I remember originally playing Core Keeper at PAX East one year and being pretty impressed with it. At the time it was very difficult to take much in, but I enjoyed the pretty chill vibe, and an exploratory element tied to what felt like an underground world waiting to be explored. Now, having spent a bit of time with it, I’m happy to say that for the most part that impression stands, further boosted by an appreciation for the depth of its crafting and skill systems, as well as the terrific promise of being able to establish online communities with up to 7 of your friends.

While there’s no question that this isn’t a game designed to stress you out and feel threatened on the whole, I will say that in the early game you’re likely to feel like you’ve made some serious mistakes. You’re absolutely resource constrained for a bit, needing to venture out and explore to grab the materials you’ll need to properly get started, and your challenges are further exacerbated if you happen to pick the wrong upgrades first. Thankfully, once you get over that hump and are able to get your various workbenches, forges, and stations going, you really are presented with a host of options on how to proceed next. If you’re industrious you could begin to set up rail systems to move yourself and resources around, if you’d prefer adventure you can keep expanding your map and discovering the game’s secrets, and if you opt to play online with others you may even be able to build a community of players who may each support each other while all enjoying the game their own way.

That isn’t to say this is an experience everyone is sure to enjoy. Narratively there isn’t much to work with here, though in the context of the variety of ways people can choose to play the game that does make sense. It also absolutely does not hold your hand, and that does contribute to the early game perhaps feeling like a bit of a struggle. There’s absolutely some trial and error in understanding how some of the tools and systems work, and it would have been nice to see better in-game assistance to try to smooth over that aspect, though experienced gamers won’t likely be thrown off too much. Last, and this is always a risk with sandbox games that are designed to let you plot your own path, some may find the open-ended nature of what you’re doing, lacking the direction of defined tasks and objectives, to be a challenge, not entirely sure what to do next aside from just more of the same.

In the end this is a polished game, but depending on what lens you choose to see how it plays through, you could walk away with very different impressions. You could opt to see the fun in being allowed to simply discover how you want to play the game and then roll with it, whether seeking out adventure, trying to get a bit of a farm going, or building elaborate structures that make use of the game’s deeper systems. If you’re able to play with friends you could see it as the means to enjoy even more elaborate worlds by spreading tasks out to everyone, allowing them each to enjoy the game their own way. However, you could also choose to be frustrated, seeing the same open-ended freedom others enjoy as a bit of a trap, leaving you feeling a lack of motivation to return. Depending on what you’re looking for, you may fall just about anywhere on that spectrum, and you’ll just have to figure that out for yourself.