As you explore the expansive biomes that branch out from the Core in Core Keeper, you’ll come across all sorts of ancient ruins, both open due to looting or time passing or still locked up tight. Most of them just have some old technology to sell or a few useful treasures, but certain ones contain far more.
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Floating on a lone island in the waters of the Sunken Sea sits one of those ruins, and passing by it will show you a chest hiding inside behind a strange locked door. There’s no digging through, so if you want the treasure inside, you’ll need to utilize old tech and make the Admin Key.
How To Prepare And Find A Forlorn Metropolis
The Admin Key is a unique item used to open up the Sunken Shrine in the Sunken Sea, and it’s made up of three other unique crafting materials and the special, purchasable Empty Crystal recipe:
- The Shutdown Protocol.
- The Anomaly Report.
- The Overwrite Transport.
These three materials can only be found in special scenes in Forlorn Metropolis sub-biomes, which are located in the Sunken Sea and generally found within the open water unless one happens to intersect with land or another mid-game biome.
You’ll want at least Octarine Armor that’s been reinforced, a few good weapons, bridges of some kind, and plenty of food and potions, as the sub-biome is massive, and you’ll be dealing with multiple enemies in a room that can pack a punch with long-range magic if you’re unprepared, and wear down your armor’s durability even if you are.
Another key item for finding them is a Boat, which allows you to cross the waters quickly and without wasting tons of bridges, and the base type can be crafted at a Boat Workbench with 80 Planks, 50 Scarlet Bars, and 20 Mechanical Gears.
If you’ve already been to the Desert of Beginnings and started making Galaxite Bars, the Galaxite Chakram is a fantastic weapon for the Forlorn Metropolis due to how often it bounces off the walls of the rooms.
When you’ve got everything, start boating across the open waters in the Sunken Sea, focusing on the widest areas of water in the middle of the region, and looking for massive structures in the middle of the water.
Forlorn Metropolis sub-biomes always show up as a square, connected sections of rooms and hallways, different from the land generation, and their building blocks show up as light and dark blue-green colors on the map.
A good method for locating a Forlorn Metropolis is to boat around and find at least one border of the Sunken Sea first. You’ll mark out some limits and a range, and you’re likely to find at least one while you’re doing this.
Each one will always have at least two to four open entrances you can dock at, which sometimes have enemies and furniture pieces like the Vending Machine, which sells a handful of food dishes.
Inside the Forlorn Metropolises, you’ll be fighting Caveling Scholars and Core Sentries, both of which use magic attacks and an AOE stomp for the sentries.
How To Find The Broken Cores
You can find various unique furniture items, like Crystal Lamps, and Ancient Chests containing Sunken Sea-related loot like Octarine Ore inside, but the main thing you’ll need to find is the special Broken Core Room scenes.
The Shutdown Protocol, Anomaly Report, and Overwrite Transport can only be found when interacting with the Broken Cores found in these scenes, and these are found in specific Forlorn Metropolis sub-biomes which are larger than usual.
- The Shutdown Protocol is approximately 550 tiles from the Core.
- The Anomaly Report is approximately 650 tiles from the Core.
- The Overwrite Transport is approximately 750 tiles from the Core.
If you find at least one of the sub-biomes containing an Admin Key part, you can use it to help triangulate the locations of the other two, as it’ll be near them both.
These rooms are one of the largest of all scenes within the sub-biome, generally in the center, and have a slightly different visual appearance on the map.
They always have two to three lines intersecting with a gray square, which is the Broken Core, but they will lack the blue or green centers that the City Park and City Plaza scenes have.
When you find the Broken Core Rooms, approach the Broken Core and Interact with it to bring up a mini-inventory that contains one of the three crafting materials inside.
Make sure to check the Ancient Chest that’s always in each of the three Broken Core Rooms, as they each contain a unique crafting material needed to make the Phantom Spark bow.
How To Craft The Admin Key
When you’ve got the three pieces from the Forgotten Metropolises, the last thing you’ll need is the Empty Crystal.
This recipe can only be purchased from the Cloaked Merchant for 3,000 Ancient Coins after the Core has been activated by putting all three early-game bosses’ trophies into their respective statues at the Core.
The Cloaked Merchant and their furniture item are unlocked after you beat Ghorm the Devourer, and like other NPCs, they can be housed in your home by placing their Mysterious Idol in a suitable room.
Next, put the Empty Crystal into your hot bar, and make sure you have the Shutdown Protocol, Anomaly Report, and the Overwrite Transport in your inventory at the same time, as it won’t work otherwise.
Use the Empty Crystal, and you’ll get a progress bar on your screen. When it fills up, the three pieces will combine with the Empty Crystal to become the Admin Key, and now you can open the Sunken Shrine.
How To Find And Open The Glyph Parchment Shrine
The Glyph Parchment Shrine is in the open waters of the Sunken Sea, and it’s always located 500 Tiles from The Core.
It appears as a small light-bulb-shaped island with a ruins room that resembles the Musical Note Rooms found randomly but with a visible Titan Chest inside and a large, decorated door with a diamond-shaped hole.
If you’ve found the Forlorn Metropolis with the Shutdown Protocol inside it, the Sunken Shrine has a good chance of being very close to it, and you can boat from it to the shrine’s island.
When you find the shrine, approach the door and Interact with it. You’ll get a mini-inventory you can slot the Admin Key in, and doing so will open the doors.
Inside, you’ll find several pieces of Forlorn Metropolis breakables and unique furniture, and a Titan Chest behind a Throne that contains some valuables: 25 Gold Bars, 15 Ancient Gemstones, and the unique Glyph Parchment recipe, which is required to craft the Phantom Spark bow.
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