Is Core Keeper the new King of Base Building?

I discovered Core Keeper through one of the users of this site, he had posted a few images and spoken about it in the discord a few times and I was rather captivated. Created by the talented team over at Swedish developer Pug Storm, Core Keeper is a base-building, resource gathering, survival game that shows an incredible amount of promise. At the time of writing this review, I'm 60 hours in and still have plenty to discover. With plenty more content on the horizon, including new biomes, additional bosses, new recipes, new crafting blueprints, and more automation options, Core Keeper has the potential to be a game that lasts into the hundreds of hours. The familiar loop of mine, level, build, repeat is here in all its glory, but is done in such a way that doesn't get tiring. You begin with the ability to craft simple wooden tools, meaning only the dirt walls around you need to be worried, mining further will see you soon hit clay and stone where your wooden pickaxe simply won't cut it. This is where you need to find your first ore type, often copper, allowing you to craft copper tools and be able to venture further out into the wild - discovering more ore types, foods and more. ——— Original ratings: • Visual Design: 9/10 • Sound Design: 8/10 • Gameplay: 9/10 • Longevity: 9/10 • Fun: 8/10