I've played about 100 hours of the game, first on the Switch version on a controller, then I moved to PC on a new world, playing on mouse and keyboard. On both worlds I played on hard with normal world generation. I haven't finished the game yet. I prefer to take things slow, fully exploring one system or area at a time before moving on, and I didn't use a wiki at any point. I prefer to play games where the deeper mechanics and lore can be inferred through thoughtful gameplay. I've put the game down for now, just because I haven't been in the mood for a creative/crafting game lately, but will probably pick it up again later. As I played I kept note of my thoughts and feedback which is listed below. I also sent this feedback to the devs directly, but thought the community might also benefit from reading these notes, which is why I'm posting it here as well.
First off, I love this game! To me it really is the only good, complete, top-down survival/crafting in the vein of Terraria and Minecraft. The devs should be really proud of what they've made. That said, the game is good, but it's not yet great. I really think this game has the potential to be something next level, though. The core gameplay loop, visuals, pacing and streamlined crafting experience are all very solid. The amount of work on display is impressive. I especially like how the game gets a lot of juice out of simple things, by streamlining the crafting/inventory stuff, and for example having a few enemies per area that have interesting and complex behaviour in their own right. I hate when crafting survival games bloat the experience by having hundreds of resources and items that only do one thing, or don't interact with other systems in interesting ways. I can see that Core Keeper has taken a page from the Terraria playbook by really focusing on quality of life changes. That said, I think the game could, and should refine and simplify the system even more. There's still tonnes of items, resources and item variations that create clutter, or don't have as much functionality as they could. I think some resources could be scrapped all together. and some could be rolled together. for example, I don't think Glass items need an individual item for each type (block, floor, bridge, wall, etc). Instead I think it would be much simpler to have a single Glass resource, and the player can then select what type of block they wish to place.
I like the sense of mystery, the style, the art, and the little bits of lore that are in the game, but I think the devs should go much further with this. I'd love to see a bolder, weirder vision for the game's style and lore, which I think could tie the game's themes and gameplay together into a game that is truly great and the best in its genre. Right now the style is well executed, but feels a bit too "safe". Again, this is just my opinion, but for me the best parts of Minecraft, Terraria, Don't Starve, etc are the unusual and interesting store/lore elements that slot really well into the crafting/survival gameplay.
Anyway, onto the feedback. A lot of it is negative or critical, but I want to be clear that I really do love this game and have a great time with it! These are just things I think the devs could do to elevate the game.
A few bugs/odd behaviour I noticed:
- Ore sources disappearing. Scarlet ore source vanished after opening the wall (a scarlet node was inside the wall and accessible before opening the next area. I don't think this is intended behaviour).
Maze floor can be mined but not walls, think this is a bug. Same with lush grass floor?
Bomb walls keep exploding even after they're gone
Removing objects like carts, rails, flooring, etc can bug out sometimes, and revert itself immediately
Placement rotation is buggy, at least on controller. It seems if the button to rotate is pressed for any longer than a single frame, the placement marker will rotate multiple times. There should be latency/buffer between inputs
Scrolling down inventory is buggy on controller
General feedback:
- I love the streamlining of resources, like with paint for different wood "types" and a block functioning as both floor and block.
- Paint brushes could be simplified much more currently. Having 14 different brushes as inventory items is annoying, and it's not easy to tell the difference between certain colours at a glance. Ideally have just one brush "tool" which you can use to cycle through colours with. Perhaps a simple ui element, or using an ALT function for that item cycles its colour.
-It should be more clear what items can and cannot be painted. Perhaps all paintable surfaces flash briefly when the brush is first selected.
Items and armour could be a little bit more specialised. So far class distinctions don't go far enough in my opinion, and all weapons of a certain type do not differ enough from one another in behaviour.
In general summoner should be buffed. In fact, I feel like you should lean into the differences of classes, and make them even more specialised. Being able to craft explosives when you have never leveled up demolition seems unearned.
Detonating minions shouldn't destroy blocks, or player built walls at least. Too often as a summoner your minions destroy your shit.
Placing items in water and voids behaves strangely. Sometimes they don't appear and there's no logic. I'm specifically talking about cosmetic blocks like stalagmites, coral, etc.
Mining minions could be buffed. If they were better at digging (if you dig out an area they start to join in). Otherwise their command function is useless
Minecarts should hit enemies. You should be able to move carts on their own by cranes, and have more useful carts like storage carts.
There's no good solution for temporary storage so far, like transporting a large haul back to base. Inventory fills with junk quickly, and identical items like armour, accesories, etc should stack.
-Ore nodules should maybe replenish? Otherwise the infrastructure you build is wasted. Perhaps at least have some sort of reward for depleting a node. So maybe a unique resource that can only be found from mining a node completely? I believe depleted nodes should also have a unique sprite, perhaps with changes to the sprite as the node is being depleted, so that you can visually see how much ore is left.
The crosshair is too hard to see, esp on controller. It should extend a little further past the character.
I think all blocks should be able to be placed as ground blocks for consistency, giving you a new unique floor texture and "pillar". for example wood walls, stone walls, etc. Right now it's natural blocks only, and the inconsistency is slightly confusing.
-A bucket filled with liquid should tell you what it's holding
Many crafting resources and crafting stations become obsolete as soon as you use them. This defeats purpose of automation in many ways. I think some crafting stations could, and should be merged. I don't love that there's 15 or so crafting stations, of which only a handful are consistently useful.
Shop keepers are a bit bland and single use. Animal and shop behaviour is annoying. They wander too far from home and don't get out of your way even if you attack them. it would be nice if they kept to a home "radius" or ran away briefly in the direction that you hit them. It's also not clear that shopkeepers are invincible. hitting them shows damage numbers which makes you think they can be killed. I think shop keepers should disappear if you remove their summon item, with a visual indicator as to what's happening.
I upgraded a boss but I'm not sure how I did it? Unsure how to access more difficult bosses. In any case it's unclear.
Duplicate boss trophies should be able to "upgrade" the statues, or be sold at high value, or broken down into valuable resources.
I think small chests should double storage capacity, and large chests should quadruple. Considering the number of items and how quickly they can accumulate, I feel like this is a must.
The unique effect of each food should be highlighted (gold food for example should use different coloured text for its unique buff).
More "found" furniture items should be able to be rotated. I'm aware this means a whole lot more spritework, though. I would just love to be able to make more use of fireplaces and book-cases!
More crafting stations should allow auto crafting, like the potion bench. Automation in general could be taken much further, and I think certain "machines" should be available earlier on.
There should be a way to turn off conveyor belts or be able to place doors over belts. I feel like this is really crucial for machine building but is lacking. Machine building is limited, because there is nothing that can "read states" no system of input for checking for enemies, or detecting items generally. Even just a pressure plate that can detect items, or be placed under conveyor belts would be good.
A toggleable floor block would be nice. Something to allow water flow, as a door/gate, or to allow a boat through.
What relevance do the statues have after first bosses? Don't seem representative of the world. Maybe they represent different "forces" or "alignments" in the world, and they upgrade once beaten (allowing use for repeat encounters, better crafting recipes, etc. right now they have a one time use, and afterwards are rarely worth interacting with again. For things that are a part of the core "shrine" area, I think they should play a larger role in the gameplay and world-building.
Character portraits, or some sort of large pixel art to add style would be nice. Just something to add flavour to the style and lore of the world.
More NPCs, preferably some you can talk to to add lore and context to the world. Once again, NPCs feel a bit irrelevant once you've moved beyond their gear tier.
-The core is too irrelevant in early game. Talking to it earlier for tips and things would be nice. Some way of trading with it? Or have it give you quests? Or you need to defend it? Really, as the namesake it needs more focus, in my opinion. It's mysterious, tho, which is good.
I think the player should be given access to boats earlier, with more lakes and things placed throughout the early world.
I think cars and boats need a little bit better mobility. maybe higher-powered cars should be able to break dirt or clay blocks (but more slowly than driving), just so that your steering doesn't need to be perfect. i like the idea of driving around the world, but having to "prepare" the world by building a road makes this less interesting. I also think boats should be able to drive under bridges, or have a "jump" ability so that they can clear 1 land tile. having to get out, break your boat, then replace it is a little tedious, and again makes me not want to use a boat. I find it easier to just carry a stack of dirt and build a bridge over water, that way I free up an Inventory slot, and have a permanent path I can use again. Maybe boats "skid" onto land for a tile or two before stopping? so a skilled player can traverse small gaps between water this way.
Melee weapons need better differentiation. all of them having a tiny arc in front of the player feels boring. I got a whip and was excited for unique behaviour, but it's just like every other sword.
-It takes way too long to be able to break maze blocks. Octarine at least should do it, in my opinion. However I haven't gotten to the end-game yet so maybe I'm just impatient.
Music doesn't have much relevance. I find it kind of annoying to have to carry an instrument with you when all it does is open the occasional door. Maybe if you play a song before a fight you get a buff? or songs that can be used to cast spells, lure animals, cast light, etc.
Some objects should be able to be placed directly on the ground I think, like a chello or Piano, or a captured animal box. basically more cosmetic items that can be placed in-world without the need for a pedestal would be nice.
Rolly polly plates seem useless as far as I can tell?
Crafting stations should just "upgrade" with resources, rather than craft a new one and replace. or maybe give the player the option to build anew if they're intending to place it elsewhere. Even better, use the various upgrade stations to upgrade crafting stations.
Menu text is too hard to read. the highlighted option is barely distinguishable. the Controls option menu is not very good and kind of annoying to use.
And that's all I've got for the time being. thanks for reading.
