Return from Core on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
Quick menu
Mine, build, and explore with Monster Girl companions in this underground sandbox adventure. Uncover lost tech, automate production, and forge bonds with allies as you fight to survive and journey back to the surface.
Return from Core is a crafting, survival and automation game
developed by 顽核社 Funcore Club
and published by 2P Games and Shochiku.
Released on July 17th 2025 is available only on Windows
in 9 languages: Simplified Chinese, English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Russian and Portuguese - Portugal.
It has received 1,086 reviews of which 813 were positive and 273 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.2 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 16.49€ on Steam, but you can find it for 4.52€ on Gamivo.
The Steam community has classified Return from Core into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
Get an in-depth look at Return from Core through various videos and screenshots.
Load More
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 64 bit
- Processor: Intel Core i3-3240 (2 * 3400); AMD FX-4300 (4 * 3800)
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 4 GB available space
Prices
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
This is an updated review after beating the game and 100% achievement. I would give the game a 7.5/10. Its not the most flashy or innovative of games ever made, but if you want something to kill time with, this game could be that. My 46 hours include this playthrough (from start to finish, about 36 hours) plus early access playtime, so if you want to speedrun it, you could probably beat the game in like under 15 hours. The story of the game is decent, basically you, who lost your memories and the other monster girls are survivors of genetic expreiment. You are to slowly progress through each level (floor) with progressively stronger enemies and make your way to level 8 where you will face the final boss. (Note, aside from a DLC that was stated to be release in 2026, this will likely be the end of any major updates, the DLC will bring forward another level). You can play on any difficulty (including custom) and achievements can be unlocked. There are only 2-3 achievement to keep an eye out for if you play to play this game. Either way, even if you miss these, the game does have a rollback save function to a pervious auto or manual safe. The first two is related to the normal and perfect ending achievements. To get the normal ending, simply beat the final boss. To get the perfect ending, all you need to do is after collecting the 3 keycards on level 8, before fighting the final boss, go to the only other perviously lock room, and view the terminal for more story bits in a cutscene. When that's done, defeat the boss and get the achievement. Another achievement is to reach core town (level 4) in under 40 in-game days. This is completely doable but if needed, the game saves like terraria, where your worlds and characters save seperately, so create a new world and speedrun it. Combat comes in 2 forms, pickaxe and cannons. Pickaxe is use for mining and attack, it has its usual melee but can perform range with cooldown, the range attack can vary depending on the pickaxe, such as a whirlpool or just firing projectiles. Cannons require bombs, which later can be purchase from merchant on level 4, manually crafted (no bulk crafting) or craft automatically with machinery. These can be use for mining or deal damage with various effect depending on the bomb (you have to open inventory and load the bombs into the cannon, it has 10 slots for tons of explosives). The monster girls can be level up (not by combat but upgrade at the base), but it get expensive real quick, so unless you plan to grind for a bit, focus on one for combat purposes. The farming and fishing is not hard but very tedious. Once you found more monster girls, you can assign task to them, while they are not the most proficent, combine with machinery like sprinkler, it will do. But the issue is their AI are all the same instead of fanning out, they follow one another, making them very inefficent. (Note that you will end up with 7 total, they all need a bed, something to relax (gaming machine, sofa, shower) and food placed on the specific funiture. There are other mechanics like bug keeping but the monster girls are way better than you at that. A key highlight will be the automation. Although not the best, you will eventually have more minerals than you ever needed, so you can sell those for money to buy blueprints and rare upgrade items. Overall, I said the game is worth the price tag. Its not the best game ever made but its a good game, sometimes that's all you need. There are still some bugs (like some walls on level 6 being transparent, you being able to place blocks and/or escape out of boss room on level 7, some text not aligning properly and some questionable audio sound effects (RIP ear, would recommend turn off SFX), but its a decently made game.
fun little (~20 hour) sandbox game, the closest comparison would be Core Keeper - progression is fun, some upgrades are impactful, but much like CK the game rewards spurts of grinding something out considerably over passively progressing as you go, so be aware - automation is above average for the genre, has the basic Factorio toolbox of types of conveyor belts, furnaces, drones, electricity generation, but going full Factorio will actually slow down the game, so limit yourself to like 6 active mines of every main resource, that will be more than enough for everything you actually need - combat is more of an afterthought, you do get 3 "classes" and different armor sets try imply their own playstyles but the enemies are easy so it's mostly pointless, I assume they aren't too balanced either it also does the CK thing of "every weapon is upgradeable to the last tier" thing which in both games mostly just shows devs aren't confident in their weapons and which ones are better the objectively best pickaxe shooting deathrays which also mine really fast was fun, but somehow was several tiers before the last? - this isn't really a datesim, and the translation butchers that part quite a bit too, the girls are cute though - quests are mostly chores with some dark humor thrown in, also suffered from translation - there's some jank here and there, the water level dropped FPS like crazy (3070Ti here) until I turned off the shading, that was funny all in all, if you actally beat CK then this game is for you, if you're not that desperate for sandbox games then might as well skip
Highly recommended in the future. This game is everything and more of what I wanted out of Core Keeper. I love the monster girls, automation systems and everything in general. The only problems right now are the terrible translations, the lack of QoL features, systems that have not been implemented yet like ranching, balancing issues, horrible controller layout and overall lack of polishing. Based on this review one would think the game has more negatives than positives and that would be correct, HOWEVER, the positives are so good and the game has so much potential, since it's going to keep receiving updates in the future and also has a workshop, that I can't give it a negative review. Even though it has a lot of problems and it's more like a beta than a full release I had a lot of fun with this game and that's why I decided to stop playing after making it to Core Level 5. I plan to come back to it once the game has been properly finished and polished so I can enjoy it at its fullest. In its current state as of today (Nov 2025) I give it a 7/10 hoping to give it a 10/10 in 2026. Some feedback: So far I've only played in Extreme difficulty and it was piss easy. There are too many ore nodes for a mode that says "very limited resources" and in terms of combat it's extremely easy for a mode that says "combat difficulty very high", you can beat the game solo without ever taking any of the monster girls on your expeditions. There is a massive grind required if you want to make floors and walls that aren't the basic ones for all of your base e.g. quartz floors. The interactions with the monster girls are a bit lacking and they get affection too fast. You can get them from 1 to 5 passively very quickly even if you barely interact with them. Core Town's side quests are a pain in the ass since the map is so big and most quests there are just fetch quests. Translations need to be redone as soon as possible and please DO NOT name the main character Will. If you have all of the text in the game including character names and dialogues in the same text file then don't name the main character Will, otherwise players who edit the file to change the character’s name would have to check every instance of "Will" to see whether it’s being used as a name or as the verb "will". Also add more steam points shop items please.
This is A Core Keeper like game if developed by Chinese Developer. I think? but still either way it's a solid standing on its own game with differences enough to not be a clone all together. So Far I haven't gotten too far into it. but you can manage NPC Monster Girls. (My life for monster girls~) have them do automated tasks and help out in combat as as well. the art is pretty decent. the gameplay is nice too, but it lacks a little variety so far as I have seen. but I will play more to update this review in time. Never the less. it's a working game, outside of some minor bugs. I recommend it eitherway. my only disappointment is a lack of more character creation options and some other features that would be nice to consider like coop or mods
Similar games
View all
Eden Crafters
Eden Crafters is a solo or co-op open-world survival, crafting, and factory-building game where you transform a hostile planet into a habitable haven for humanity. Build, automate, and terraform. Control the climate, create a breathable atmosphere, and turn toxic lakes into water: shape a new world!
Start Over
Embark on an unpredictable survival journey in Start Over. Solo, co-op, online, explore diverse landscapes, craft through 4 tech tiers, encounter wildlife, and trade or raid for resources. Choose your path, defend against waves, and shape your destiny in a dynamic world. Are you ready to Start Over?
FortressCraft Evolved!
FortressCraft Evolved is a unique blend of Voxel Landscapes, Tower Defense, Crafting, Logistics, Exploration, Combat and Assembly lines. Players begin by crash-landing on a strange alien world, left with only a small handful of starting machines.
Nova Lands
Nova Lands is a factory building, exploration, and island management game. Explore, engage in combat, and automate your industry. The planet you’re on is full of mysteries, creatures, people, and things to do. Welcome to your new home amongst the stars!
Atrio: The Dark Wild
Keep your disposable android-body alive by automating everything. Automate farming, foraging, crafting and capturing - and even assimilate creatures into your production lines during your impossible mission to relight the world.
Hold Your Own
A single player open world sandbox, crafting and survival FPS game set in a multi-island land where you'll fight to survive. Build your base, hunt and craft to defend yourself from aggressive wildlife, enemies or friends. Do you have what it takes to Hold Your Own?
FOUNDRY
Build a sophisticated robot factory optimized to perfection in an infinite voxel world. Mine and harvest resources, automate your production lines and manage complex systems while researching your way to become the galaxy’s leading robotics megacorp.
Factorio
Factorio is a game about building and creating automated factories to produce items of increasing complexity, within an infinite 2D world. Use your imagination to design your factory, combine simple elements into ingenious structures, and finally protect it from the creatures who don't really like you.
Craft Hero
Gather resources by day, build and recruit by noon, defend your village by night! A new minimalism sandbox survival with countless new ideas – Craft Hero
Prospector: The First Contract
As the Prospector in this Prologue chapter, you will be taking on your first contract. Explore new planets, gather resources, build your fully automated base, and ship materials to distant colonies.
The Last Caretaker
Explore a drowned Earth, restore lost systems, and raise the last human seeds in this first-person survival-crafting adventure. Build, scavenge, defend, and launch humanity back to the stars.
Road to Eden
Road to Eden is a third-person multiplayer survival coop game, set within the post-apocalyptic ruins of a world destroyed by an alien invasion. You wake up at the side of the road with no memory and must team up with other survivors to make the long and dangerous journey to Eden.
Frequently Asked Questions
Return from Core is currently priced at 16.49€ on Steam.
No, Return from Core is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 16.49€ on Steam.
Yes, Return from Core received 813 positive votes out of a total of 1,086 achieving a rating of 7.18.
😊
Return from Core was developed by 顽核社 Funcore Club and published by 2P Games and Shochiku.
Yes, Return from Core is playable and fully supported on Windows.
No, Return from Core is not playable on MacOS.
No, Return from Core is not playable on Linux.
Return from Core is a single-player game.
No, Return from Core does not currently offer any DLC.
Yes, Return from Core is fully integrated with Steam Workshop. Visit Steam Workshop.
No, Return from Core does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, Return from Core is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for Return from Core.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 04 June 2026 22:27 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 08 June 2026 13:22 |
| Steam price | 13 June 2026 20:52 |
| Steam reviews | 12 June 2026 19:52 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about Return from Core, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about Return from Core
- SteamCharts - Analysis of Return from Core concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck Return from Core compatibility
16.49€
Visit Store
🔥 Deal
-73%
16.49€
4.52€
Buy Now
-71%
16.49€
4.79€
Visit Store
-71%
16.49€
4.86€
Visit Store
-58%
16.49€
6.99€
Visit Store
Game modes
Features
Online players
11
Developer
顽核社 Funcore Club
Publisher
2P Games,
Shochiku
Release
17 Jul 2025
Platforms
Clicking and buying through these links helps us earn a commission to maintain our services.