Early Access Review: Core Keeper

destructoid.com:

While it’s walking on well-worn ground in the mining/crafting-adventure space, Core Keeper is a wonderful way to spend some time. Okay, honestly, a lot of time.

I recently saw it climb up the Steam charts, with the latest figure topping 500K copies sold. That caught my eye. But more than raw popularity, I was intrigued by the idea of a game with a bit of Terraria, Stardew Valley, and Valheim in its DNA. Those are three beloved titans, and Core Keeper definitely isn’t on that level, but the comparison kind of fits, albeit with an Early Access caveat to contend with. It’s not finished — but it’s really polished.

Core Keeper (PC) Developer: Pugstorm Publisher: Fireshine Games Released: March 8, 2022 (Steam Early Access) MSRP: $12.99

Even if we’ve seen these ideas before in other games, this is still the kind of meandering sandbox that I can enjoy losing myself in. You’ll have goals in mind, sure — maybe you want to find a certain ore to craft a certain helmet with a certain perk before facing a boss — but it can be just as easy to pick a direction, any direction, and start tunneling.

It’s pitch dark, so you’ll need to plop down some torches, keep an eye out for glimmering deposits to crack open, and consult your slowly materializing map from time to time.

Early on, I adored this simplicity, even as a solo player. It was ideal for a two-screen PC setup with YouTube or Netflix playing on the side. Toward the end — and admittedly, in Early Access, there isn’t really an “end” — I started to feel tapped out. My character’s level-ups were too few and far between, the enemies and biomes became overly familiar, and the trips back out to the edge of the world took too long even with a minecart.

But you know, I enjoyed those first 12