Satisfactory has been a cornerstone of the automation and factory simulation genre since its early access launch in 2019, and its developer just announced the game's first expansion, called Core Values. Core Values will take Satisfactory underground, but it'll also be turning the game on its head in the process, according to comments by the game's developer to Rock Paper Shotgun.

The trailer and announcement of Core Values don't really reveal much about the expansion other than that it will allow players to explore underground tunnels and caves, taking their automation and crafting to the new frontier. Coffee Stain Studios says that the change of scenery won't just be a new lick of paint. Instead, players will face new automation challenges and will be given new tools to work with.

The studio confirmed that the expansion will share some logistics with the base game, so that it can tie into the base game seamlessly, but the gameplay is meant to feel different in the expansion. Satisfactory Core Values does not have a launch date attached at the time of writing, but it is slated to release on Steam, Epic Games, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles.

The idea is to consider players who have above-ground factories optimized to near-perfection and give those players a new gameplay experience that they won't be able to immediately speed run with resources being pumped out by their existing production lines. However, it also needed to feel like a fresh gameplay experience, so tasks like transportation and exploration will require a different approach to the base game. The game's art director, Torsten Gunst, said: "We would feel if it [were] just 'Oh, you'll find that new underground resource...' would just not be very rewarding. You want new resources to get you new logistics that expand the game. We are not cheaping out on this expansion." He added that the machinery would be "more rugged, heavy machines. Big grinding gears, hammers bashing against resources."