Yes, you're trapped underground in the dark surrounded by horrors. But it's still perfectly lovely and chill.

And after killing a tremendous boss monster made of orange goo, a little bearded man with a hat popped out of the slimy remains of the beast. I built him a little room with a bed and now he lives with me.

We’ll be focusing mostly on the single-player game to get started, but we’ll also take a quick look at the multiplayer as well.

I think the biggest praise I can give to the game is that I cannot wait to dig into it with a few friends over the coming weeks. It's the kind of game you can slowly chip away at over several evenings and the hardcore mode even offers some replayability down the line.

Early on, I adored this simplicity, even as a solo player. It was ideal for a two-screen PC setup with YouTube or Netflix playing on the side. Toward the end — and admittedly, in Early Access, there isn’t really an “end” — I started to feel tapped out.

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Character creation doesn’t get too complicated, but you might hesitate over choosing your character’s Background and the perks that come along with it.

Try to guess the video game: In the input field, type a question that could be answered "yes" or "pelo". You can ask up to 20 questions before the game is over.

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Overcoming the bosses requires a keen sense of strategy, so strengthen your character with purpose or suffer a swift end to your journey.

These three statues represent the first three bosses that you'll have to take on: Glurch, Ghorm, and Malugaz. Before we worry about them, though, we'll want to start cleaning up the immediate area.

is really dark when it wants to be, which is most of the time. But you’ll also come across clearings — like a glowing flower-lit river, or a massive chewed-out tunnel that conveniently forms a perfect circle around the game’s starting area — and the lighting-fueled atmosphere hits that much harder.

And I've got a nice dirt patch where I can plunk down seeds, I dug a long trench from a pond all the way to my base so I can fill my watering can without having to venture out, and I've even got a patch of rock set up to grow my new carrots (they're actually called carrocks, since they only grow on rock). Rather than giving you recipes and telling you what Core Keeper Gameplay ingredients you need, you just take two ingredients—any two ingredients, even two of the same ingredient—throw them in the pot, and see what comes out.