Enshrouded: Delightfully Destructible Survival RPG That Lets You Build Towns

While Palworld is sweeping millions of players into its charming nets, it's easy to miss some other great games, especially if they share some mechanics. Thankfully, Enshrouded managed to garner its audience of over a million players in less than a week, and I was one of them, so here are my thoughts on this co-op survival action RPG for up to 16 players, which I experienced alone.

Enshrouded caught my eye partly thanks to its visuals, which reminded me of Elden Ring – a comparison I don't often see as it's mostly put next to Valheim and Zelda, which is also fair. Still, I believe Soulslike fans will feel at home with the game's grand abandoned castles and fighting styles. It's certainly a pleasant sight to see, although you might have to tweak the settings if you have a GPU that's not up to modern standards (like I do.) 

Story

Enshrouded's story is hidden in its name. One day, the world was enveloped by a mysterious fog, the Shroud, that started changing the land and everything living on it. You wake up in a construction that works like a cryo chamber, as far as I understand from the pieces of lore I've gathered. You're one of the lucky few who've managed to survive and your goal is to restore the world by battling the Shroud. 

The game has an intriguing story, I'm curious to know what went wrong and how people first realized what was happening. If you're not a fan of long walls of text, don't worry: it's all given in bite-sized chunks spread out across the world.

World

Speaking of the world, it's massive. I'm far from seeing its bounds (well, kind of, I'll touch upon it later), but videos on YouTube prove there's a lot to explore. Hills, valleys, lava-like rivers, it's here to help you spend time wandering around looking for your next adventure.

At the same time, I can't say all these planes are densely populated. Yes, most people are gone and left behind only ruined houses and towers, but I feel that there aren't enough points of interest important enough to venture toward, at least in terms of diversity – a point I'll cover a little later. I think Keen Games will add more content after the Early Access period, so it's not that concerning because you still have a lot to do.

Quests

I'd say your main objective in the game is to eradicate sources of the Shroud, find the NPCs who managed to survive, and then help them by completing quests that upgrade the characters' crafting abilities (used by you, of course.) All the quests I've encountered can be followed one by one in a chain, so you don't have to travel for long periods of time with nothing to do, and if you do, there are usually waypoints you can teleport to. Alternatively, you can set up a new camp – a teleportation station available from any location, except for the Shroud.

Shroud

Areas filled with this fog are the most dangerous places, partly due to mutated creatures there, but mostly because the moment you set foot inside the Shroud, a timer starts ticking away, and if it reaches zero, you're dead.

To get to the root of the fog, you sometimes need to go underground with no hint of fresh air, and often you just fall into the Shroud valley and can't find the way out. You might stumble across a special artifact that gives you some more time or a potion that slows down the deadly effects, but if they don't help, you'll die and lose most of your stuff. So yes, travel carefully.

There are different levels of the fog, which eat your time faster or slower, and to give yourself more chances, you'll need to level up your Altar – a cornerstone of your base.

Base Building

Enshrouded's developers are proud of its voxel-based building system, and they have all the rights: you can erect a giant castle and set up a town for your NPCs, and it will be fun. The assets to choose from all look nice and well-made, but the process of building itself I have issues with. 

This part of the game will remind you of Valheim, but to me, it's not as convenient. Creating a box you can call home is not a problem, but those ceilings... Let me just say that it can be difficult to put those squares where they should go.

At the same time, there are plenty of shapes to choose from. You can decide between 1m, 2m, and 4m walls and a variety of roofs, and with the game's terraforming system, your imagination is your only obstruction.

Destructibility

So let's finally talk about my favorite side of Enshrouded: the ability to smash almost everything, including the terrain. If you throw a bomb, it leaves a nice crater underneath; if you whack some ore, your pickaxe makes a dent in it; don't know how to open that door? Just demolish the wall next to it. You get the idea. You can theoretically create some stairs in the hill if you fall and don't see how to get out. However, it takes some time and effort, so I can't recommend this. Overall, I really enjoyed being able to leave my mark on the world.

Combat

I'm sure there are some of you who wish to know about the combat the most. To me, wielding a sword or a wand feels pretty comfortable in the game, it's responsive and impactful enough. There is nothing groundbreaking here: you can pick a melee weapon, a magical one, or a bow. To help you master them, Enshrouded offers a pretty extensive skill tree, although I suspect Keen Games will develop it further in the future.

Weapons and tools lose durability with use but will thankfully stay with you if you die – a huge relief! Basically, you'll leave resources and some objects on your body if you get overpowered. Then, just pick them up or forget it – it's not a catastrophe because your rare equipment is still on you and in your bag. 

To make sure you're ready for battle, don't forget to eat some nutritious food. Again, like in Valheim, you have room for 3 at a time, each giving you a boost to an attribute or status.

Dungeons

Fighting is not the only way to have a good time. You will occasionally find tombs, small dungeons with enemies and loot, and tall towers, which serve as teleportation points. However, it isn't that simple to earn this privilege: you first need to solve some platforming puzzles. They aren't difficult but can be frustrating. I think it's a great way to diversify your experience and take a break from exploration, fighting, and base-building.

Other Fun Stuff & Areas for Improvement

When you finally reach the top of the tower, the best way to leave it is by jumping down and flying with a glider – it's an exhilarating feeling. The game also gives you a grappling hook, which attaches to special loops and lets you either swing on it or get lifted.

Of course, it's not all great and shining. Apart from my troubles with building ceilings, I must mention some other details I don't quite like. First of all, Enshrouded was definitely developed with a controller in mind. I'm not a fan of its menu, it feels a bit clunky to me and full of unnecessary buttons. Then again, it's a preference, you might find it beneficial.

This is by no means a perfect game: there are some minor bugs and assets not attaching to the ground properly, the ability to glide up the slate unnaturally, the lighting shifts are a little sudden, leaving a dark place and facing the sun can be excruciating, and nights turn into mornings not as smoothly as they could have.

What this game lacks the most is diversity, both in enemies, resources, and locations, and this is a sentiment many players share. This will be fixed one day, but for now, it is sometimes noticeable.

Enshrouded is an early access game, so it doesn't have all its content (although there is still plenty to see), so you will faceplant the world's bounds once in a while, saying the rest will arrive when the RPG is fully out. 

I've played Enshrouded alone and can't tell you about its co-op, but I've heard players complaining about progression registering for everyone even if only one person finished the quest. Not everyone thinks it's a drawback, though, it's a co-op game, not an MMO one.

If some Steam comments are to be believed, you could meet performance issues. I can't really comment on that as my GTX 1070 manages fine on the Performance mode (as you can see from my poor screenshots) and has some rare stuttering issues on the Balanced one. I don't see drastic visual changes from the switch, but I'm not a person to play a game for its graphics, so it can be different for some.

Overall, I got a positive impression from Enshrouded, it's a game worth playing, especially if you enjoy developing bases: it has everything you need for it and more. I think it's a great example of a good early access release, and currently, 84% of players on Steam agree with me.

Check it out for yourself and join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.