I love a game that allows me to craft swords and metal armor, build a base to call home in the middle of the wilderness, and venture across mystical lands searching for quests and mysteries to solve. Plus, I’m a sucker for the survival-crafting genre overall. On paper, Enshrouded ticks most of my favorite boxes. How does it hold up following its release into Early Access? Come find out in our Enshrouded Early Access Preview!
Editor’s Note: The developer provided a copy of Enshrouded for coverage purposes. This does not, however, influence our opinion of the game. It’s also important to note that the game is still in Early Access.
The First Steps
Like most other open-world survival games, Enshrouded dumps you into its world inside a mysterious cavern and tasks you with finding the exit. It’s the big reveal. Like back in the day when we all were wide-eyed and excited upon first leaving the vault in Fallout 3. You exit the cave, still coming to grasp with the occasionally awkward controls and movements, and then you’re thrust into the open world. It’s positively massive. From the get-go, there’s so much to see and do, with mountains in the distance, a glimpse at a ruin nearby, and the mysterious fog shrouding the landscape.
Enshrouded provides a few objectives, like placing down your first base, crafting valuable tools, weapons, and armor, and then delving deeper into the land’s mysteries by finding the Elixir Well. Everything appears evenly paced, and to the point, none of the enemies feels overwhelmingly challenging to beat.
Again, your biggest hurdle in Enshrouded is its awkwardness. It’s a bit jank, but not in a way that’s detrimental to the gameplay. Think of the old Gothic RPGs, which brought with them a certain amount of charm to combat the awkward controls and movement scheme.
Related: How the Fallout Games Defined My Childhood and Beyond
An Expansive World to Discover
While you do have objectives to tackle, they’re open-ended. You don’t have to rush to the Elixir Well. In fact, I didn’t. Despite having that quest on my HUD, I explored the game world, built up my base, and spent much time crafting new equipment.
But that’s a big part of the magic in Enshrouded. Like with Valheim, which everyone will compare the two, it’s tough not to; you don’t have to follow the rules. You don’t have to beat every boss and “finish” the game. You can immerse yourself in its game world, exploring every nook and cranny.
Let’s say you find a shrouded ruin covered in fog with roaming enemies and want to don a torch and dive underground. You can! What about the mountain in the distance? Go ahead, climb up the side of it to reach the tower on top—that is if you have the stamina.
I Love Base Building
In my spare time, when I have a chance to sit down to play a game I’m not covering, I tend to gravitate towards colony sim and base-building games. It’s my comfort genre. I love the concept of exploring a world, scooping up resources, and letting my creativity thrive as I construct a gravity-defying base. As you can see in the screenshot, I followed suit in Enshrouded.
The first time you attempt to utilize the base-building mechanics in Enshrouded, they feel clunky. It’s tough to place down walls, floors, and ceilings properly. Sometimes, they don’t want to clip correctly, and it’s a bummer. But it’s not enough to detract from the overall thrill.
As you progress through the game, you’ll inevitably unlock new building pieces and items, including decorations, workbenches, and storage solutions. I love the sense of progression, not only in your gear and stats but in your home base. It’s your mark on the world!
I’m excited to explore more of Enshrouded and equally excited to discover what the game has in store during its Early Access period!