Pugstorm published the Core Keeper 2026 roadmap on August 13, 2026, and it answers the question the community has been asking since 1.2 landed: what comes next, and how long is the wait. The answer is "Road to the Maw", a run of three major content updates starting with 1.3 Riders of the Underground, and the studio has been unusually candid about why the plan changed shape.
What Is the Road to the Maw?
Road to the Maw is not a single expansion. It is three interconnected major updates (1.3, 1.4 and 1.5) plus smaller releases slotted between them, all building toward the reveal of what lies past Breaker's Reach.
The interesting part is the reasoning. Pugstorm originally planned this as one enormous update, calling it "Core Keeper's crowning glory", then scrapped that structure once development started. Their words: building up to one release would mean players "would have to wait much longer before getting to experience any of it". So it got split into three.
That is a meaningful signal for anyone running a persistent world. Three staggered updates means three moments where your server needs attention, instead of one big cliff. It also means the studio has publicly warned that 1.3 and 1.4 "might not follow the exact same new biome, new boss, new tool tiers format" as previous major updates. Expect depth on existing systems first, spectacle later.
When Does Core Keeper 1.3 Release?
There is no exact date yet. The roadmap graphic marks 1.3 Riders of the Underground as Coming 2026, and it slots a 1.3.1 minor update at Late 2026. Both 1.4 and 1.5, along with a 1.4.1 minor update, are listed as TBD.
Read those two markers together and you get a rough shape the announcement text never states outright: if the minor patch that follows 1.3 is pencilled in for late 2026, then 1.3 itself is expected to land before that window closes. Treat that as inference from the roadmap art rather than a promise, because Pugstorm has committed to no dates beyond "2026".
1.3 Riders of the Underground: What Is Actually In It
Traversal is the headline. Pugstorm says the update brings "all-new ways to traverse the underground", teases features raised during their Reddit AMA, and signs off the section with "giddy up". Draw your own conclusion about mounts.
Confirmed alongside that, straight from the announcement:
- A new sub-biome
- New weapons and greater enemy variety
- New pets
- Progression rebalancing
- A new legendary item
- Meaningful improvements to the mage and summoner playstyles, driven by community feedback
That last one matters more than it reads. Mage and summoner builds have been the weaker end of Core Keeper's class spread for a long time, and a rebalance plus progression changes is the kind of update that pulls lapsed players back onto a server rather than just giving current players new toys.
1.4 Trials of the Depths and 1.5 Beyond the Breach
1.4 Trials of the Depths is pitched as "experience the game, harder than ever", built around depth and mastery for veterans. Pugstorm's phrasing is cheerfully hostile: "Daredevils, we hear you, and we're looking forward to trying to kill you!"
1.5 Beyond the Breach is the payoff, described as the update "your journey has been leading up to", with an all-new biome revealing what sits beyond Breaker's Reach. Pugstorm also confirmed they have no concrete plans announced past Road to the Maw, and asked directly for community feedback on whether to keep going. Separately, a Steam Workshop beta test for mods is in progress, which is worth watching if you run a modded world.
What This Means for Your Core Keeper Server
Roadmap posts are easy to read as pure hype. For a server owner there are four practical takeaways:
- Back up before every one of these. Progression rebalancing in 1.3 touches existing characters and worlds. Three updates means three backup checkpoints, not one. Pull your world files over FTP before you patch, every time.
- Plan headroom for a new biome. Core Keeper worlds grow as players explore, and 1.5 adds an entirely new biome to explore into. Our own Core Keeper RAM calculator models this: moving from a small world to a very large one adds roughly 1.8GB on top of your baseline, with about 0.25GB per additional player across an 8 player group. A server sized exactly for today's world is the one that struggles after 1.5.
- Expect player spikes on patch day. A traversal overhaul plus a mage and summoner rebalance is a "come back and try it" update. If your server normally sits at three or four players, size for the full eight around launch.
- Watch the Workshop beta if you run mods. Mod compatibility is the usual casualty of a major version bump, and a Workshop beta running in parallel with three major updates means the modded ecosystem will be moving underneath you.
Is It Worth Coming Back For?
Yes, with a caveat about timing. Splitting one giant update into three is a genuine win for players, because content arrives sooner even if the finale slips. But only 1.3 has a year attached to it, and everything after is TBD, so a group planning a fresh world should plan around 1.3 rather than treating 1.5 as imminent.
The honest read is that Road to the Maw is a year-plus arc, not a single patch to wait for. Start a world now, expect it to survive the whole run, and back it up before each stop.
Host Your Core Keeper Server with DoomHosting
If you want a persistent world ready for all three updates, DoomHosting's Core Keeper servers run on dedicated Ryzen 9 hardware with instant setup, full FTP access for backups before every patch, DDoS protection, and 24/7 support. Scale RAM up as your world grows, without rebuilding anything.
The road to the Maw is going to be long. Your world may as well survive the trip.
