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Return from Core

70%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
story, grinding
70% User Score Based on 202 reviews

Platforms

PCPCWindowsWindows
Buy Nowfrom $16.99
Buy NowGet on Steam$16.99

About

"Return from Core" is a sci-fi FPS game that takes you on a mission to save a dying starship. Battle against alien creatures and repair the ship's systems to survive. With various weapons, abilities, and customization options, players must strategize and adapt to progress through the game's intense challenges.

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Return from Core screenshot
Return from Core screenshot
Return from Core screenshot
Return from Core screenshot
Return from Core screenshot
Return from Core screenshot
Return from Core screenshot
Return from Core screenshot
Return from Core screenshot
Return from Core screenshot

70%
Audience ScoreBased on 202 reviews
gameplay12 positive mentions
grinding18 negative mentions
  • The game features unique graphics that deviate from the common pixel art style, providing a refreshing visual experience.
  • Gameplay is engaging with a solid crafting and automation system, offering a lot of content and exploration opportunities.
  • The concept of monster girls adds a fun and creative twist to the gameplay, enhancing player engagement.
  • The English translation is poorly executed, often resulting in broken dialogue and cut-off text that detracts from the overall experience.
  • The game suffers from numerous bugs and janky mechanics, leading to frustrating gameplay moments.
  • Quest instructions and objectives are often unclear, making it difficult for players to progress without confusion.
  • story
    80 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is a mixed bag, with an intriguing main plot overshadowed by poor translation and pacing issues that hinder comprehension and engagement. Many players find the quest presentation confusing, often leading to frustration with grindy mechanics and unclear objectives. While some appreciate the potential for character relationships and side quests, the overall narrative coherence and depth require significant improvement to enhance the gaming experience.

    • “The main storyline is intriguing, but the random dialogues with characters often lack cohesion, leaving room for improvement in narrative development.”
    • “Its a great game and there is a lot to do story-wise and side quests.”
    • “Some noticeable differences are there's an actual story in return from core, there are NPCs you can form relationships with, mining isn't an absolute slog like it is in CK, mining actually feels like mining instead of whacking sponges with a pickaxe, the graphics are way better than the fuzzy CK graphics, and the combat isn't simply finding where to stand to cheese the enemies.”
    • “The translation is 90% nonsense at the moment, like they just ran the whole Chinese script through Google Translate and pasted it straight in, which makes quest logs and instructions almost useless.”
    • “First and foremost, I want to say to the devs that although many of the reviewers dismiss the English translation as laughable and funny, I think that it's probably the biggest problem with the game in its current state because a lot of potential players will likely be immediately turned off by how confusing it can be early on even before the automation quest starts.”
    • “What's the point of having a story if you can't understand what's happening?”
  • gameplay
    40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of "Return from Core" is characterized by a blend of engaging mechanics and a unique visual style, offering a fresh take on the sandbox crafting genre. While the tutorial integrates smoothly into the gameplay, players have noted issues with bugs, translation errors, and inconsistencies that can detract from the experience. Despite these shortcomings, the game provides hours of fun, particularly with its innovative elements like automation and the addition of monster girl partnerships, though some players recommend the more polished "Core Keeper" for a similar experience.

    • “The concept, visual style, and core gameplay are enough to warrant giving this game a chance in my opinion, especially for the price.”
    • “It's evident that the game is a labor of love, offering hours of engaging gameplay.”
    • “The concept of partnering with monster girls adds a delightful twist, contributing to an engaging gameplay experience.”
    • “12/05/2024 'major update' patch edit: they tried to innovate, and I really do appreciate it, but this was more like one step forward, two steps back... the new major patch shook things up to try to improve many of its old mechanics (wires removed, now power is wireless which is convenient, drones and movers introduced sooner), but in the process, it lost a bit of its soul (equipment crafting removed, monster drops and super drill upgrades homogenized to only require ingots instead of precrafts, etc.) and introduced an insane amount of bugs, including a CTD (crash to desktop) that appears to be related to picking objects up when there are several power connections to it.”
    • “But this excitement is occasionally dampened by bugs and inconsistencies in the gameplay, such as unresponsive characters and broken rail carts.”
    • “Its unique setting and creative gameplay are commendable, yet it's hindered by technical and narrative shortcomings.”
  • graphics
    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game have received positive feedback, with players appreciating the cute art style and overall visual quality, which they find superior to previous titles. Many reviewers highlight the enjoyable graphics as a key aspect of the gameplay experience, noting that the visuals enhance the satisfaction of activities like mining and combat. Overall, the graphics are seen as a strong point, contributing to the game's fresh and engaging atmosphere.

    • “Awesome game! I really like the graphic style and gameplay.”
    • “Some noticeable differences are there's an actual story in Return from Core, there are NPCs you can form relationships with, mining isn't an absolute slog like it is in CK, mining actually feels like mining instead of whacking sponges with a pickaxe, the graphics are way better than the fuzzy CK graphics, and the combat isn't simply finding where to stand to cheese the enemies.”
    • “My initial take is this game (Return from Core) is a fresh and interesting take with great mechanics and art style.”
    • “Game graphics are not pixel art!”
    • “The graphics are way better than the fuzzy CK graphics.”
    • “Some noticeable differences are there's an actual story in Return from Core, there are NPCs you can form relationships with, mining actually feels like mining instead of whacking sponges with a pickaxe, and the graphics are way better than the fuzzy CK graphics.”
  • grinding
    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while the farming and crafting elements are enjoyable and introduce new mechanics in each zone, many quests, particularly those involving gifting items to NPCs, feel excessively grindy. The game features significant automation in later stages, which can slow progress, but many players appreciate that core activities can be performed manually without becoming tedious. Overall, the grinding is seen as fun by some, but frustrating by others.

    • “However, I got fed up with a lot of the quests which are very grindy, especially the part where you have to gift NPCs items.”
    • “There is also a huge amount of automation and grinding needed at the second layers and beyond, which really slows things down too much.”
    • “It's grindy.”
  • stability
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is heavily criticized, with users reporting numerous bugs and poor translation quality that detracts from the overall experience. Many players express frustration over overlapping text in menus and instances where NPC dialogue appears in Chinese without translation. While some note that the game runs well on specific platforms, the consensus is that it remains a "buggy mess," making it difficult for players to fully enjoy the game.

    • “Also fellow deckers, it runs great on deck! 👍🏻”
    • “This game looks like it could be fun and I want to enjoy it, but it is very buggy and the translation just sucks. Every once in a while, there is no translation and the NPC speaks to me in Chinese for a few sentences. The translation quality is just plain old bad; I have the feeling they ran the game through a machine translator (which missed some text) and never even adjusted the menus to fit the new text (your inventory menu has stats listed that show overlapping text).”
    • “This new update is a buggy nightmare.”
    • “Long story short: playable but still a buggy mess.”
  • humor
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is largely derived from its poorly executed English translations, which some players find amusing while others consider them a significant drawback that detracts from the overall experience. While the humor can be entertaining, it often leads to confusion, potentially alienating new players. Overall, opinions are mixed, with some enjoying the comedic elements and others feeling frustrated by the translation issues.

    • “It's all fun and funny, in my opinion.”
    • “I had to stop playing it because of the lack of controller support, but the translations are awful yet funny.”
    • “I know I've read others cringe at the translation; at times it is funny, while other times it can be annoying.”
  • music
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game receives mixed feedback, with some users expressing dissatisfaction, while others find it enjoyable and complementary to the graphics. Overall, opinions on the music are polarized.

    • “The music is incredibly enjoyable and enhances the overall experience.”
    • “The soundtrack is captivating and perfectly complements the game's atmosphere.”
    • “The combination of graphics and music creates an immersive experience.”
  • character development
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Reviews indicate that while the character development is appreciated, there is a consensus that it could be enhanced further for a more impactful experience.

    • “A little more character development would be even better.”

Buy Return from Core

4h Median play time
4h Average play time
4-4h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 2 analyzed playthroughs

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