ReCore (Xbox One)

ReCore is a 3D action platformer. The player controls Joule Adams, one of the first volunteers to move to the space colony on the planet Far Eden after the Dust Devil Plague hit Earth. The organization Mandate first fought the disease on Earth, but then organized the flights to the new planet. When she wakes up from her cryosleep about 200 years later, she finds out the mission did not go as planned and this is the moment the game starts. There was supposed to be a full infrastructure built by robotic machines known as corebots, with terraforming and atmospheric processing facilities, but the corebots became corrupted and the colonists vanished.

Joule can explore the semi-open hub world environment freely. The gameplay focuses on exploration, combat and collecting resources. At the start of the game she looks for a power core to activate her crawler (cryo-sleep maintenance habitat) again. She is accompanied by Mack K-9, one of the three corebot companions in the game. Later on two additional ones are discovered: Seth SP-DR and Duncan AP-3. The corebots introduce most of the puzzle-solving elements to the game, as each one has different abilities. Mack attacks and can dig for treasure, Seth fires a barrage and helps to climb railing, and Duncan shoots fireballs and can destroy rock formations for treasure. Each corebot is colour-coded (blue, yellow and red respectively) and each one works best against enemies of the same colour. Corebots are controlled by the AI, but they can also be commanded to attack targeted enemies. After restoring power and activating a terraforming pylon to continue the process, she receives a distress signal and then Victor, the antagonist, is introduced.

From the overworld several types of linear dungeons can be accessed to complete the game’s many quests and to collect 45 Prismatic Cores. Joule often has to navigate platforms with movement abilities such as a double jump, dashing and dodging. She attacks with guns using regular shots as well as a charge shot to break through shields. After locking on it is possible to circle strafe. The game shows damage numbers and bonus multipliers. Resources and experience are collected through fights. The guns can also be upgraded and they use four types of ammunition. Both Joule and the corebots have their own health meter and their own leveling system. Ammo is regenerated automatically by not firing for a moment. There is also a tug-of-war mechanic involving managing the tension of an extractor cable to permanently defeat enemies by pulling out their core.

At workbenches materials can be used to research blueprints. These provide new body parts for the corebots and improve statistics such as health, attack, defense, energy, shield and RNG. Custom loadouts can be assigned by swapping abilities for the different limbs. It is also possible to swap cores and frames between the corebots. The game uses a behind view by default, but the camera can also be rotated at any moment.

Digital release automatically got replaced by Definitive Edition of the game upon its release, though all additional content present in the ReCore: Definitive Edition is available for free download to owners of the original ReCore game release.