I'm writing this with 20 hours in and having bought CORE KEEPER just after 1.0 release.
This is a NO SPOILERS REVIEW!

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If you were the type of person in STARDEW VALLEY that would spend most of their time in the mines and exploring, CORE KEEPER is for you!
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CORE KEEPER has great pixel art polish: It has cute art, character, enemies, and more, coupled with amazing reflection and lighting tech that makes the world feel alive.

The music is very calming and doesn't bother.

The controls are intuitive and are easy to pick up, and can be comfortably played on both controller and keyboard&mouse setups.

CORE KEEPER shines very bright when you bring someone with you, and it's very easy to do so, with "Game ID" sharing. It's easy to hop in and out of a game at any time, and ingame chat support makes it easy to communicate.

The gameplay loop revolves around EXPLORATION and expanding your crafting options. EVERYTHING you do in the game will accrue experience, even moving around. You'll get points and then you can spend those points into a three tiered talent tree that accomodates your favorite playstyle. CORE KEEPER also makes it easy to reset your skills in case later on you want to try something new with your skills. Even FISHING in this game will translate to combat buffs eventually, a passive way to encourage players to engage with ALL aspects of it.

As for gear, you have the option to switch between 3 different sets: you can gear up for adventure, for mining, for gardening, or whatever mix you choose to be. Fighting playstyle is malleable, with melee, ranged, magic, minion, and with each player getting pet companions that excel in different areas while having randomized skill trees out of a specific pet type pool.

I recommend not watching any trailers or media and just jumping into it! There are so many things to discover, and really, the sense you get from discovering what each thing does, and how to best use them, will make for hours and hours of fun!

It has native MODDING support with community pumping out incredible work that increases accessibility, adds quality of life features, and explores different map seeds.

It has been a long time coming for this game, having spent a lot of time in early access, and I can't wait to see what the developers and the community have in the future for it.

Let's roll, Keepers!!