Core Keeper
Playing with friends across the country or ocean? Core Keeper sessions route through the host's machine via PlayFab Party relay — PingAim sends CoreKeeper.exe through whichever of your connections reaches that relay with the least rubber-banding.
Does PingAim Help in Core Keeper?
- Anti-cheatNone
- ProtocolUDP
- ConnectionHybrid
- HostingPlayer-hosted sessions via Pla…
- EngineUnity
- NATModerate
- LauncherSteam (or GOG / Epic Games)
- Install size3 GB
Why ping matters in Core Keeper
Latency sensitivity MediumPing matters but is not the dominant factor.
Core Keeper is cooperative-only with no PvP, which lowers the ceiling for latency impact compared to competitive shooters. However, the server-authoritative host model means non-host players feel ALL latency directly: mining rock, picking up items, attacking enemies, and interacting with the world all require a round-trip through the host. At 100ms this is barely noticeable. At 200ms+ players see their character slide back after movement (rubber-banding) and actions like mining appear to stutter. The main latency scenarios that matter: playing with friends in geographically distant countries — cross-continent P2P sessions regularly reach 150–300ms through PlayFab Party relay; the host's upload bandwidth limits how quickly state updates reach guests; long sessions with complex worlds increase state size per tick. Latency sensitivity rated medium rather than high because the cooperative nature means there is no PvP penalty — just degraded comfort.
About Core Keeperbackground, studio, esports scene
Core Keeper is an underground survival crafting game developed by Pugstorm and published by Fireshine Games. Players awaken as explorers in a vast underground cavern and must mine resources, craft equipment, build bases, grow food, and defeat legendary boss creatures that guard ancient secrets. The game supports 1–8 players in cooperative drop-in/drop-out sessions, and the world persists between play sessions. Originally launched in Steam Early Access on March 8, 2022, Core Keeper reached its full 1.0 release on August 27, 2024, simultaneously launching on consoles including PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series, and Nintendo Switch. Its accessible gameplay loop — reminiscent of Terraria and Stardew Valley but with a darker underground aesthetic — earned it a 94% Overwhelmingly Positive rating on Steam with over 22,000 English reviews.
The game's networking model relies on PlayFab Party as the primary cross-platform backend, enabling cooperative sessions across Steam, Epic Games Store, Microsoft Store, and GOG on PC. In the default session mode, one player hosts using the host's machine; guests connect via a shared Game ID. Steam players can additionally use dedicated servers with two connection options: SDR (Steam Datagram Relay) — which routes traffic through Valve's relay network requiring no port forwarding — or Direct Connect mode, which exposes a direct IP and enables crossplay with non-Steam PC platforms. The developer migrated to PlayFab Party during version 0.7.5.3-68c5 in August 2024 to address lag issues with the prior backend. The game runs on Unity engine and has no anti-cheat system.
Multiplayer in Core Keeper is cooperative-only — the game has no PvP mode. Latency primarily affects the smoothness of movement, harvesting, combat with enemies, and interactive world events. Because the game is server-authoritative (with the host machine acting as server in peer-hosted sessions), non-host players experience all interactions with a round-trip delay. Common community complaints include rubber-banding at 500ms+ ping, connection timeouts, and degraded performance over long sessions as world complexity grows. Dedicated server hosting is available through third-party providers across North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
- Developer
- Pugstorm
- Publisher
- Fireshine Games
- Released
- 2024
- Platforms
- Windows, Linux, mac, Xbox, PlayStation, nintendo
- Engine
- Unity
Explore the Core Keeper Guide
PingAim detects Core Keeper automatically
No manual config. PingAim identifies Core Keeper by process name and routes it through your fastest connection using a kernel-level WFP driver.
When does PingAim help — and when doesn't it?
PingAim helps when...
- Playing with friends in another country — cross-continent peer sessions often reach 150–300ms through PlayFab relay; a second connection may find a shorter path
- Phone 5G tethering available — route Core Keeper through mobile while household traffic stays on WiFi
- WiFi congestion during sessions — streaming or large downloads on the home network spike your ping to the session host
- Both WiFi and Ethernet connected — PingAim picks the lower-latency adapter for game traffic automatically
- Evening peak-hour congestion causing intermittent rubber-banding for non-host players
- Hosting from a region with poor routing for some guests — a dedicated connection path helps those guests find better relay routing
Won't help when...
- Only one active network connection with no phone to tether — PingAim needs a second path to route through
- Host machine is the bottleneck — slow upload speed or overloaded CPU on the host causes server-side lag for all guests, cannot be fixed client-side
- Already under 80ms to the session — cooperative play at that latency is smooth with no meaningful rubber-banding
- Connection timeouts caused by PlayFab backend outages — these are service-side issues, not routing
- P2P game — host machine IS the server; a second connection helps only if it finds a better path to the same host relay
Related Games
Other games sharing technical traits with Core Keeper — anti-cheat, hosting, engine, or genre.
Recent Updates
Community & Official Resources
Where players talk and where the publisher posts updates.