Enshrouded – The Game Review

Having spent over 50 hours playing Enshrouded, including extensive time in the endgame, I can confidently say that I really like this game.

Graphics
Enshrouded is a visual treat, provided your PC can handle its demanding graphics. Keen Games has poured considerable effort into crafting a beautiful and immersive world. The lighting, while sometimes quite dark at night, enhances the game’s immersive quality.

Replayability
The game can be quite grindy, particularly if you’re playing solo. Collecting resources and dungeon crawling can consume a significant amount of time. Creating a new character might feel daunting due to this grind. However, the option to create a new world with the same character alleviates some of this burden, allowing for continued progression without starting from scratch.

Building System
The voxel-based world of Enshrouded offers fully transformable terrain. With a relatively low build limit, there’s ample room for creativity. The building pieces available are standard for survival games, but the option to use smaller individual blocks allows for incredible detail. You can freely place crafted items or snap them to the world grid. Building underground bases is feasible and streamlined thanks to a feature that instantly removes dirt when you place and then remove a foundation, speeding up terrain clearing.

Gameplay
Despite being in early access, Enshrouded’s gameplay feels solid. Future updates may bring changes to the UI and mechanics. Personally, I’d love to see a first-person view option to enhance the base-building experience and split-screen support on consoles for a nostalgic ’90s gaming night vibe. Customizable map markers would also be a welcome addition.

Combat is satisfying, with a well-timed parry rewarding you by stunning enemies. The game offers flexibility in combat styles with three classic skill trees (fighter, ranger, and wizard) that you can multiclass as desired.

World, Size, Population, Travel Time, and Feel
The world of Enshrouded is expansive and still growing. Keen Games has an ambitious roadmap ahead, promising more biomes, enemies, weapons, and building blocks. Currently, early game areas feel lively and populated, though the desert area could use more content. This newer area understandably feels sparse, but it’s expected to receive more attention.

Story
Enshrouded presents an intriguing start to its story. Humanity’s exploitation of a new resource called ‘Elixir’ inadvertently released the deadly ‘shroud.’ As a ‘flameborn’—a rare individual capable of surviving the shroud—you awaken after humanity’s downfall to help rebuild civilization. While the main narrative is relatively straightforward, numerous lore books and letters scattered across the map provide deeper insight into individual stories.

Overall
Enshrouded caters to a diverse range of players, whether you enjoy multiplayer, solo play, PvP, PvE, base building, or adventuring. With its reasonable price and rich, evolving content, I highly recommend giving this game a try. Keep an eye on our news feed for more reviews!

That’s it from me. Keep gaming!

Publisher: Keen Games
Platform: PC (Steam), PS5, Xbox XS (coming soon)
Price: £24.99 (UK)