Core Keeper News

The wait is over. After a year and a half of hard work, we are excited to release Core Keeper into Steam Early Access today!

The community reaction to the Steam Next Fest Demo was incredible, and we are thrilled for this major next chapter. We are happy to welcome new and returning players into the world of Core Keeper and will be listening closely to the community’s feedback throughout Early Access as we continue to add exciting new content and features. To start (or continue) your underground adventure, pick up a copy of the game from our Steam store page.

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[h2]Your Feedback Matters![/h2]

From our very first Alpha all the way to the Demo, your feedback has been instrumental in making Core Keeper what it is today. We’ve had the most amazing time developing the game and getting to know the community, and we cannot thank you enough for your support. There are lots of exciting new features waiting for you in Early Access, and we definitely want to hear your thoughts.

Launching the game in Early Access is the perfect opportunity to welcome you to the world of Core Keeper while continuing to add features and make improvements based on community input. You’ve been with us every step of the journey, but from this moment onwards, you’ll be experiencing bug fixes in real time along with regular updates to the game – and we think that’s pretty exciting!

You can share your feedback and suggestions with us in the relevant channels in the Core Keeper Discord, and any bug reports can be documented via Jotform.

[h2]Exciting New Features[/h2]

There are several key features appearing in the Early Access version of the game that we might not have included if it weren’t for you! Things like fishing (which was requested from the moment we opened the Discord!) and the Cookbook were community driven additions that have helped us really elevate the game.

We’ve also made plenty of new additions of our own creation, and we’re looking forward to watching you uncover them all. We don’t want to spoil too much, as we think the best way to discover new features is by playing the game, but we did share a list of patch notes recently that detail some of the latest updates to the game.

[h2]What’s Next for Core Keeper?[/h2]

Hearing your thoughts and feedback on the Early Access version of the game is the very first step on the road to full launch, and we’ll be sharing lots more news and information with regards to this journey going forward.

We’ve got plenty of updates planned to keep the world of Core Keeper expanding as you explore the underground. For now, take a look at this exciting new roadmap that will give you an insight into exactly what we’re thinking about for the future of Core Keeper!



We’ll also be keeping an eye out for your bug reports, Tweets, Discord messages, livestreams, YouTube videos, TikToks, and more to get an idea of how you’re enjoying the game. From all of us here at Pugstorm and the publishing team at Fireshine Games, we hope you have fun exploring, and you’ll be hearing even more on Core Keeper from us soon.

It’s not long now until we hit Early Access, Explorers, and we wanted to give you a little run down of some of the updates we’ve made to the game based on your feedback from the Demo. While this is not a full list of Early-Access features, please find a list of patch notes below for a little insight into some of the things you can expect to see.



[h2]Main Features[/h2]

• New biome: Azeos Wilderness
  
• New biome: Mould Biome, located in Azeos Wilderness
  
• Lighting Optimisation
  

[h2]New NPCs[/h2]

• Azeos the Sky Titan (boss)
  
• Ivy the Poisonous Mass (boss)
  
• Malugaz the Corrupted (boss)
  
• 5 new enemies
  

[h2]New Mechanics[/h2]

• New items with shield mechanic: Equipable in off-hand
  
• New item with dash mechanic: Equipable in off-hand
  
• Automation table: Allows creation of conveyor belts, drills & robot arms
  
• Electronics table: Allows creation of generators, wires, circuits & more
  
• Fishing: 19 unique fish & many other loot drops
  
• Railway forge: Allows creation of rails & minecarts
  
• Cartography table: Allows players to share explored areas on their maps
  
• Cookbook available in cooking pot: Used for storing recipes
  

[h2]New Items[/h2]

• More than 10 new weapons
  
• More than 20 new types of armour & gear 
  
• New workbench tier: Scarlet workbench
  
• Distillery table: Allows creation of stronger potions
  
• Salvage & repair station: Used to maintain gear
  
• Monster figurine collectables: Can be used as decoration
  
• Oracle cards collectables
  
• New valuables
  
• Large water can
  

[h2]Additional Content[/h2]

• New unique locations in the world
  
• Tier 3 & tier 4 talents available in the talent trees
  
• Activation of the Core
  

[h2]Balancing Improvements[/h2]

• Slow down effects now work on bosses
  
• Increased inventory size
  
• Increased health from sleeping
  
• Enemies drop loot when killed by secondary sources (e.g. killed by spike trap)
  
• Starting lantern now has a bit longer glow range
  
• Health potions now have a cooldown after drinking
  
• Removed durability from paint brushes
  

[h2]Quality-of-life[/h2]

• Lighting Optimisation
  
• Titles for each biome
  
• Changing between weapons does not require pressing left mouse button again to attack
  
• Added a cursor to the centre of the map when using controller
  
• Gravestones can now be picked up by hitting with melee weapon
  

[h2]Art and Animation[/h2]

• New icon for water can
  
• Changed position of item hover description
  
• Tweaked colours on the map
  
• Indicator that skills have unsigned talent points.
  
• New icon for wood bridge
  
• Tools only drain durability when used for their intended purpose, e.g. durability is no longer drained when hitting wooden crates
  
• Tools & gear now become unusable when reaching 0 durability instead of breaking
  
• Increased size of chests inventory space
  

[h2]Audio[/h2]

• Sound effect when entering a new biome
  

• Credits does not scroll while in-game
  
• Paintable walls/floors now appears on the map
  
• Stone doors now can be used to allow merchant to move in
  
• Fixed so bosses does not turn invisible
  
• “Gotta go fast” buff is no longer gained by sleeping
  
• Shift+right click does not give more cooking skills
  
• Gravestones can now be picked up when dropped next to the hive mother.
  
• Painting a wall with the same colour again makes it disappear for a second
  
• V-sync no longer effects scrolling speed in menus
  
• And more!
  

• Credits updated
  

We hope you enjoyed reading through these, and we’re sure there are one or two additions here that will have piqued your interest. We can’t wait for you to find out what some of the more cryptic notes within this list mean, and you won’t have to wait very long.

You are welcome to discuss these patch notes with your fellow Explorers in the Core Keeper Discord! There’s no obligation to do so, but we would recommend using the #lore channel and the spoiler function out of courtesy for those who may not want to view certain information.

We’re counting down the hours until Early Access. Keep an eye out for another update from us tomorrow!

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The Core Keeper Demo is now closed. We want to take this opportunity to say thank you to the 130,000 people who downloaded and played our Demo and to let you know that we have been utterly blown away by your support. Your feedback and bug reports have already helped us enhance the game, and we’re implementing lots more fixes and improvements ahead of our Early Access launch on March 8th.

[h2]One Week to Go![/h2]

It won’t be long until you can get your hands on the Early Access version of Core Keeper, so thank you for being patient while we get this ready for you. Remember, any progress made in the Demo will carry over to Early Access so that you can continue your adventure! You’ll want to keep an eye on Steam and our Discord server too, as we’ll be releasing a handful of patch notes so that you can see how your feedback from the Demo has directly impacted the game.

There have been a lot of exciting and interesting conversations happening on the Discord server too. From speculations about the history of the Cavelings in the lore channel all the way to users sharing some very creative screenshots in the media channel, we’ve got a growing community of over 5,000 members, and we’d love for you to join us!

If you want to see even more of Core Keeper before we launch, then make sure you’re following us on Twitter for lots of GIFs (and some terrible puns). We’ve also got our very own TikTok account where we share developer insights alongside some sillier videos. Oh, and we’ve got a YouTube channel too where we upload trailers and other official videos (including some of our wonderful soundtrack!).

We’re counting down the hours until we go into Early Access, and we couldn’t be more excited. Until then, we’ll be working away planting Glow Tulips, feeding the Slimes, keeping an eye out for Infected Cavelings, and making sure Ghorm doesn’t stray from his path. Bring on March 8th!

It’s been just over two weeks since the Core Keeper Demo went live, and we’ve had some amazing feedback from you all in our Discord server, along with some incredibly helpful bug reports. We just wanted to take this moment to say we hope you’re having as much fun playing the game as we’re having developing it, and we also want to remind you that there are only a few days left to play the Demo for free on Steam.

The Core Keeper Demo will go offline on the 28th of March to coincide with the end of Steam Next Fest, but don’t worry! From the moment it goes offline, there’ll be just over one week until we launch the game in Early Access on March 8th. Those of you who’ve built extravagant bases and uncovered huge portions of the map will be pleased to know that any progress made in the Demo will carry over into Early Access, meaning you’ll be able to continue adventuring right where you left off.

We’ve seen plenty of new faces in the Discord and on our Twitter channels, and we’re thrilled to have had the opportunity to participate in Steam Next fest and share Core Keeper with the world before we hit Early Access. If you haven’t wishlisted the game already, make sure you do so on our Store page. From all of us here at Pugstorm and Sold Out, have a great weekend!