Return From Core
2P Games
After surface civilization’s destruction, you’re an underground survivor exploring a world of unknowns and dangers. Mine, build, and explore with Monster Girl companions in this underground sandbox adventure. Uncover lost tech, automate production, and forge bonds with allies as you fight to survive and journey back to the surface.
Return from Core was released into Steam Early Access in December 2023, and the full release is finally here!
This is a action-adventure with comprehensive sandbox survival mechanics game set deep underground where the goal is to explore the unknown world, befriend Monster Girls, build a base and fight powerful enemies. Return from Core doesn’t offer many new elements, but it does refine the typical gameplay elements or bring them together. Imagine Core Keeper and Keplerth combined with an added focus on automation.
Return from Core has quite an extensive plot. A global disaster has destroyed civilisation and the surface world, forcing survivors to delve deep underground where a whole new world awaits. The new underground world is full of monsters; dangerous ones and some that are… much more friendly. Female demons or “Monster Girls”, are superior to humans and willing to help if you befriend them. You can go beyond solo survival to bond with charming with the Monster girls who fight by your side, develop relationships, and offer distinct abilities. These companions add a rich RPG layer of story, interaction, and emotional depth.
For me, the game shines with its creative freedom, allowing players to build, farm, and automate while exploring a fascinating underground realm. The concept of partnering with Monster Girls adds a delightful twist, contributing to an engaging gameplay experience. As the game’s plot unfolds as the game goes on and as you dig deeper you find out that there’s powerful ancient technology buried deep below the Earth’s surface and one of them might be able to save the surface and humankind!
Pros
Unique automation survival focus
Comprehensive sandbox survival
Great difficulty progression
Bonding with Monster Girls is fun
Community mod support
Cons
Clunky UI
Broken controller support
Bad English translation
Minor bugs
No multiplayer
Exploration is the main focus of Return from Core. Chip away at rock walls, use powerful explosives and get impressive mining tools to clear paths, explore and collect resources. The precious ores and rare minerals hidden in the rocks can be used to fuel construction, resource production and the equipment upgrades needed to survive. Craft your base from scratch to build a home where you can farm, cook, construct and keep your collection of things.
The Monster Girls each have their own distinct personality and will be happy to help you at your base. But first, you need to earn their trust. They can become combat allies and are crucial to your exploration with their special exploration skills. Monster Girls will fight alongside you against powerful forgotten creatures that would otherwise smite you.
Automation is an important part of the game and not something you can skip. Return from Core has you building automated production and logistics systems to power the superdrill. Thankfully, automation is very simple to understand, though it might be a little tedious at times.
Combat isn’t a second thought in this game. Most weapons in the game are the pickaxes you can also use to mine with, which is great since enemies will charge at you, and there’s little time to swap to a new weapon. There are different types of pickaxes to collect, which have special attack types and feel varied despite still being a pickaxe. Each floor becomes progressively more difficult, which isn’t a bad thing, just make sure you’re properly equipped.
In conclusion, Return from Core is a game with a solid foundation and a lot of heart. I love apocalyptic sandboxes of this style but I’ve never seen a game combine the best of both worlds from other games. I loved Core Keeper and this adds features that are missing to that. The only thing missing is multiplayer. Hopefully they will add that in the future. Its unique setting and creative gameplay are a great play, despite the language issues I had. With further development and refinement, this game could evolve into a truly remarkable experience in the sandbox RPG genre. For now, it’s a promising journey worth taking, especially for players who enjoy creative freedom and don’t mind a few rough edges. Return From Core is currently on a 30% discount on Steam!
Overall Rating
