In Core Keeper, your avatar is dropped into a mysterious dark cavern. You find yourself in a room with a powered-down core, connected to three statues that seem to require gemstones to run. What now? Essentially, you dig your way out from the center to find food, supplies, and enemies to battle. It’s sort of like the graphics of Stardew Valley with the gameplay of Minecraft.

I’m not convinced Core Keeper can match the quality and scope of its best-in-class inspirations, but it’s already worth a look in Early Access, and if the rest of the pieces fall into place leading up to the full launch, it’ll be fondly remembered. [Early Access Review]

" My first few attempts were failures and the fish snapped the line and escaped, but I eventually got the hang of it. Reel when it's resting, let it run while it struggles, it's really about recognizing the beat as quickly as possible and then matching it. Fun!

” — which is a rare quality in a genre that can be encumbered by many archaic rules and difficult-to-navigate screens. I also love those types of games, but I appreciate the streamlined simplicity of Core Keeper

Aside from selling supplies, the Bearded Merchant sells items that can be used to re-summon certain bosses such as all giant slimes and Ghorm; you simply need to purchase these items and place them on the boss' rune to get them to reappear. Feel free to farm the bosses for fun and profit if you want!

Next, we want to focus on getting Copper Ore so we can make Copper armor, weapons, and tools. Getting your hands on a ranged weapon is a must, too; some of the early-game enemies can hit pretty hard!

Once you find Glurch, you'll want to try to clean up the area near this massive monster. Pick up any slime tiles on the ground and kill any enemies in the area. Then, move in toward Glurch and start dealing damage.

After spending over two years in early access, Core Keeper launched in full for PC and current-gen consoles last month, and given how well it has been received, and how well it did over the course of its extended early access period, it’s no surprise that the game has got off to an impressive start.

And if you want to make sure you always have fresh ingredients, craft a hoe to clear out some farmland, and plant the seeds that you’ll inevitably pick up during your travels.

Screenshot by Bonus Action Glow Tulips, and recipes that incorporate them, will cause your character to emit an ambient glow. It’s not super bright, but the extra light can be really useful before you can craft a lantern for a more permanent solution.

Core Keeper is a clever, challenging, and immensely enjoyable sandbox mining game that's a blast to play. You can completely change how you play for a new experience, there are a lot of bosses and areas to explore, and the joy of finding a new item or new area is never lost.

We’ll be focusing mostly on the single-player game to get started, but we’ll also take a quick look at the multiplayer as well.

Mana: Your reserve of energy for casting magic. Mana recharges fairly quickly, but some magical weapons can use a hefty amount of Mana for a single attack.

Poisonous Sickle and a shield that both apply poison on hit. Also, a 2-piece armour plus ring that synergises for higher damage output. These make farming Azeos Core Keeper Gameplay far easier.