As an early access game, Core Keeper doesn’t really ease you into the experience. You’re dropped into a dimly lit area and expected to know what to do despite the fact a proper tutorial hasn’t been added yet. Rather than let you fumble around in the dark, we’ve put together this easy-to-follow guide to help you start your Core Keeper experience. The game is rather forgiving with hunger, so there’s no huge penalty if you take a lot of time, but if you want to make the most of your starting food meter and supplies, it helps to know what the absolute essentials are.
How to Start in Core Keeper
1. Punch The Wood Roots
Since we’re underground there aren’t exactly trees to punch for wood. This isn’t Minecraft. Instead, we have a collection of sprawling roots. Punch these and gather all of the wood in your starting area. You should get a few wood seeds you can plant later to build your own wood farm.
2. Make A Crafting Table
Okay, so maybe all of this is a bit like Minecraft. Once you’ve gathered eight wood, open your crafting interface and put together a crafting table. After doing so, place it down in your base. Interacting with it will give you access to more complicated recipes.
3. Craft A Pickaxe and Torches
We need something to get around. If you’re any class other than the Miner, craft a wooden pickaxe (requires four wood) so you can chip away at nearby walls and explore. That being said, we absolutely need sources of light. Make sure you aren’t next to the crafting table and you should be able to make a bunch of torches with your starting wood supply. Don’t craft too many, though! You can keep them in your hotbar and tab over to the torches whenever you need light. They can also be placed on the ground if you want a more permanent light source.
4. Gather 20 Dirt Walls
We need a total of 20 dirt walls to craft a furnace, so keep poking around until you have that much.
5. Make a Furnace
Once you’ve gathered all of that, head back to the crafting table and interact with it. You should be able to put together a furnace, which is your only way of turning raw ore into ingots you can actually build with.
6. Gather Copper Ore
If you haven’t gathered any copper ore yet, now is the time to do so. Look for shining spots in the darkness surrounding you. Mine your way towards them. Most of the time, it will be some kind of ore, but it can also be water. Don’t worry, you can’t fall in!
7. Turn Ore Into Ingots
Once you’ve gathered 12 or more ore, head back to your base and put the ore into the furnace. No need to worry about coal — unlike Minecraft, this furnace works automatically.
8. Craft Gardening Tools and Build a Farm
If you aren’t a Gardener, you need to make a hoe (four wood, two copper bars) and watering can (four copper bars). Without them, you can’t make a sustainable farm. Focus on gathering resources for those and getting your seeds planted. Mushrooms cannot be planted, so you need to find seeds in the wild. Punching plants or killing enemies in the wild will sometimes drop seeds you can plant. You should make a separate farm for your wood seeds because they spread out via roots which will destroy nearby crops.
9. Craft a Cooking Pot
Assuming you aren’t a Cook, one of the most important things to build early on is a cooking pot (two wood, six copper bars). With the exception of mushrooms, combining two items is always more effective. You can mix different ingredients to combine the effects or use two of the same item to simply amplify and unlock a secondary effect. For example, two Heart Berries cooked together will result in a meal that also boosts your maximum HP.
10. Survive!
That’s it! Now you have all the basics and absolute essentials. All you need to do now is explore and continue to build your base and resources! How you play and build after this point is entirely up to you.
