Core Keeper is free and complete on Steam this weekend

Core Keeper is going free and throwing its doors wide open for four days. Pugstorm and Fireshine Games have switched on a free weekend on Steam where you can play the whole game, with nothing cut out and no trial version.

It starts today, Thursday 8 October at 19:00 CEST. It closes on Monday 12 at that same time.

• Title: Core Keeper
• Developer: Pugstorm
• Publisher: Fireshine Games
• Genre: Survival and mining sandbox
• Platforms: PC and Linux on Steam
• Players: 1 to 8 in online co-op
• Free: From 8 October at 19:00 CEST to 12 October at 19:00 CEST
• Price: 19.99€ (now 11.99€, 40 % off)

A sandbox about digging underground

The starting idea is simple. You wake up in an ancient cavern with no plan beyond digging and everything else grows out of that. You mine resources, build a base, craft better and better tools and level up skills while you explore new biomes. Waiting at the bottom of each area are the Titans, which are the game’s big bosses.

It also has its quiet side, because you can plant a garden, fish, cook or raise pets at your own pace. You play it solo or with up to 8 people in online co-op with drop-in and drop-out, so someone can join halfway through a session without breaking anything.

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It includes the Riders of the Underground update

The free weekend does not stop at the base game. It also brings every piece of content released since launch, including update 1.3, named Riders of the Underground, which arrived on 21 September. That one adds mounts for riding animals through the underground, a hookshot for getting around much faster and a brand new biome.

What you play these days is not lost

This is the part I find most interesting. If you get hooked and end up buying it, the save you started during the free weekend is kept. You do not have to start over, neither during the promotion nor once it ends.

And if after trying Core Keeper for free you decide to buy it, right now it is on sale. It costs 11.99 euros instead of 19.99, which is 40 % off. It has a Spanish translation too, so there is no excuse on that front either.

A veteran of the underground

This indie game is no newcomer. In fact, according to the people behind it, six million people have already played it. It launched in early access in March 2022 and reached version 1.0 in August 2024. It holds an 86 on Metacritic.