Survival sandbox Core Keeper gets explosive next week with a whole new skill tree devoted to bombs and grenades

CORE KEEPER BAGS & BLASTS - COMING MARCH 10TH (ESRB) - YouTube

Survival sandbox Core Keeper may have hit 1.0 in 2024, but developer Pugstorm is still cooking. The first big patch since it graduated from early access is due to arrive next week: Core Keepers' Bags & Blasts update is coming on March 10, and as ~~the kids say~~ the kids used to say, it's gonna be the bomb.

"Discover the new Explosives skill tree, complete with eight new skills, plus the addition of brand new bomb types, including the powerful vacuum-creating Void Bomb and the multi-blast Blunder Bomb, and the explosive new grenades weapon type," Pugstorm says.

I've had a peek ahead of the update, and those skills look pretty tempting if you enjoy blowing stuff up. The basic skill increases the blast radius of your fine explodables, but then the skills get even more useful: one gives you a small chance to not consume the bomb when you use it, another gives a slim chance to recover the bomb's crafting components after it goes kablooey.

There's even a skill that replenishes some of your mana when using a bomb, so you could be like a battlemage but instead of a using a sword you'd be chuckin' grenades around. Cool. The top-level skills make you deadly as hell, adding a chance for fire damage and even napalm from your bombs.

An explosion in a desert environment — (Image credit: Pugstorm)

"Yes, yes," you're muttering, "That's the blasts part of the update. But what about the bags, man? What about the bags?"

Here's what about the bags: an oft-requested feature, pouches, make their way into Core Keeper next week, and with them comes an inventory overhaul that will make sorting loot and materials a lot easier.

An inventory showing a place to put pouches — (Image credit: Pugstorm)

"With the introduction of pouches, these handy new accessories provide efficient new ways to manage your inventory, with separate dedicated places to store resources and free up valuable inventory space," says Pugstorm. "The new hotbar swapping feature also allows players to choose which inventory row appears in their hotbar, allowing quicker access to essential equipment, while quick stacking lets players easily sort items into nearby chests."

A giant winged bug fighting heroes — (Image credit: Pugstorm)

You've got blasts, you've got bags, so it stands to reason there's another b-word that would round out the list. How about three: big bug boss. A giant cicada named Nimruza, Queen of the Burrowed Sands, haunts the new sub-biome called Oasis, which you'll find in the desert. Bring a bag full of bombs, and if possible, some buddies, because Pugstorm describes the encounter as "one of Core Keeper’s biggest boss fights yet."

Core Keeper's Bags & Blasts update is completely free and lands on March 10.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.