Underkeep Maps Guide: Automap, Markers, Secrets, and Mini Map Tips

Every dungeon crawler lives or dies by its map, and in Rake in Grass's old-school RPG the automap is the difference between a confident descent and a lost afternoon. Underkeep maps do more than sketch walls: they record doors, chests, pits, and the mysteries you promise to come back for. If you learn how Underkeep maps behave early — how they fill in, what markers allow, and when they pause your party — the whole handcrafted world opens up. Here's how the mapping tools work in practice and how to use them without breaking your exploration flow.

How Underkeep Maps Fill Themselves In

Underkeep is a grid-based, turn-based dungeon crawler from developer and publisher Rake in Grass, released on November 5, 2026. Its dungeons are handmade rather than generated, which changes how you should read a map: when every corridor was placed deliberately, each unexplored tile is potentially something. The official Underkeep Steam page describes a "personal map" — a built-in automap that keeps track of mysteries, locked doors, and places you swear you'll return to later.

The tools got a meaningful upgrade just before launch. A community guide tracking the game's announcements reports that on October 14, 2026 the studio added a note layer to the map, letting you write on it rather than only pinning it. The same guide quotes a developer reply stating that opening the full map stops your party from moving. That single rule should shape your habits: Underkeep maps are for planning, not for walking.

There's clear appetite for that deliberate pace. As of November 6, 2026, the Steam store page recorded a Very Positive rating from 319 user reviews, with 94% of them positive. Exploration is a big part of why players are there.

Mini Map vs. Full Automap: Which One to Watch

Underkeep gives you two views of the same information, and they are built for different jobs. The mini map sits in the lower-left corner of the screen. A beginner guide creator on YouTube recommends checking it constantly while you walk, and notes that once an area is mapped, you can cross already-explored ground using the mini map alone instead of re-reading the terrain.

Early impressions of the game add a useful detail: the in-game map tracks explored areas along with locks, doors, treasure chests, and hidden traps such as pits. That turns the map into a working checklist rather than a picture. If a corridor shows a pit you have already skirted, you know the safe line without testing it again.

One caveat on keys: the M-key binding and the "press M, then left-click a tile" marking flow both come from player reports. Check your own control settings before you assume the defaults.

A Simple Marker Workflow for Underkeep Maps

Most Underkeep maps only become useful after you have put information into them. A short, repeatable habit beats a detailed one you abandon after two floors.

1. Mark every locked door. Note the door itself and, if the tooltip names a requirement, the key or tool you need.
2. Mark chests you cannot open yet. Loot you leave behind is easy to forget three rooms later.
3. Mark traps and pits. Hidden pits are specifically called out as map-tracked hazards, so confirm them on the map before you route a party through.
4. Mark roadblocks. A pickaxe found through exploration clears certain blocked paths, so flag the rubble you could not pass the first time.
5. Mark portals. Players report that portals link maps across the game, which makes them the fastest route back to an old objective.
6. Mark puzzle rooms. Two or three words is enough — "three candles," "blue lever," "rock wall."

Keep Notes Short

The tiles are small. A one- or two-word note stays readable at a glance, while a full sentence turns into unreadable marks. Write the reminder you will need in a week, not the story of how you found the room.

Save Before You Experiment

The map tells you where things are, not what they do. Because Underkeep branches on dialogue and exploration choices, saving before you interact with an ambiguous object lets you test an option and reload if the outcome doesn't suit you. That habit keeps your Underkeep maps trustworthy, since you can verify a symbol instead of guessing at it.

Named Places, Portals, and Cross-Map Clues

A community exploration guide for Underkeep gathers what the studio has said publicly about the world map. A May 2026 post names Underkeep Tower, a swamp, dungeon ruins, and forgotten gardens as distinct locations, and an April 2026 note confirms that portals work across the full game's maps. Practically, that means your marker habits should survive a region change: a portal you pinned in the swamp is still useful when the story sends you back.

The same guide flags two things worth planning around. Some puzzles reportedly ask you to carry a clue from one map to another, which is exactly the case where the notes layer earns its place — record the clue where you found it, not where you think you'll use it. Separately, a reviewer writing on November 4, 2026 reported that a few interactions failed to respond even when the obvious action was taken. That's one player's experience, not a confirmed bug list, but it's a good reason to save before an interaction that looks important.

When the Map Doesn't Tell the Whole Story

An automap only shows what it has been given. The Steam page promises hidden alcoves, fake walls, optional bosses, and puzzles that fit the world rather than interrupting it, and none of those announce themselves on an unexplored tile. Interacting with everything — odd rocks, unlikely flowers, a button that looks like decoration — is how the map gets filled in the first place. Player advice is blunt about this: exploring thoroughly often matters more than pushing the main quest forward, and the extra enemies and items you meet along the way make later fights easier.

Read the tooltips, too. They are described by players as unusually well written and frequently load-bearing for progression, and any text you can hover over or click is fair game. If a room's clue doesn't make sense yet, write a placeholder on the map and move on; the answer usually arrives a floor later.

Finally, set expectations for pace. The same beginner guide creator estimates around 40 hours of play if you savor the world, and describes the game as mostly about the road rather than the destination. That's a player estimate, not a studio figure, but it matches how the mapping tools are designed: they reward the person who keeps notes.

FAQ

Do Underkeep maps pause the game?

Yes — movement stops while the full map is open, according to a developer reply quoted by a community guide. The mini map does not interrupt anything, which is why players lean on it during long walks.

Can I write notes on Underkeep maps?

You can. Custom markers existed at launch, and a note layer was added on October 14, 2026, before release. Press M, then left-click the tile you want to annotate, per player reports of the default controls.

Where is the mini map in Underkeep?

It sits in the lower-left corner of the screen. Community advice is to reference it often and to navigate already-explored areas by mini map alone, which saves time on return trips.

Do I need to draw my own Underkeep maps by hand?

Not for layout — the automap handles that. Some players still sketch puzzle possibilities on paper, and the in-game notes layer covers most of what a hand-drawn map would do, minus the cross-map clue keeping.