Core Keeper’s version 1.3 update, Riders of the Underground, is the first of three major releases Pugstorm has grouped under the “Road to the Maw” banner. It lands as the game passes six million players, and it changes something you do constantly in an underground survival game: moving from one place to another. Cattle become rideable, a new off-hand item flings you over pits, and two of the game’s weaker build paths get reworked from the talent tree up.
Quick answer: The free 1.3 update, Riders of the Underground, arrives on PC and consoles September 21, 2026. Make a Saddle at the livestock workbench, then use it to ride any cattle.
Core Keeper 1.3 release date, price and platforms
Riders of the Underground released on September 21, 2026 as a free content update. There is no separate expansion to buy, and no add-on appears in any store. If you own the base game, you get 1.3.
The update is confirmed for these platforms:
- PC
- Nintendo Switch
- Nintendo Switch 2
- PlayStation 4
- PlayStation 5
- Xbox One
- Xbox Series X|S
On PC, the patch downloads through the Core Keeper store page like any other Steam update. You will know it applied when the game reports version 1.3 and the Saddle recipe shows up at the livestock workbench.
Mounts and the Hookshot: How travel changes in 1.3
Pugstorm added one item that lets you ride every cattle type already in the game instead of creating a mount for just one. That includes giant isopods kept in a pen, along with every other breed you have tamed.
A mount is not invincible. Bosses can kill or swallow the animal you are riding, so do not bring a favourite isopod to a fight with Ghorm the Devourer.
The Hookshot
Equip the new Hookshot in your off-hand to pull yourself over a gap when a valid hook point is available. It cannot replace bridges or function as a free-swinging grapple across an entire cavern; use it to cross short chasms without pausing to construct anything.
Moss sub-biome and the Orex in the Forgotten Ruins
The Forgotten Ruins gains a Moss sub-biome tucked into its darker, damper corners. It trades the usual ruined stone for green, overgrown pockets, and it has no natural predators, which makes it one of the calmer places to set up in a region best known for Caveling patrols. A stray Caveling can still wander in, so it is quiet rather than fully safe.
A new cattle breed called the Orex appears in the Moss sub-biome. Its forward-facing eyes, powerful jaws and exposed teeth suggest a predator, yet it eats critters and is usually calm. Since 1.3 lets you ride all cattle, you can mount an Orex with a Saddle.
Summoner and Mage changes in Core Keeper 1.3
The biggest mechanical shift is how summons work. Summon weapons such as the Tome of the Dark now reserve a portion of your mana instead of running on a timer, so minions stay out as long as you keep that mana committed. The old cycle of re-summoning every few seconds is gone, which is what made the class awkward in the first place.
Alongside that, Summoners get restructured and rebalanced Summoning talents, an entirely new Summoner weapon type, and changes to how summons are spawned. Support weapons matter more now as well. The Runestone Scepter curses a target and raises minion damage against it by 40 percent, which makes single-boss fights a case of cursing and kiting while your minions grind the health bar down.
Mages get a parallel pass. Magic talents have been rebalanced and restructured, new staff weapons are in, and further adjustments target the playstyle as a whole. Both reworks came out of community feedback on the magic system, and both mean an existing optimised character will need its talent tree re-read after updating.
New gear, enemies and pets in Riders of the Underground
The equipment drop is sizeable, and most of it feeds build-crafting rather than raw progression.
| Addition | Amount |
|---|---|
| Armour pieces | 10 |
| Rings | 15 |
| Necklaces | 15 |
| Pouches | New |
| Weapons | New, including Mage staves and a Summoner type |
| Enemies | New |
Thirty new accessories on their own open up a lot of stat combinations, which is exactly why the gear comparison feature below matters.
Hoppet
Hoppet is a sea-themed pet with ranged attacks that can apply the slippery effect to enemies. It leans toward crowd control rather than pure damage.
Azeos Jr
Azeos Jr is an airborne companion that fires projectile shards and can stun what it hits, which helps against packs. Both pets come in several colour combinations to find.
The third pet
A third pet is in the update, but Pugstorm has not revealed what it is. Its identity and abilities are left for players to find in-game.
Quality-of-life changes in version 1.3
Two additions do the heavy lifting here. You can now compare gear directly, so it is obvious whether a drop beats what you are wearing, and a new key bind cycles through loadouts instead of making you rebuild a setup by hand.
- Customisable cursor indicators
- Customisable crosshair indicators
- Resizable paintbrush areas
- Improved go-kart turning, inertia and handbrake
- General balance adjustments
There is also a fix for anyone who travels by vehicle. Die while riding a boat, mine cart or go-kart and the vehicle now returns to your inventory rather than sitting abandoned wherever you went down.
Where 1.3 fits in the Road to the Maw
Pugstorm’s Road to the Maw plan consists of three major updates. It began as a single enormous release, but the developer divided it into three parts so players would not face a wait of several years before receiving any content.
| Version | Name | Focus | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.3 | Riders of the Underground | Traversal and systems | September 21, 2026 |
| 1.4 | Trials of the Depths | Difficulty and mastery | Not confirmed |
| 1.5 | Beyond the Breach | New biome past Breaker’s Reach | Not confirmed |
A smaller 1.3.1 patch is planned to follow later this year. Pugstorm has described Beyond the Breach as a pivotal moment for the game, which is worth remembering if you are still holding that unexplained item from S.A.H.A.B.A.R.
Pugstorm said the reveal showed only the tip of the iceberg, while the launch patch notes will provide the remainder. Those notes contain the complete weapon lists, accessory stats, enemy types and precise talent numbers.
For a group, 1.3 is a reasonable reason to restart a world. Mounts and the Hookshot cut the dead time between bases and dig sites for up to eight players, and the reworked Summoner and Mage trees give an established party a real excuse to redistribute roles before heading back down. It follows the same free-update pattern as 1.1 Bags & Blasts and 1.2 Void & Voltage, so the only cost is the download.
