Developer: Keen Games
Publisher: Keen Games
Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PC
Enshrouded – Preview
With Portal Knights on their resume, developer Keen Games already has a co-op success under their belt. Their newer game was released in Early Access recently and is by all accounts a more ambitious project. From an expansive open-world map to the huge skill tree players get to explore, Enshrouded offers a nice mix of survival mechanics and RPG gameplay. And since you can run servers with up to sixteen players, it’s the perfect world to experience with friends.
A cutscene at the start with beautifully drawn stills explains the setting of Enshrouded to us. In what seems to be a pretty typical fantasy world called Embervale, two races thrived. Humans and ancients. One day, the ancients decided to share a special fluid they called Elixer, something that could grant immense powers and cure many diseases. Obviously, this caused things to go awry as humanity dug deep into the earth to make giant wells that could supply them with more Elixir. Wars broke out and things only got worse when a powerful supernatural darkness known as The Shroud burst forth from these wells too. In a last bid to save their society, humans and ancients once again worked together to make the Flameborn, a person with special powers who could combat The Shroud. However, this Flameborn spent long years in slumber and the world ended while they slept. Now they awaken to see if they can restore the broken world.
Enshrouded is best played on a PC with considerable graphic power. The game looks breathtaking but can start to lag if your hardware can’t keep up. With a bit of effort though, you’ll get to explore this gorgeous open-world map with several distinct biomes to experience. Every biome has unique plants, creatures, and even architecture left behind from the old world. It’s a real feast for the eyes. The animations are wonderful too, running very smoothly even during combat. In terms of the sound design, while nothing completely blew us away, the soundtrack of this game is quite nice. You have the expected grand instrumental pieces that fit the fantasy setting and keep you company as you explore the world. There are also plenty of sound effects to breathe life into said world. Enshrouded has some voice acting, mostly in the opening cutscene but also in the game itself.
Enshrouded is an open-world survival RPG, though, for reasons we’ll soon get into, the survival elements aren’t as much of a thing. The game takes clear inspiration from Valheim, though with a more original setting and a lot more character customization. It starts as soon as you begin the game, with you being able to create your Flameborn to look exactly how you want them to. Then once you get into the game, you’re faced with a huge skill tree. While level 25 is the cap for this Early Access version of the game, you still have plenty of options to design a character for your playstyle. Combined with the vast amount of weapons in the game, ranged or melee or magical in origin, and the spells, combat is also very diverse if not very difficult. The latter is highlighted due to there being only a limited amount of enemy types and bosses in the game currently.
That doesn’t mean you’re lacking in content. The first quest you get is to make a base somewhere in the plains biome. From there, you can start exploring, crafting, and otherwise reviving the world around you. As you gather material, you automatically learn recipes that allow you to build new things. You can upgrade your weapons, which in turn allows you to brave more dangerous terrain. Your base too can be expanded and filled with furniture. In Enshrouded, these decorative items are not just for show but also boost your base’s comfort level. This gives you a passive bonus after you rest there. Resting and warmth also give you passive bonuses, as do drinking and eating. This does mean that you can play the entire game without cooking a meal, somewhat making it feel like less of a survival game.
The building is intuitive and easy, and the game even has a terrain tool that allows you to do some terraforming. Later on, you can also meet other survivors and rescue them so they come live at your base. At the end of the day, creativity and exploration seem to be the main focus of Enshrouded and that’s not something to complain about. While the game can be enjoyed alone, it does advertise itself as a co-op experience. You can make or join servers with up to sixteen people, so you can adventure together. A nice touch is that you don’t need to make a Flameborn from scratch for every server, as you can use your existing character even when playing with friends. So you don’t sacrifice any of your progress for wanting to be social.
Conclusion
For a game still in Early Access, Enshrouded blows us away in the sheer quantity of content. With well over fifty hours of gameplay, this could almost pass for a full game. However, there are some small things the developers are clearly still working on, such as more enemies and an actual ending for their interesting lore. However, that shouldn’t deter anybody from wanting to start their journey into Embervale. Just try to stay out of the dark mist and you’ll be fine.
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