Core Keeper initially impresses, but then the diminishing returns reduce the fun factor.

I loved what I saw in Early Access. I decided that this game would be best played with friends once it hit 1.0, so I put it down for Future Me, and Future Us, to experience together.

Early on, it was great. We’re all veterans of Terraria. In particular, I enjoyed the automation of gathering nodes and sending them along back to base.

But once you crack that initial outer wall open, oh boy, does it get grindy right quick.

You need ten whatsits to create the thingamajig that lets you scan for the boss. Fine, OK. But then you’re going to need 10 whozsamutsises to create the next boss scanning item, unless you want to explore the entirely-too-big map to find the boss on your own. So just adjust your playstyle and preferences accordingly, because you, son, are going to grind, and grind, and grind if you want to participate in this world.

I wasn’t having fun. I felt bad that I recommended this game to my friend group, and when I floated the idea that maybe we should move on to something less grindy, they basically said, “Oh, yeah, absolutely. We were only playing this because we thought you were really into it.” Admittedly, I was. At first.

The map needs to be smaller if this game is going for a boss-rush gameplay model. The grind needs to be lessened if you want people with lives and jobs to be interested. There’s a lot to love about the first handful of hours played, but it’s an absolute fumble after that point. Quite the disappointment.

This game feels like a love child between Terraria and Runescape, two of my favorite childhood games. Its pixel graphics are beautifully rendered and surprisingly well-optimized, and the many boss designs are unique and gorgeously animated. Specialized builds are encouraged in this game, and by the end of it I had one each for running, mining, fishing, and combat.

Now, onto the cons of this game:

1. Gear and level progression are very unbalanced. Core Keeper punishes players for playing certain playstyles and forces them to grind missing levels instead of naturally playing the game to not fall behind on the progression curve.

2. Heavy dependence on the wiki to theorycraft any meaningful build.

3. Effort-to-Reward ratio makes some rare/legendary items NOT worth the effort, such as the Soul Seeker. A total of 2800 ingots are required to build this thing and by that time, I had already progressed to the Stormbringer, which was extremely easy to farm for and doubled as a ranged-melee weapon.

For now, I'll tentatively recommend Core Keeper, because despite its frustrating gameplay drawbacks, it is still one beautiful gem of a game. Just...be prepared when chasing 100% achievements.

Has a total of 8 trading cards.