This Game is a fun little adventure with different creatures to fight along with neat bosses, to the unique monster girls you'll meet, defeat and befriend, and to the gear you'll grind for to be ready for the next step. The art style is pleasant, the automation is simple, and the combat feeling enjoy able. Though I do wish for a stronger story, it feels at times things don't tie well together and or parts of the store go unresolved. Also leaving side quests feeling unmemorable or down right points, not even the Partner quest have wait to the main story or the endings. All that being said, I couldn't put the game down for a single day, going for the surface felt like the ultimate goal and once I started I couldn't stop. I can't wait to see future content and maybe more story development.
Return from Core
- Release Date:
- Jul 17, 2025
- Developer:
- Tanxun Studio
- Platforms:
- Windows
Game Tags
About This Game
Future Update Plan

Past Milestones

About the Game
Feature Summary
Mine endlessly – Swing your pickaxe or blast entire mineral veins for resources
Explore a vast underground world – Discover secrets of humanity’s downfall
Befriend Monster Girls – Gain allies with unique abilities for battle and life
Build your base – Craft, decorate, and create a home underground
Automate production – Unlock machines and logistics to accelerate progress
Fight powerful enemies – Explore dangerous ruins and forgotten technologies
Full Description
After surface civilization's destruction, you're an underground survivor exploring a world of unknowns and dangers. Wield your pickaxe, explore ruins, befriend Monster Girls, build automated production lines, construct your base, and return to the surface!

Grip your pickaxe and extract abundant underground resources. Chip away at rock walls or use powerful explosives to blast entire mineral veins - enjoy the satisfying destruction. Collect ores and rare materials to fuel construction, production, and equipment upgrades.

Meet Monster Girls with unique abilities during your underground adventures. Each has distinct personalities, but earn their trust and they become powerful combat allies with special exploration skills. They also help at your base with farming, cooking, gathering, and production - boosting your survival efficiency.

The vast underground hides countless secrets and dangers. From deep caverns to forgotten human ruins, fight alongside Monster Girls against powerful creatures, discover scattered lost technologies, and uncover the truth behind humanity's downfall.

Start with just a pickaxe, but master lost technologies to create powerful machinery. Construct automated production and logistics systems to power the super drill and accelerate your surface return.

In this sunless world, a comfortable, functional base ensures survival. Build workbenches, craft furniture, plan production and living areas, defend against underground creatures, and transform a crude cave into a warm home with your Monster Girl companions.
Take up your pickaxe, join your Monster Girl companions, explore underground secrets, and become the first human to return to the surface!
Screenshots
User Reviews
Fantastic game :). Combines elements and mechanics into cute package. Automation, Colony sim, Dungeon exploration, RPG with party and Monster Girls - kinda a dream game :). Ideal it is not yet, but truly close. Cannot wait to get the DLC. 100% recommend for fans of these kind of games :).
Game has some interesting ideas but as others have stated, holy hell the translations are BAD. Needs a full sweep.
Lilith best girl - can't wait for updates the story was great, the game is fun, and the girls are cute.
Chinese Core Keeper with Monster Girls.
Having a blast so far, only on level 3 and its scratching the itch.
underrated and a lot of fun! I expected nothing and was really surprised when instead of just trying the game out for 15m and then shutting it down forever, I kept playing for hours... the digging, combat, looting and all the other basics are really well done. the core of the game is great and it's easy to simply expand mechanics and content from this base. I wished it had core keeper's more bright and colorful color scheme, but other than that, I think this is just as good. to me the biggest issue with core keeper has always been the depressing emptiness due to a lack of NPCs that have meaningful interaction with the player. this game solves that issue. and small improvements like wood never growing over farmland (unlike core keeper) shows they are really trying to improve the genre and focus on QoL. developers: if you read this, please make the game brighter and more optimistic / colorful via visuals, color scheme and/or lighting. if you want people to play this for hundreds of...
I like this game. It's a lot like core keeper with it's own style, it's got monster girls which is something that I think is an interesting aspect to the game. If you like the idea of mining and surviving along side monster girls, I'd say check this game out. If you end up not liking it within 1 hour, request a refund.
It has a lot of potential but has some major drawbacks. The translation can range from engrish to gibberish. The story is short and simple nothing groundbreaking but its a nice addition. The graphics are unique and charming while maintaining a consistent art style. The combat is simplistic with you having your pick axe as your main weapon and some build variate. The automation is a nice addition that compliments the main gameplay loop well. Overall I'm looking forward to future updates and improvements.
its a little big buggy and rough around the edges , but the core game is not bad.
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System Requirements
Minimum
- 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
Recommended
- Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
- OS: Windows 10 64 bit
- Processor: Intel Core i5-3470
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: GeForce GTX 1660 6GB
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 4 GB available space
FAQ
How much does Return from Core cost?
Return from Core costs $16.99.
What are the system requirements for Return from Core?
Minimum: Minimum: 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 Recommended: Recommended: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 64 bit Processor: Intel Core i5-3470 Memory: 16 GB RAM Graphics: GeForce GTX 1660 6GB DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 4 GB available space
What platforms is Return from Core available on?
Return from Core is available on Windows PC.
Is Return from Core worth buying?
Return from Core has 71% positive reviews from 77 players.
When was Return from Core released?
Return from Core was released on Jul 17, 2025.
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