Happy Lunar New Year, Explorers! We added the Lunar New Year seasonal event to Core Keeper around this time in 2024 and we’ve got a little bit of new content to celebrate 2025 🎇
As many of you already know, there’s no set update schedule for seasonal events, meaning we don’t add new content each and every year. This year, however, we wanted to bring you a couple of new decorative items such as the Folding Screen and Lucky Cat, along with some performance updates and bug fixes. Check out the patch notes here.
We’ve got a fantastic community of Explorers from all over the world, and we know many of you have been keen to see a little more Lunar New Year content. In turn, we’re looking forward to seeing all the wonderful ways you incorporate it into your bases. Make sure you share them with us over on X, BlueSky , and Discord!
1.0.2 Minor Update: Lunar New Year Patch Notes
Gameplay:
The Seasonal merchant has new Lunar New Year-themed decorative items for sale:
Folding Screen.
Lucky Cat.
Potted Tree with Red Envelopes.
Performance:
Avoid frequent memory allocations originating from Steam rich presence functions.
Bug Fixes:
Exiting a world while using a scanner no longer results in the scanner animation being paused when re-entering the world.
The Failed Titan (crystal cicada husk) now correctly drops the Crystal Shard Club and materials again.
Fixed dedicated servers having a small chance to crash on errors.
PlayStation:
Fixed PlayStation not always sending the whole map in cartography table.
Want to Get Your Hands on a Radical Rabbit Stew Steam Key?
Hi there Explorers, we've got something a little different for you today! Some of you may already know this, but Core Keeper is not Pugstorm's first game. Our debut title was the hare-raising action-arcade game, Radical Rabbit Stew!
While we're hard at work developing Core Keeper and working towards our 1.1 update, we wanted to show a little bit of appreciation for our community. With that in mind, we spoke with our publisher, Fireshine Games, and arranged a Radical Rabbit Stew Steam key giveaway. All you have to do to enter is to sign up using the form here, and Fireshine Games will be in touch with the winners via email.
We know that die-hard Core Keeper fans may be thinking "JUST GIVE US BAGS & BLASTS!", and we want to say a big thank you for your patience while we work on this major content update. We can't wait for you to see what we've been working on and encourage you to check out the latest entry in our Notes From the Underground series for a teaser of what's to come.
Notes From the Underground #003
Happy New Year, Explorers. We've got an exciting excerpt from the Notes From the Underground to share with you. In this journal entry, our wayward Explorer encounters something truly terrifying while out collecting resources 👀
A localised transcript of this journal entry has been provided below the image.
Notes From the Underground #3 - The Chase
"I’m not sure where to start. It all happened so fast and my ears are still ringing as I write this. Everything is a blur, but I’ll try to note down what I can recall.
It started with a trip back to the Wilderness to check on the progress of my latest automation. I’d set up a series of conveyor belts and robot arms to help with the collection of the ore I was mining from a huge Scarlet Boulder. Everything was running smoothly, so I decided to scout the area for resources while the drills were at work.
I was low on food, so I set off in search of plants to cultivate. I don’t know how long I was out looking, but my seed pouch was nearly completely full before I realised I was much further into the Wilderness than I’d ever gone before…and something felt wrong.
I heard it before I saw it. A low, persistent thrum that grew into an ear-splitting buzz. Whatever it was, it was huge. I ran without looking back, but I could feel it closing in. In a panic, I let loose a couple of the grenades from my backpack and the greenery around me erupted in a sea of flames. Still, the creature persisted.
I thought I was done for, but then I spied it in the distance. A Waypoint! I swear I could feel its mandibles on the back of my neck as I teleported out. That was too close a call."
Get the Core Keeper Digital Soundtrack on Steam!
We’re delighted to announce that the Core Keeper digital soundtrack is now available to download on Steam! Created by the talented Jonathan Geer, the Core Keeper OST features 42 enchanting compositions that give our mysterious underground world the ambience you know and love. Relax and unwind listening to ‘Golden Meadow’, enjoy ‘Glowing Waters’ as the backing track to your work/studies, or get amped-up to ‘Dark Sacrifices’ – warning: that last one comes with the risk of flashbacks to the Malugaz boss battle!
Upon download, you’ll receive all 42 Core Keeper tracks as .wav files, which you will be able to access from your game directory and enjoy across any audio playback device. We hope you enjoy this wonderful soundtrack, and make sure to let us know what your favourite Core Keeper song is in the comments!
Happy Holidays from Core Keeper!
As 2024 comes to a close, we want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you for making this year truly unforgettable. Launching Core Keeper in 1.0 has been an amazing journey, and we were blown away by your support and feedback throughout Early Access and beyond.
Whether you've been sharing your bases over on the Discord, teaming up with friends in multiplayer, or telling us what you think here on Steam, you’ve helped make Core Keeper’s community something truly special, and we hope you know how much you mean to us. Looking ahead, we’re very excited to be bringing you more updates in 2025 – starting with the release of ‘Bags & Blasts’, a major content update that we can’t wait to share. Keep an eye out for more details as we enter the new year!
We’ll be taking a little rest over the festive period to ensure we come back full of energy in January. So, from all of us here at Core Keeper, we’re wishing you all happy holidays and a wonderful New Year!
Notes From the Underground #002
We have another excerpt from the Notes From the Underground journal to share with you! This entry follows our wayward Explorer all the way to Azeos Wilderness where they make yet another discovery. You’ll find the journal below as well as a transcript of the entry beneath it. We hope you’re enjoying this new series and are keeping an eye out for nods towards future content within 😉
A localised transcript of this journal entry has been provided below the image.
Notes From the Underground #2 - Warning Shots
"If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that the underground is teeming with life! I’ve encountered all sorts on my travels, from friendly dog-like creatures all the way to whatever that disgusting chunk of flesh in Larva Hive was. It’s the Cavelings I’m most interested in, though. At first, I thought they were primitive in nature, especially the Brutes, but they seem much more advanced than I’ve been giving them credit for.
I’d been exploring the Wilderness for a few days before I started running into these ancient stone houses. I can’t tell if the Cavelings built them or if they simply disposed of whoever did. Outside one of the ruins was another of those Cicada husks, but this was a bit different than the one I encountered in the Clay Caves – more mature, perhaps?
Just as I was about to investigate, I heard something ping off of my armour and I was nearly knocked off of my feet. Behind me, wearing a ghillie suit to disguise itself as a bush, was a Caveling Hunter! More and more Cavelings started to appear, outnumbering me ten to one. I got the feeling that they didn’t want me getting any closer to the husk and, well, who was I to argue?"
Comments in the margins read: “Sneaky!” above a drawing of a Caveling Hunter
A First Look at Core Keeper’s 2025 Content Updates
It has been an amazing year so far and it’s hard to believe that we’re approaching 2025! We’ll always remember 2024 as the year that Core Keeper launched in 1.0, but now it’s time to look ahead at what’s in store for the future of our underground adventure.
You may have spotted a brand-new graphic on our Steam store page with information on some (but by no means all) of our content updates for the next year. We’re very excited to announce the title of our first major update, “Bags & Blasts”, coming early 2025. We’ll be sharing a little more information on the minor update and our second major update of 2025 in due course, so keep an eye out!
You may also have spotted the first installment of our Notes From the Underground series. This content offers a deep dive into the world of Core Keeper as you know it, but may also hold secrets about what’s yet to come 👀
Developing Core Keeper is an adventure of its own, and we love that we get to do so with such a fantastic community by our side. As always, you can keep up with all the latest news, information, and announcements over on the Core Keeper X channel, Discord, and all-new BlueSky account!
1.0.1.11 Stability Patch Notes
Other:
Updated descriptions of a few items.
Fixed a few text and translation issues.
Replaced the vibration toggle with a vibration intensity slider in the Gameplay settings.
Performance:
Decreased CPU usage on machines with lots of threads by capping the number of worker threads used by default. Each thread has some overhead cost, which impacts the main thread, and that easily becomes a bottleneck.
Bug Fixes:
Fixed several networking issues that would happen when the internet connection was lost and reacquired while the game was running.
Fixed some trees missing their leaves.
Using the Rift Lens in front of pillars no longer causes clipping with the player sprite.
Removing a map marker should no longer cause flickering for a moment.
The Phantom Spark should no longer mispredict causing multiple ghosts to be spawned on the client’s side.
Beam weapons should now be able to damage walls from any angle.
Fixed an issue where the animation for players getting damaged would sometimes play even when no damage was being taken.
Colossal Amoebas no longer get unloaded while they are still in view.
Fixed Digging Damage stat not being applied when digging blocks out of the ground.
Worm enemies and Ghorm should now be targetable by pets & minions.
Structures that occupy multiple tiles should no longer allow placement when a player is standing between two tiles.
Caveling Toilets in Malugaz’s boss dungeon no longer spawn with an uncomfortably placed Stone Pillar inside of them.
The Core will no longer repeat its wake-up dialogue after the player has defeated all titans and hydras.
The entrance points of a dungeon can no longer spawn on top of each other. Most notably, this fixes an issue where the Azeos dungeon’s Ancient Waypoint was overwritten by the dungeon’s other entrances.
Urschleim should no longer automatically respawn when re-loading a world where it was defeated.
It is no longer possible for enemies to engage with the Mammoth Fossil that could be found in a scene in the Desert of Beginnings.
Reduced the speed and lifespan of the Core Commander's orbs’ projectiles.
Projectiles should now collide with and deal damage to players along their entire path.
Explorers, the 2024 Steam Awards are here! 🎉
As we approach the end of an incredible year, we’re reflecting on all the amazing moments we’ve shared with you, especially the 1.0 launch of Core Keeper. Your unwavering support, feedback, and passion have been the foundation of everything we’ve built together. Core Keeper has always been about bringing people together, and we believe it’s truly a game that’s better with friends.
That’s why we’d be thrilled if you considered nominating Core Keeper for this year’s Steam Awards “Better with Friends” category!
From our Early Access launch in March 2022 to the milestone of 1.0, we’ve poured our hearts into making Core Keeper the best it can be, and the journey is far from over. With exciting plans for 2025 and beyond, we can’t wait to share what’s next.
If Core Keeper has been a part of your adventures, memories, or gaming highlights this year, we’d be honoured to have your nomination. Making it into the top five means moving on to the voting round during the Steam Winter Sale, so every nomination counts!
Thank you, Explorers, for being part of this journey with us. Core Keeper wouldn’t be the game it is today without your love and support. Let’s see where we can go together! 🌟
