Core Keeper review: The ultimate game of exploration and discovery – GameSpew (2024)

Along with all the people who’ve been playing Core Keeper’s early access version since 2022, I feel like I’ve been let in on a secret. Granted, it’s not the most secret of secrets, because Core Keeper’s already very popular, but having been privy to this open world exploration sandbox over the last two years of its development feels like a real treat. Jumping into it now, with version 1.0 landing on PC and it finally arriving on consoles, it’s clear to see just how far it’s come in that time.

Core Keeper is a hard game to put into a box because, ultimately, it’s whatever you want it to be. It fits somewhere between Minecraft and Stardew Valley, but it’s also very much its own beast. Set in a vast underground world — one that’s different every time you play — you’re thrown in knowing absolutely nothing. Only by exploring and experimenting will you begin to uncover the vast secrets that Core Keeper holds, and trust me when I say that there’s a lot of them.

Certain things I could levy at Core Keeper as complaints are also its strengths, depending on how you look at things. It doesn’t hold your hand, almost to a fault: you’re simply thrown into the game and expected to just… figure things out. But that’s also the real joy of this game. Core Keeper is all about discovery, and when you do finally find a use for that weird object you’ve been carting around in your inventory for the last 15 hours, it feels seriously good. Sure, it could perhaps do a little better to guide you in the very early stages: even a few prompts over what buttons to press or your general goal might be helpful for some players. But it’s vague by design, and so it’s hard to hold that against developer Pugstorm.

Having previously spent a great deal of time with Core Keeper in its beginning stages of early access, it’s incredible to see just how much extra content is here. Previously, this was a game about seeking out giant monsters, figuring out how to take them down, and using their parts to power up a machine. Yes, you can (and should!) still do that, but there’s lots more to it. You can raise your own animals, grow plants, build your own home and create vast networks of electricity, rail and more. It’s almost overwhelming to consider everything there is to do in Core Keeper. You might not ever even touch some of its mechanics, and you won’t feel any poorer for it. But for those who want to truly get immersed in everything this wondrous little game has to offer, get ready to lost hundreds of hours to its dark, mysterious caves.

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Mining is key to exploration and progression in Core Keeper. You’re walled in, unless you use your trusty pickaxe to carve a path outwards. Which way do you go? That’s entirely up to you, and really, that’s the thrill of Core Keeper. You never know what you’re going to find. A new secret, perhaps? A treasure chest that contains something really useful? Something that doesn’t make much sense until later in the game? You’re never far from discovering something new, and it’s that sense of wonder that really keps Core Keeper tick along.

Of course, the usual dangers come with the sense of free exploration offered by Core Keeper. It’s all-too-easy to end up somewhere you probably shouldn’t be, and there’s a good chance you won’t know you were in the wrong place until you’re one-hit killed by a rogue enemy. Luckily, death isn’t the end (unless you’ve chosen a Hardcore character, then it’s game over) — you’ll simply respawn at your starting point, although your inventory will remain at the point you died. Anything equipped to you — your armour and accessories — and anything in the top row of your inventory (likely weapons) will remain, thankfully, but anything in your backpack will need retrieving.

The world of Core Keeper is also divided into clearly-defined biomes. Each new area contains new types of ore (used to craft new, better equipment), but that means tougher rocks to mine through — so you might need to upgrade your pickaxe before you can proceed. You’ll also find tougher enemies as you explore further out from your starting point, but there’s also a bigger chance of finding something exciting.

Because of its random nature, no two games of Core Keeper will ever be the same. A world is randomly generated for you, and it’ll be completely different from anyone else’s. You won’t know where biomes will be located, where to find bosses, or anything: so even if you’ve poured hundreds of hours into the game, starting on a new map is akin to starting from scratch. What’s particularly neat, however, is that your characters and worlds are saved separately, so you can take an established character into a new world, or play an existing world with a new character.

There’s so much I could talk about with Core Keeper, but it’s the sense of discovery that really makes this game so special — and going in not knowing exactly what you might encounter feels like sort-of the point. But if you have a taste for adventure, enjoy carving your own path and don’t mind figuring things out for yourself, you’re going to have a whale of a time.

This review of Core Keeper is based on the PS5 version of the game, with a code provided by the publisher. It’s available on PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC, with PS4, Xbox One and Switch versions coming soon.