Core Keeper blasts past half a million downloads on Steam

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It's only been two weeks since the indie game launched in Early Access.

Core Keeper adventurers mining, crafting, and fishing
(Image credit: Pugstorm)

Core Keeper, the charming Terraria-like underground survival sim, has sold over half a million copies since launching in Early Access on March 8. This explosion in popularity can be traced in part to positive attention from streamers: Core Keeper streams are approaching 2 million views on Twitch.

It's the indie dream really, to have hard work pay off like this, and the success is well-earned. In an Early Access first impressions piece, PC Gamer writer Chris Livingston praised Core Keeper's juxtaposition of genuinely unnerving underground surprises with an overall homey, cozy atmosphere reminiscent of Stardew Valley.

In addition to the positive sales news, developer Pugstorm announced that Core Keeper is already Stream Deck verified. Gone are the days where you'd wait half a year or more for a promising indie game to reach the Switch eshop to be able to take it on the road. The Deck and Switch have different market niches and use cases, but until now the Switch has had few credible challengers as the preferred mobile platform for PC indie game ports, and more competition in this space can only be a good thing.

It's heartening to see Core Keeper receive so much success so quickly, and Pugstorm is looking to build on that success with substantive updates including new biomes and mechanics already in the works. 

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Ted Litchfield
Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch. You can follow Ted on Bluesky.