Core Keeper's major content update 1.3 "Riders of the Underground" is live as of 21 September 2026. This marks the first chapter of Pugstorm's Road to the Maw trilogy, fundamentally changing how players navigate the underground world.
Riding and traversing the depths
Exploring an ever-expanding underground map on foot often turned into a chore once the early biomes were conquered. Update 1.3 addresses this friction with two key mobility mechanics:
- Rideable Mounts: By crafting saddles, players can now mount underground cattle. A custom interface lets your group name mounts and manage their behaviour during expeditions.
- The Hookshot: An off-hand item allowing players to zip across chasms, pits, and underground rivers without having to lay down wood bridges every few steps.
The update also brings a brand-new moss sub-biome nestled inside the Forgotten Ruins, three new pets (including Hoppet and Azeos Jr.), and fresh gear tailored to expand magic and summoner playstyles.
Core Keeper 1.3 Saddle Guide: How to Get Saddles and Ride Mounts
Update 1.3 introduced rideable mounts, solving the challenge of navigating the extensive underground map. Here is how to craft your saddle, tame underground cattle, and use mounts effectively:
- How to get a saddle:
- Crafting: Craft a Saddle at the Livestock Workbench using Fiber, Leather, and Scarlet Bars (or purchase one directly from the Caveling Merchant).
- Loot: Saddles also spawn as dungeon loot in chests found across the Forgotten Ruins and the newly added Moss Sub-biome.
- Finding underground cattle:
- Explore stone caverns and moss-covered clearings to find passive underground cattle and grazers.
- Taming and mounting:
- Hold the animal's favorite food in your active hand (such as Heart Berries, Glow Tulips, or Meadow Sweet) to draw it near without causing panic.
- Equip the Saddle in your hand and right-click on the creature to place the saddle on its back.
- Press the interaction key (
Eby default) to mount and ride.
- Mount controls and perks:
- Mounts travel substantially faster than players on foot and navigate puddles, mud, and uneven terrain without losing momentum.
- Access the mount menu to give your mount a custom name, check stamina and health, or tether it safely at base before descending into boss arenas.
How your dedicated server gets updated
On Steam, the server binary (Core Keeper Dedicated Server, App ID 1963720) was pushed concurrently with the main game client to prevent version mismatch errors.
On TickServ, there is zero manual maintenance required:
- Automatic updates on boot: Our Core Keeper servers run a lean image that pulls the latest SteamCMD release on every startup.
- Immediate availability: If your server is stopped, its next launch will run 1.3 straight away. If it is currently running, a simple restart from your TickServ dashboard will pull the update.
What about existing save files?
Existing worlds and character progress are fully compatible with 1.3.
Keep in mind that, as with any procedural update, the new moss sub-biome and its unique resources will only generate in chunks that have not been explored yet. If your group has already uncovered a large perimeter around the Core, you will simply need to tunnel outward into uncharted territory.
What this doesn't solve
Older worlds that have been explored over dozens of hours still demand more RAM than fresh maps: for groups with more than 4 active players on a mature world, we recommend staying on the 8 GB tier. Additionally, if you use unofficial community mods, some may require a few days for their creators to adapt them to 1.3.