Core Keeper review

What is it? A subterranean mining and crafting sandbox.
Expect to pay: $19.99/£15.99
Developer: Pugstorm
Publisher: Fireshine Games
Reviewed on: Intel i7-9700K, RTX 4070 Ti, 16GB RAM
Steam Deck: Verified
Multiplayer? 8 player co-op
Link: Official site 

I wish I'd kept track of how often I said «What the heck is that?» while playing Core Keeper. It must have happened a dozen times in the first dozen hours alone, like when I came across a conch shell the size of a school bus or stumbled upon a subterranean castle 20 times the size of my base. And let's not forget when a caterpillar as big as a passenger train came stampeding through the tunnel I was exploring. WTF?

Core Keeper's got a lot in common with survival games like Valheim, plus plenty of Minecraft DNA, and even a smidge of Stardew Valley: Bizarre sights, unexpected encounters, and delightful (though dangerous) surprises are just a few things I want from a procedurally generated co-op survival crafting sandbox, and those aren't the only important items Core Keeper checks off my list. 

Colorful and cute as its pixelated world is, it gets more daunting and scary the deeper you go—yet despite all its dangers and some seriously powerful bosses, it also makes for a cozy and comfy base-building experience. Plus: it's got fishing. No wonder I've sunk more than 60 hours into it. 

In Core Keeper you (and your friends, since it supports up to 8 players) find yourself stranded underground in a dimly lit cave filled with ancient and defunct technology. Awakening the slumbering core means finding a way to power it up, so pick a direction and just start digging. Chip away at dirt walls, harvest the materials you find, craft new weapons and gear, build a base, and dig far-reaching tunnels outward from the core to other biomes, which include clay caverns, arid deserts, and even a vast blue ocean.

Progress is pretty familiar if you've played some survivalcraft before: mine early resources like copper and smelt the ore into ingots to