Yes, you're trapped underground in the dark surrounded by horrors. But it's still perfectly lovely and chill.

Food in Core Keeper has two main purposes – keeping you alive by restoring HP and reducing hunger and giving you helpful perks like extra armor or the ability to glow.

is gorgeous to watch as you run around with a torch, but if your hands are otherwise occupied, it can get pretty dark down there. Keep a little stock of torches on hand to light up areas you’re going to be spending time in.

However, you can’t hold a torch and mine at the same time, so it’s best to replace this light source as soon as possible.

Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

As can their respective Titan bosses. But it's strongly suggested to take them on in the order listed below, due to the workbench upgrade chain, mining damage and mob and boss difficulty scaling.

Character creation doesn’t get too complicated, but you might hesitate over choosing your character’s Background and the perks that come along with it.

Scarab armor set that buffs thorns damage and adds it to melee and ranged. Which is stronger than it sounds.

Jason Dietz Core Keeper Gameplay We reveal the past year's best and worst video game publishers (based on their 2023 releases) in the 14th edition of our annual Game Publisher Rankings.

You can choose to place different monster floor tiles in a single space or place it in separate areas in your base.

Like many sandbox survival games, Core Keeper throws you right into the action. The lack of clear objectives and demands from the game is part of what makes it good cozy fun, but it can also be a bit confusing.

This time I'm running because I found a carrot for the first time and I can't wait to see what new meals I can cook with it. In Core Keeper I may be trapped in the dark with unspeakable horrors, but I'm also comfortable enough to get excited about making a stew.

Character death causes you to lose all items in your backpack. You’ll keep the items that were in your toolbar, so consider item placement wisely when going into tough combat.

It’s also a good idea to take the time and fully clear out areas, so the light can actually reach all the dim corners and not get cut off by random chunks of wall.