Core Keeper: Everything New in The Desert Beginnings Update

by Mike Alexander / Articles, Editorials / 06 Mar 2023

Since its release in March of 2022, Core Keeper has maintained a steady flow of content to keep its players happy and continuously engaged. The game’s first major update was titled “The Sunken Sea” and introduced a water biome that could be traversed with boats and contained new resources for crafting, new enemies, and a new tier of weapons. That update had plenty of content on its own. But that was released back in June.

Just in time for the holidays, the developers at Pugstorm have released a massive, brand-new update for Core Keeper that will keep us underground adventurers busy well into the New Year. It’s called “The Desert of Beginnings” Update, and it adds plenty of content into an already content and feature-packed game. Join us now as we go over everything that has been added to Core Keeper with The Desert of Beginnings Update.

From Wet to Dry

Pugstorm must have been sick of water and aquatic-themed objects after The Sunken Sea Update because this latest update is about as dry as they come. The Desert of Beginnings biome is a large, arid area of Core Keeper’s massive, procedurally generated underground system. It contains plenty of new things for players to interact with, and even a couple of new boss fights to boot.

The first of those boss fights will pit you and your friends against Ra-Akar, the Sand Titan. This massive, scarab beetle-like monster can be found at the center of a Legends of the Hidden Temple-style maze, complete with both poison and spike traps. If you’re wily enough to make it to the center of the maze, you can summon Ra-Akar by putting a thumper down and waiting for the monster to show itself. Good luck!

Turn Up the Heat

Contained within the desert is also a mini-biome of sorts, which is called The Molten Quarry. This area has lava rivers running through it, which can be crossed if players bring bridges with them. The Molten Quarry also has the second boss battle of The Desert of Beginnings Update, the mini-boss known as Igneous the Molten Mass. This giant lava slime can make you break a sweat if you aren’t prepared, so make sure you have plenty of supplies. Traveling with a group of friends is also a pretty good idea!

Keep an eye out as you explore The Molten Quarry, as each instance of this mini-biome has a chance to generate an Ancient Forge. This legendary manufacturing construction will allow players to craft the Soul Seeker, currently the most powerful pickaxe in Core Keeper.

Ore’nt You Glad to See Me?

The new ore for The Desert of Beginnings is called Galaxite. This rare new ore is used in a number of new crafting recipes once it has been refined into Galaxite bars, including the previously mentioned Thumper that is required to summon Ra-Akar. It is also the primary component of the new Galaxite armor pieces and weapons, which you’ll want to face the new dangers of The Desert of Beginnings, like the Caveling Assassin, Bomb Scarab, Lava Slime, and Lava Butterfly.

Gotta Go Fast!

One of the areas that can be generated in The Desert of Beginnings is called the Pristine Racing Circuit. Kind of a strange thing to have so deep underground, but it is all but required for one of this update’s best new features: craftable go-karts!

There are several different kinds you can craft, but they will all require a Go-Kart Workbench and a pretty sizable amount of resources in order to make them. But, once you and your friends each have one, there’s nothing like speeding through the desert and competing for first place!

A Smattering of Other New Features

In addition to everything mentioned above, Core Keeper now has a smattering of other new things to experience in the game as a result of this update. This includes 10 new fish (including a rare legendary fish), a craftable bug net, Galaxite traps and turrets to protect your home base, and even dynamite packs for when you need to excavate large areas faster than a pickaxe can handle.

All of these things can be enjoyed while listening to the fresh music tracks created just for The Desert of Beginnings and The Molten Quarry and their associated bosses.

And that’s all, folks! At least for now. We know that Pugstorm is hard at work on the next update, which is scheduled to drop sometime in early 2023. And when that drops, you can be sure we’ll be there to outline all of the new features and content. See you next time!

Mike Alexander

Mike has been playing video games since he was able to hold a controller, having been fascinated by Sonic 2 on his mom’s Sega Genesis. That fascination and passion for the art form has grown exponentially nearly 30 years later, and he doesn’t see that fading away anytime soon.
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