I knew as soon as I played the early access version of Enshrouded a few years ago that it was something pretty special. It’s a survival-crafting RPG, sure, which is hardly a rarity, but I remember playing it around the same time as Nightingale and knowing that one of the two was destined for great things.
Enshrouded introduces your character as the Flameborn, the remnant of an ancient civilisation who has been in a kind of suspended animation awaiting their destiny. This destiny involves building a community while igniting dormant Flame Altars around the world to drive back the Shroud, an all-consuming fog that hides horrors and treasures in equal measure.
On the surface there’s a lot of Breath of the Wild DNA in here. There’s a similar stamina system, there’s a glider, and a sense that you need to be prepared before you set out anywhere. The world is not inherently dangerous beyond the usual wolves, bandits, and goblins, but you won’t be spending all that much time in the sun. See, Enshrouded hides all of its best gear and most essential challenges within the Shroud, so you’ll need to prepare well for every trip out.
The central conceit is that staying on the surface is fine for simply building a house and surviving, but if you want to level up, thrive, and create better gear and amenities, you can’t avoid the risk. NPCs are locked in ancient vaults like yours, and you’ll need to free them and then bring them back to your burgeoning village to unlock their services. This means building them a home, giving them a bed, and installing all the tools and stations they need. It’s an incredibly cool system, that allows you to slowly populate your own fantasy hub town with all the merchants and artisans you could need.
First up is the blacksmith, and once you’ve built him a place with a roof and installed his forge, he’ll send you off into the world looking for points of interest, wide-spread fast travel points, and more NPC craftspeople. To upgrade your own hub, you need to improve your Flame Altar, which requires resources only found in the Shroud.
Descending into the fog is always thrilling. You have limited inventory space and need to manage hunger, thirst, and health, so the onus is on travelling light, especially if you hope to bring back loot. Weapons and gear drop from monsters or can be found in chests (or you can craft it, of course) but you’ll rarely have room for everything you find in a foray. Your time in the Shroud is limited. Exits are scarce and you can and will occasionally get trapped down there until the time runs out, which kills you and necessitates a corpse run. Finding special beacons inside the fog will refresh your time, allowing you to make your way to the boss and defeat both it, and the weird entities that generate the Shroud.
Up on the surface you’ll find dungeons, ruins, and ancient towers that need clearing of monsters and loot, and as you slowly become stronger you’ll be able to handle tougher challenges and longer trips into the Shroud.
It’s no exaggeration to say that Enshrouded is the best this genre has to offer. I prefer this Valheim, and find it vastly superior to the more recent Runescape: Dragonwilds. There’s something about the building systems that feel massively intuitive, allowing you to build literally anywhere, planting floating houses or underground lairs. Yeah, it doesn’t always make sense, but it allows you be incredibly creative.
Most of all it feels like you have a lift to live here. It’s not an MMO, but you can play with others if you wish. I prefer to be the lone hero though, learning to be self-sufficient, cooking meals and packing my bag before sharpening my sword and heading into the writhing fog in search of ghoulies to slay and gear to haul back home.
Enshrouded is a pretty good looking game but it won’t blow anyone’s mind. There are some nice vistas, but enemy and character design are pretty generic, while the world outside the Shroud is standard fare. The music is great though, with a rousing score to get your blood going, and the atmosphere is top notch, really selling the world you’re adventuring in.
On console, though, I’ve had some issues. Patches have been issued since I started reviewing Enshrouded that have fixed a lot of the bugs I was seeing, but there are still lingering a few performance issues. Texture pop-in is common, as is stuttering at times. It also has some very clunky menus and, despite some good quality of life implementations like splitting stacks and quick-move between backpack and storage, organising your gear is a bit of a chore.
Minor complaints aside though, Enshrouded is a wonderful fantasy survival-crafter with a compelling world, fun combat, and a real sense of adventure. There’s a lovely, exciting world to explore both inside and outside the fog, and loads of secrets to uncover along the way.
