Which difficulty should you pick?
Four world modes
Casual, Standard, Hard and Creative are chosen when you create a world (“Select world mode”). A world keeps its mode for good; you cannot change it later.
If unsure, pick Standard
Not into combat? Casual halves enemy health and damage. Want a challenge? Hard gives more boss loot.
Character difficulty is separate
Characters also come in Casual, Standard and Hardcore, which change what happens when you die.
World difficulty (game mode) compared
| Difficulty | Enemy health | Enemy damage | Other |
|---|---|---|---|
| Casual | ×0.5 | ×0.5 | “Encounter gentler monsters in a relaxed, enjoyable setting.” |
| Standard | ×1 | ×1 | “Face balanced monsters for a fair and engaging challenge.” |
| Hard | ×1.5 | ×2 | “Tackle tougher monsters and reap greater rewards.” Boss loot amount ×1.5 |
| Creative | — | “Set your imagination free in an empty, limitless world.” Has its own options such as God mode. There is no Core; only characters made for Creative can enter, and achievements cannot be earned | |
Quotes are the game’s own descriptions on the world mode screen. The multipliers are the values in the game’s program.
You cannot change a world’s mode after it is created. To play on a different difficulty, start a new world.
Character types: what happens when you die
| Character | On death | Other |
|---|---|---|
| Casual | Respawn and keep your inventory | Adjusted hunger, parries and potion cooldowns. The shield parry window is 0.4 s (0.2 s for other characters), and healing and mana potions have a 0.4 s cooldown instead of 5 s |
| Standard | Respawn | “This is the intended way to play Core Keeper.” |
| Hardcore | The character is permanently lost and cannot be revived | — |
Character type is chosen separately from the world mode. Standard and Hardcore characters can play in Casual, Standard and Hard worlds, and a Casual character is not the same thing as a Casual world. Creative worlds use their own characters (with the same three types).
Recommended difficulty by play style
- First time, or want a relaxed game: a Casual or Standard world with a Casual character.
- A normal playthrough: Standard for both.
- Long-term play and farming boss drops: a Hard world (more loot).
- Just building: Creative.
Source: the game files of Core Keeper 1.3.0.6 — the world mode and character descriptions (official English text) and the multipliers in the game’s program. That a world’s mode is fixed, which characters can enter which worlds, the Creative restrictions and the casual potion cooldown are from the Core Keeper Wiki (Fandom) pages “Game mode” and “Character” (game 1.3, based on the Explorer’s Guide; CC BY-SA 3.0). The recommendations are this site’s own.
Unless a note on the page says otherwise, numbers are read from the game files of Core Keeper 1.3.0.6 (prefabs, configuration files, drop tables and the game's program) and calculated by this site, including upgraded (per-level) values, sell prices and mana costs. Names and descriptions are the game's official English text. Only reinforcing materials, minion and pet attacks and some food values are based on the Core Keeper Wiki (Fandom) data (CC BY-SA 3.0). Core Keeper and its images are © Pugstorm. This is an unofficial fan site.