Pugstorm has announced the Core Keeper Quality of Love update, which, as the name suggests, is intended to coincide with Valentine's Day. The update will bring changes to the way the game's lighting engine works, as well as lovey-dovey new content to celebrate that most romantic of holidays.
In a Steam announcement post, Pugstorm says Quality of Love won't quite reach the same scale as its Desert of Beginnings or Sunken Sea updates, but that it'll marry (no pun intended) a seasonal event with some new additions and tweaks to the game. The first of these relates to Core Keeper's lighting and rendering engines.
This is fairly technical stuff, but Pugstorm says it's rewritten its graphics pipeline, moving away from using Unity's built-in render pipeline because the latter "just didn't support" the functions and features the studio had in mind. What this means, according to the devs, is that Core Keeper will now "look a whole lot nicer" and have the potential to run a lot better as well.
As for new Valentine's-inspired features, the underground will now sport a fetching cherry blossom carpet, and you'll find lots of Valentine's-themed items, like love letters and gifts, strewn across the landscape as well. Pugstorm is also promising "extra-cute cosmetics and equipment", as well as a new seasonal variation for the merchant, who will also have new items to sell.
Another major feature that's being added in the Core Keeper Quality of Love update is musical instruments. You can now express yourself using a variety of instruments including harps, cellos, and flutes, and you can also use sheet music you'll find throughout the world to "automatically play looping melodies", some of which will be recognizable from other indie titles. There'll be much more to discover, too, according to Pugstorm.
The Core Keeper Quality of Love update arrives on February 8th, and the Valentine's seasonal event runs until the 28th. Some of the content will remain available after the event, too, although Pugstorm doesn't specify which content. You can grab the game, which is in Early Access, right now on Steam if you haven't already. Be sure to take a look at our Core Keeper guides for the lowdown on everything you'll need to survive in this unforgiving subterranean complex.
