Core Keeper News

We can’t tell you all how excited we are to wish you a happy New Year! We’ve had an amazing 2021, and we’ve got so many wonderful things to look back on and be proud of, but we couldn’t have done it all without you.

From announcing the game back in June, our first developer update, and the Closed Alpha, all the way to taking Core Keeper to EGX, supporting the Jingle Jam, and the recent Open Alpha – it’s been a busy year! As we move into 2022, we’re very excited to bring you even more Core Keeper updates and to welcome more and more Explorers to our community.

Do you want to know the most exciting part of it all, though?

[h3]Core Keeper will be coming to Early Access in early 2022![/h3]

That’s right, we’ve been hard at work implementing your feedback from the Open Alpha and adding lots of cool new features and mechanics to the game. We’ve got lots of new things to show you, so expect plenty of Steam updates in the future. We’ve yet to set an exact date for Early Access yet but keep an eye on our Twitter and Discord for announcements about this in the future.

Until then, we hope you are just as excited for Core Keeper as we are!

[h2]Merry Christmas, Explorers! [/h2]

We’ve had an amazing year so far, and it’s been a huge privilege to get to know you all on Twitter, Discord, and the Steam discussions. We hope you’re all getting the opportunity to relax and play some video games as the year winds down now, and we can’t wait to bring you more Core Keeper updates in the New Year.

We’ve been working hard on implementing your feedback and fixing bugs that were reported during the Core Keeper Open Alpha. There’s been plenty to get on with, and it has been so valuable to hear your thoughts and opinions on the game. We’ll be taking a little time to rest over Christmas, but we just wanted to take this opportunity to let you know how much we appreciate you all. ‘Tis the season to get a little cheesy and emotional, after all.

Have a great break, and we hope Father Coremas brings you something nice!

Yesterday, we announced that we were extending the Core Keeper Open Alpha by 24 hours as a small thank you for your amazing feedback and expert bug reporting! With that in mind, the Open Alpha will be playable up until 6pm GMT / 10.00am PT today.

We wanted to say a massive thank you to everybody who has taken part in our Open Alpha so far. We’ve had an amazing response from gamers all over the world, and we were thrilled to watch your Twitch streams and YouTube videos and view all the amazing screenshots you took of the game.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

We’ve seen many new faces in the Discord, and your feedback has been incredibly helpful. In fact, we’ve already started working on some of it! You can see a handful of things we’ve started working in our changelog in the #dev-updates channel in the Discord for now – but expect a bigger changelog here on Steam once we’ve had a chance to go through all your feedback.

We’re reading through every single piece of feedback you left in the Discord and all of the bug report forms you submitted online so that we can use this to make the best possible version of Core Keeper. Of course, we can’t include everything (even though we’d really like to!), but we’ll be doing our best to implement as many suggestions as possible that we think will enhance or balance gameplay.



We’d also love it if you could take the time to fill out our brand-new feedback form now that the Open Alpha is coming to a close. This form is different from the bug reports and is designed to give us an idea of your overall gameplay experience. We’d love to hear from you, even if you’ve already submitted feedback in the Discord.



With Christmas just around the corner, we’re sure you’re all looking forward to a rest, some good food, and lots of gaming – and you’ve definitely earned it! We wish we could give you even more Core Keeper to enjoy over the festive period, but we hope knowing that we’re working hard on getting the game ready for Early Access will be enough for now.

Make sure you’re following us on Twitter to get near daily doses of Core Keeper throughout the holidays, and don’t forget you can always chat with your fellow Explorers on the Discord too! We don’t think there’s anything left to say except “have a wonderful rest of the year” from all of us here at Pugstorm and our friends over at Sold Out.

Last month, we shared the first part of our Creature Compendium with you. From the passive Orange Slime all the way to the highly aggressive Caveling Shaman, we told you where to find these monsters and what to expect from their attacks. We’re sure you’ve spotted plenty of other mobs in the underground during our Open Alpha, so let’s take a look at another batch of creatures today!

[h2]Caveling Brute[/h2]
Location: Stone Biome
Attacks: With a GIANT Club

Much like the Big Larva is a scarier version of the Larva, the Caveling Brute is a much scarier version of the Caveling. These creatures are slow but mighty, and just one hit from one of their wooden clubs is enough to do serious damage to an unarmoured Explorer. Here’s a top tip: Brutes are most dangerous when there are other enemies around. Try luring smaller enemies away so you don't have to fight them all at once.

[h2]Caveling Merchant[/h2]
Location: Stone Biome
Attacks: Never!

The Caveling Merchant is an outsider amongst its kind. Having retained some semblance of culture, it prefers to spend its time buying and selling rare items with whoever is available to trade. It is far more concerned with loot and coins than it is with battling other creatures, making it a friendly creature that we’re sure you’ll be happy to spot as you travel through the Stone Biome. We designed this creature to look like an outsider that roams the world in search of treasure.



[h2]Caveling Farmer[/h2]
Location: Nature Biome
Attacks: With traps

The Caveling Farmer is a green-thumbed nuisance that lives in the Nature Biome and grows delicious crops. We’re not saying you should kill these creatures and steal their produce; we’re just saying it’s an option. They’re similar to regular Cavelings in terms of their attack style, but they have an extra mechanic you might want to watch out for in the form of Snare-Plant traps! Be careful not to step onto one of these plants, otherwise you’ll find yourself trapped in place and helpless to the attacks of the Caveling Farmer and the…

[h2]Caveling Hunter[/h2]
Location: Nature Biome
Attacks: Stealthily

A sneaky Caveling disguising itself as a bush. Get too close and it will SHOOT you. Yep, you heard us correctly, this little blight has a musket…and it’s not afraid to use it! Always keep an eye on your surroundings when making your way through the Nature Biome, especially for bushes that look a bit out of the ordinary. We designed the hunter to work well alongside the Caveling Farmer’s Snare Plants, and this monster has a special place in David’s heart.

"I think the Caveling Hunter is my favourite because it looks so stupid when peeking out from beneath the bush thinking that no one sees it. We all see you!" – David, Gameplay Programmer



[h2]Infected Caveling[/h2]
Location: Nature Biome (Mould Dungeon)
Attacks: As part of a horde

Deep within the Nature Biome lies the toxic Mould Dungeon, and this is home to some rather dangerous creatures known as Infected Cavelings. These zombie-like beings move very slowly, but they hit extra hard and deal poison damage, which temporarily reduces the health you regain from healing. Speed is the key to ensuring you survive an encounter with a horde of these monsters – whatever you do, don’t let them surround you. We also recommend you use food for extra buffs and find some way of protecting yourself from the Mould Dungeon’s fumes, which will slow your movement speed and seal your fate.

We hope you liked the second part of our Creature Compendium. We've got more monsters and some GIANT bosses that we're just dying to tell you more about, so keep an eye out for future updates. In the meantime, why not join our Discord for even more Core Keeper news, updates, and information!

Oh, and don’t forget that you can meet many of our weird and wonderful creations in the Core Keeper Open Alpha. Visit our Steam page and hit the “Request Access” button to instantly add the Open Alpha to your Steam library!

[h3]Important Information: The Core Keeper Open Alpha will run until 6pm GMT / 10am PT on December 14th 2021. After this time, the game will become unplayable in your Steam library, so make sure you play now![/h3]

Light your torches and grab your pickaxes because the Core Keeper Open Alpha is LIVE! We’re thrilled to announce the start of our two-week-long gameplay opportunity, and we can’t wait to hear what you think!

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

[h2]What You Can Expect in the Open Alpha[/h2]

There’s plenty to do in the Core Keeper Open Alpha – from farming and base building to exploring the underground and battling a handful of our GIANT bosses! In fact, there’s so much to do that we couldn’t possibly list it all here, so we highly recommend you download the game and get stuck in to see for yourselves.

Remember, Core Keeper is set in a procedurally generated world, so no two maps will ever look the same and no two playthroughs will ever be the same! Of course, we’ve had to keep some things to ourselves (we don’t want to reveal all the game’s secrets before Early Access in 2022), but you’ll never be short of things to do in the Open Alpha!

You’ll be able to explore right up until December 14th, so what’re you waiting for? Let’s get mining!

[h2]We Want to Hear Your Feedback![/h2]

We hope you love Core Keeper, and your feedback is very important to us! Whether you’ve ran into some bugs (and no, we’re not talking about the Ghorm the Devourer) or you’d like to share some thoughts or recommendations, we’re all ears! Bugs can be submitted through the form in the main menu of the game, and all feedback is welcome in the #feedback channel on the official Core Keeper Discord server.



[h2]Feel Free to Stream [/h2]

You’re more than welcome to stream Core Keeper on Twitch, YouTube or the platform of your choice throughout the duration of the Open Alpha. Feel free to tag our Twitter account in any posts you make about your streams, and we’ll do our best to re-Tweet and share them with our community. We’ll also be making an effort to watch plenty of streams when we’ve got a minute, so do make sure you’re sharing them so we can find them!

We’re sure you’ll all have a blast playing Core Keeper, and we hope to see some new faces in the Discord over the next two weeks. Sign up for Core Keeper updates and for multiplayer matchmaking!