class system, mechanics and many other important elements from the gameplay that are worthy of a mention since in this award-winning, up-to-8 player sandbox adventure, the choices you make are going to ultimately shape your epic journey through the dark caves.

Got your digging equipment ready? Let’s begin!

Explore the Dark Underground World with its Vast Variety in this Mining Sandbox Adventure

In single-player mode you awaken as a lone explorer in a seemingly abandoned cave system that is full of mystery and long-forgotten tech and untold secrets. You get to explore a massive network of underground tunnels and caverns that all have something interesting to discover, be it an enemy creature, relic or material to use in order to further construct the base you reside in and thus expand your operations in the best ways available. You would need to survive and progressively growing your knowledge of this world is the key to it. After all, you are dropped into this adventure without any sort of clear direction; you will have to find your way around on your own.

Light is scarce in this place; the only sources of any illumination are some glow-in-the-dark plants and surfaces that do not provide enough coverage for the whole place to be seen clearly. Luckily, one of the first useful items that you manage to find is wood and from it the ability to craft torches arises, this could take place on a basic workbench and you would be much more able to go and have a better look around when you got a source of light with you.

Eventually you no matter the direction you move in there would be diverse biome types with their unique ecosystems, from the moving walls of the Clay Caves to the crystal filled caverns of the Shimmering Frontier. Build yourself a boat and sail through the Sunken Sea or go across the Desert of Beginnings and encounter the remaining remnants of different fallen civilizations that used to dwell in these places.

Harvest as many relics and resources as you possibly can and craft more advanced tools, construct and structure your base as you deem fit and once again continue exploring this progressively evolving world that is awaiting to be unearthed. Get ready to level up your skills, battle against and defeat powerful and mighty boss creatures and ultimately unveil the full powers of the Ancient Core.

Character Types, Abilities, and the Different Roles to Choose from.

Starting off with a user-created Nomad character that you could customize the way you prefer, you would need to later choose their class and role in order to rely on a specific set of skills and given abilities. You can change the character's body type, skin color, hair style and color, eye color, shirt color and pants color to make it more unique and personal.

Currently, there are also two character types; the first one is the Standard type, where characters are able to respawn when they die, and the second are the Hardcore ones which would be permanently lost as soon as they perish and cannot be resurrected. Once you are ready with the initial customization you can then play with these avatars in the different respective in-game difficulty modes.

The background of a character gives them a set of perks to start your journey with. It does not change or give any other effect on the Core Keeper gameplay or overall narrative. Apart from the default Nomad role (which is basically an ordinary person without any specialty, but still has the main common skills and abilities the player-controlled character should have at any time) there are also the Chef, Explorer, Gardener, Miner, Fighter, Fisherman, Warlock, Mage, and Ranger roles that provide players with certain strengths or items included in their setup. Aside from the more traditional roles there are also the ones that are going to help you grow your own garden, go fishing in the mysterious and unpredictable waters, prepare a vast range of recipes and even raise crops and livestock animals.

Skills, Loadouts and Strategic Gameplay Features to be Aware of

Each basic player skill in the Core Keeper RPG side of things has a mini tree of its own and you can certainly upgrade and improve upon your abilities by doing the necessary tasks that will get things properly started, whether that be the melee or ranged attacks in combat, using magic spells, going fishing, doing a lot of gardening or even just by running around more and more. There are a total of 23 skills; some are common and others belonging to the roles.

A very useful tool in the inventory screen is the character equipment section that offers the option for three different loadouts to choose from for your character at any given time, simply because progression in the game is based much more on what you do and not so much on who you are. Another thing to mention is the feature to put different types of armor and accessories to your Head, torso and leg slots can boost your character’s skills even further, so there is a lot of room for experimenting and setup combinations depending on your game style. You could pack your inventory full of arrows or potions, so that you cast fireballs all around you, keep your distance while summoning creatures to aid you or go with the strongest melee weapons for those of you that wish to do the most fighting.

You will probably at times need to do some changes in your strategy on the go, so reaching relative safety would be a good option because the change of loadouts does not automatically pause the game and you would still be very much vulnerable to attacks while shifting your gear and setup. It is because of these options that the Core Keeper gameplay manages to remain dynamic and flexible enough even though it might seem a bit repetitive initially.

Find Your Way Through to Unravel the Mystery of the Ancient Core.

Core Keeper has got much in common with many other renowned survival games since there are sudden and even a bit bizarre pixel art sights, multiple unexpected encounters and loads of delightful surprises that are all things players usually crave from a procedurally generated co-op sandbox survival game.

In the dimly lit caves, there are many types of ancient and defunct technology and you manage to find out that you need to activate and protect a mysterious Ancient Core so that all the gadgetry could begin working again. In order to awake the core, it would require you to discover a way to power it up once again with the use of three different relics. Your best chances of doing that is to dig and mine through the tunnels, so that you harvest the necessary materials and craft new gear and weapons, to optimize your efforts against the bosses that hold them. You would also need to progress in such a way so that you later would be able to dig far-reaching tunnels outwards from the Ancient Core to other sections of the game.

Go deeper into the world to find new important types of materials such as tin, gold, iron as well as other precious resources and hidden gems that would ultimately allow you to set up your resource production lines and let the machinery to do the brute work for you.

A Crafting, Building and Farming Systems that Evolve the Further you Make Progress

The crafting system in the Core Keeper indie title is not so complicated compared to what the rest of the survival crafting games offer. You probably would not feel the necessity to read through long wikis (although the game has got a very good one already) to understand how it all basically works.

Upgrade your workbench stations over time and the natural flow of the game will kick in. As you progress you would be able to harvest new types of materials and build better workbench stations to unlock the ability to construct more complicated tools and machines. In total there are 8 different types of workbenches, the Basic Workbench, Copper Workbench, Tin Workbench, Iron Workbench, Scarlet Workbench, Octarine Workbench, Galaxite Workbench and Solarite Workbench, each of them being able to access the options from all the previous levels.

This approach offers an easy start to the story you are about to craft and from there let the Core Keeper experience slowly start expanding and forge itself into an amazing survival adventure. The more complex your workbench station is the better output you can produce and this allows you to progress easier through the game.

Craft more sophisticated tools to help you survive, from stronger pickaxes, fishing rods, and shovels to more dangerous traps, bombs and even mortars. As you upgrade your level you would reach more advanced tools such as the Obliteration Ray as well as more automated machinery to streamline the mining, smelting and storage processes.

The farming and cooking aspects of the gameplay are also quite easy to grasp and this is not a bad thing at all since they do not need to be overly complicated, just put two of the ingredients together in a pot, literally any two ingredients would do the trick, and get a prepared meal that usually somehow mixes their properties; for example, when you combine a healing fruit and a glow-in-the-dark plant the game will produce a food that both replenishes your health and allows you to glow at the same time.

The livestock such as the variants for Core Keeper’s cows, goats and birds also need a safe place to live, so you should give a big portion of your time and attention to farming, growing vegetables, crops and manage that aspect of the game as well, but no worries since things become much easier to maintain over time as you develop your base.

You could design different types of sections so that you divide the base into different “departments” in order to perform the different tasks in. You can grow your presence from a humble adventurer’s lair to a complex base with various functions and thus shape the underground the way you like it. Spend your earned talent points to level up your abilities and plan your strategy ahead with a few steps so that you can conquer and vanquish the more dangerous creatures that lurk in the underground.

Go in Battle Against Different Types of Monster Creatures and Mighty Titans

Of course, your journey would not go without opposition and difficult battles since you would need to face not only regular enemy types but also go against some much more epic monster creatures that are the holders of the secrets to this world, so make sure to sharpen your combat instincts and skills.

Even though at first you would need to start with basic hack-and-slash attacks with the earlier opponents, from little slimy blobs through the goblin-like Cavelings to angry mushroom creatures that all have some peculiar details and behavior that at first seems pretty hostile, but you could spot them doing other activities and observe their lifestyle habits as well. If you however spend too long on their grounds and they notice you snooping around, there would be an entire organized patrol that will go after you, and chase you away.

As you progress you are going to find or craft new weapons such as enchanted swords, stronger magic wands and even rocket launcher types like the Grubzooka that is made from a giant maggot that you could even use to dig tunnels with, but be very careful not to blow yourself up with it as it does cause blast damage that could affect even you.

The boss creatures in Core Keeper could be surprisingly tough at times and most of them might require numerous attempts and strategies applied before defeating them. Each of the main bosses, because there are also several optional ones that you may or may not choose to slay, would grant you an item you would need in order to progress further and usually unlocks major features or abilities, which is exactly the element of the Core Keeper gameplay that encourages you to stray away from the safety of your base on the regular.

Have in mind that some of the Core Keeper bosses are moving around the underground tunnel world while others have to be summoned by using a special item, which could make it easier to defeat them because you would be able to prepare the area with some traps before the battle starts.

Explore the Tunnels in the Company of up to 7 Other Players or Friends

Not only could you enjoy the adventure alone to play the game as you like and explore at your own pace but there is also the option to form a team up in the 2-8 player co-op mode online and explore the caverns together in a party and help each other out by taking different class roles in order to cover more of the work together. You may choose to design the greatest base ever and automate the entire resource gathering process to your collective liking and spend more time in multiplayer exploration.

Interestingly enough, as a game that happens completely under the ground, Core Keeper manages to do a splendid job to make you forget the fact you are located in caves all the time as there are some very colorful locations to discover, giving the title a bit more of variety. Overall, the lighting, visual effects and animations are truly gorgeous and you and your friends would surely have a lot of fun if you really dig into it!

In conclusion we could say that even though the world in the Core Keeper steam release is quite colorful and even cute, it does become more haunting and scarier as you progress over time, but despite all the dangers going around it truly does offer a nice and interesting base-building experience that you should give a very decent try to, especially during the month of October and Halloween season. Stay tuned for more interesting and upcoming updates in gaming from us!