Mine, build, fight, craft and farm to unravel the mystery of the ancient Core.
Core Keeper is a multiplayer sandbox survival game, currently in Steam Early Access, set in a strange underground cavern system, into which the player characters are unceremoniously dropped.Starting from the Core Chamber at the very center of the procedurally-generated map, the players venture outwards to explore the different biomes, conquer the various threats lurking, and collect relics and resources to craft new items.
This game provides examples of:
- Abandoned Mine: Can generate in The Forgotten Ruins biome.
- Action Bomb: The Bomb Scarabs found in the Desert of Beginnings will try to self-destruct at low health to take out their opponent as well.
- Amulet of Concentrated Awesome: The player can both find and make items that increase their combat abilities.
- And Your Reward Is Interior Decorating: Killed enemies may drop figurines, largely usable for decoration.
- An Interior Designer Is You: There's lots of decorative objects which can be crafted or just found by exploring to make fancy rooms. There are also Caveling merchants you need to build rooms for with special furniture inside them.
- Applied Phlebotinum: Ancient technology seems to use some sort of gem-based power source and is responsible for the many instances of Magitek throughout the game world.
- Armor of Invincibility: Each successive biome/update introduces a better set of this to protect players from the new, nastier threats. Currently the Magma Horn Armor, dropped by the optional boss Igneous the Molten Mass provides the best protection outright.
- Badass Normal: Though the background selected by the player may give small bonuses to certain skills, you do effectively begin the game as some shmuck dropped into an endless cave with only whatever resources you have on you. Despite this, over the course of the game the player can see off much bigger threats (from giant slimes to ancient sky gods) and develop each skill to the levels of demi-gods.
- Bag of Holding: The various chests seem to hold much more than the dimensions of them would suggest, and the player can find equippable bags that expand their inventory slots to similar levels.
- Bamboo Technology:
- The early game will involve making a lot of what you need from wood, stone and the remnants of various enemies.
- The Primitive Go-Kart, which can be found in the Desert of Beginnings. It appears to be two stone rollers held together by twigs.
- Battle Trophy: A literal example - enemies have a very small chance of dropping a small figurine of themselves upon death.
- Convection, Schmonvection: You can explore volcanoes in the Desert of Beginnings, where lava rivers can be forded with simple wooden bridges and stood next to without harming the player.
- Cooking Mechanics: Through the Cooking Pot you can combine any two items marked as "Can be cooked" into a dish, restoring a certain amount of "food" and giving buffs each cooked ingredient provides.
- Equipment-Hiding Fashion: Players can place armor pieces in the slots of a dresser to override the appearance of their armor in their equipment slots, while retaining the effects of the pieces they're actually wearing.
- Fantasy Metal: Beyond the Great Wall you can find metals such as Scarlet, Octarine, Galaxite and Solarite.
- Fishing Minigame: Fishing involves putting a lure into the water and waiting for the line to wiggle. If you hook a fish, a bar appears on the screen, with the fish icon moving leftward if you're reeling it in and rightward as it attempts to escape. The fish struggles against the line in a pattern unique to each fish, and you must time the button press/hold to reel it when it isn't pulling.
- Holiday Mode: During certain times of year in celebration of a holiday (Valentine's Day, Christmas, etc.), the game includes cosmetic changes to the environment and holiday-themed loot and gear obtainable during that period. There's also a shop NPC that can live in the player's base year-round but whose appearance and offerings change depending on which holiday period is active.
- Shout-Out: The achievement for wearing the Ring of Rock and Ring of Stone at the same time is called "Rock and Stone!".
- Technicolor Blade: Any weapon after iron is as colorful as the exotic metals used to make it.
- Turns Red: Boss fights, for the most part, come in two stages. When the boss's health is depleted to half, it lets out a shriek or roar, and it moves faster and more erratically, and its attacks become more frequent. In Ghorm's case, it stops ignoring the players at half health and turns around to chase them.
- Video Game Caring Potential: Introduced in the Desert of Beginnings update, the Bug Net lets the player pick up and store the various little critters running around instead of stepping on them.
- Video Game Cruelty Potential:
- Nothing is stopping you from simply trampling the bugs and other small creatures scuttling around the game world, leaving only a pile of goo behind you as you do so.
- You can also hurt and kill the merchants you've built houses for without them being able to fight back.
- Whale Egg: All pets hatch from eggs, including the mammalian Subterriers, Fanhares, and Embertails. Since all pets are equipment, and all of them save for one are obtained in containers and chests in wild areas, eggs are a more convenient way to drop items.
