Return from Core drops you into a subterranean world that blends Terraria-style mining and base-building with a Monster Girl companion system and light RPG progression. You are stranded underground, and the loop is exactly what you would expect: dig deeper, gather resources, automate production chains, and gradually piece together enough lost technology to make the surface a viable destination again. The sandbox structure gives it a broader appeal than a straight action-RPG, but make no mistake, this thing has enough systems layered on top of each other that it absolutely skews toward players who enjoy tinkering with production lines and build optimization rather than pure narrative experiences. The companion system is the headline feature and, honestly, the reason most players are here. Your Monster Girl allies are not just stat buffs with character portraits slapped on. They have distinct personalities, dialogue trees that evolve as you spend time with them underground, and combat roles that genuinely change how you approach encounters. Building bonds with them feeds into the survival loop in a way that feels intentional rather than cosmetic, which is rarer than it should be in this subgenre. Whether the writing rewards the kind of re-read scrutiny I usually apply to a Disco Elysium or a Baldur's Gate is a different question. The localization has rough patches, and some dialogue lands with a thud rather than a punch. But the emotional beats land often enough to make the relationships feel earned rather than transactional. On the mechanical side, the automation and production systems are the real meat. Once you get conveyor belts, crafting stations, and resource loops humming, there is a satisfying hum to the whole operation. Combat is action-oriented and serviceable, leaning into your companions' abilities and your own gear loadout. Build variety exists, though it does not reach the depth of a dedicated ARPG. The concern that shows up in community feedback, and that 77 percent mixed score is worth taking seriously, is pacing. Early hours feel deliberately slow, and the mid-game can turn into a grind treadmill if you are not careful about which quests you prioritize. Some content clearly exists to pad playtime rather than deepen the experience, which is a pet peeve I will not pretend to overlook. The art direction is charming, leaning into a colorful pixel-adjacent style that makes the underground feel less oppressive than it should. Performance on PC at launch has been inconsistent for some players, with optimization flagged in early reviews, so checking your hardware against community reports before committing is a reasonable move. The game released in mid-2025 and is still in active development with the developer engaging patch notes regularly, which matters for something sitting in mixed-review territory. Return from Core is a reasonable pick for players who want a companion-focused survival sandbox with RPG flavoring and do not mind rougher edges in writing and performance. If your interest is deep narrative and meaningful choices that ripple across the entire story, manage expectations. If your interest is building an underground empire while a Monster Girl archer argues with a golem in your base, this delivers that quite well. Monika, Scout Team