Reviewed on PC

The genre of survival-crafting RPGs is quite crowded, and it’s hard to set yourself apart from the rest. Developed by Keen Games, Enshrouded emerged early as a big contender, and now, out of the initial early access phase, it’s evolved from a vaguely rough start to a content-rich experience.

A Beautiful Landscape

The world of Embervale is visually very pretty, and the graphics are extremely pleasant. There’s striking glowing fogs against beige ruins and rolling greens, and the lighting is a standout feature, creating an almost painting-like scene.

Exploration is one of the game’s strongest pulls, and rather than rushing you into the main storyline or holding your hand, Enshrouded allows players to wander. The way the world is designed allows you to lose many hours in discovering lore and hidden gems before setting off on your quest adventures.

While you’re free to explore at your own pace, the developers didn’t wait to fill the gameplay with danger and tension, making sure that you never quite feel safe even when avoiding the main storyline. This is a good way to avoid the fatigue often felt from the safe exploration in other games until hitting certain levels or quests.

Functional But Familiar Combat

The combat in Enshrouded, while not necessarily the most difficult to tackle, can be quite demanding. The basics are solid, with dodging, parrying, and ranged attacks being quite responsive; encounters can become a bit repetitive after a while.

Boss encounters break up the routine, but overall, the system doesn’t feel like it meets the depth of base building or exploration. Enemy variety is currently rather limited, but the ones already in the game are interesting. However, I’m not sure they’re enough to keep the entire game feeling fresh.

While not strictly combat or enemy related, the flora and fauna of Enshourded can also be just as dangerous. It really helps to branch out the corruption of the world beyond the usual types of villains and foes.

Better RPG Progression

Progression is largely driven by objectives and XP-based leveling rather than rigid questlines, and the skill tree is a flexible way to make the RPG elements accessible to different types of players. You’re guided towards goals, but as previously mentioned, the game doesn’t hold your hand.

While the RPG element didn’t feel finished in the first early access version of the game, it now feels like it’s expanded the classes enough to offer a wide variety of playstyles. This type of progression lets you prioritize what they enjoy most, whether it’s using your right hook or bone wand.

Anyone with any knowledge of games like Baldur’s Gate or Dungeons and Dragons will feel at home with the archetypes and stats set out within the skills in the game.

Exceptional Base Building

The area where Enshrouded really shines is the base building, and if you’re playing in multiplayer, what you’re capable of making is excellent. Whether you want to make a small wood cabin or a vast fortress, Enshrouded’s mechanics support your creativity.

More often than not, base building in survival games is a side activity you complete for quest completion or simply so you have somewhere to rest up. Here, it feels central to the experience and one you’ll want to spend hours on. Establishing your Flame Altar, expanding your settlement, and decorating its interiors feels just as worthwhile as taking down enemy bosses.

Everything feels much more thought-out and accessible than when the game was first released, and the small touches the developers have made to inventories and crafting make the whole process feel less of a slog.

Rough Edges With Promise

Despite the feeling of a massive overhaul from its early days, the game isn’t without its issues. Waiting a long time for shaders to install while in the main menu isn’t ideal, especially when playing co-op, but honestly, it’s worth it to hold on.

Enshrouded still feels like it’s growing, but the amount of growth already achieved is encouraging, to say the least. The game is already a full-fledged survival RPG with heart, and the longer updates keep coming, the more I can see the player base growing.

The developers have been extremely transparent with their roadmap, and it looks like only good things are on the horizon for Enshrouded.