Open world, crafting, survival, and Early Access - these are the four horsemen of the Steam apocalypse. You never really know what you're getting into with these games, so despite Enshrouded's promising exploration-heavy gameplay, I kept my distance for a year and a half. I've been burnt too many times.

But last week, on a complete whim, I finally bit the bullet and dove in. And honestly? I owe Enshrouded a sincere apology. Hey folks, I'm Ash, and today I want to show you what exactly Enshrouded is about, how it won me over, and what still needs work.

Video version of this review (~12 minutes)

A wide-open world

Just about every game has exploration in some form. After all, curiosity and a desire to illuminate the unknown have been staples of humanity since our earliest days. But there are very few games that focus their gameplay almost entirely on exploration, and for good reason - it's insanely hard to create a world so compelling that players can roam it for dozens of hours without getting bored.

And yet, Enshrouded has managed exactly that. There's something interesting to be found in literally every corner of its world - ruined castles, majestic forests, and vast landscapes devoured by a fungal rot known as the Shroud. Despite my best efforts to stay focused on the major quests, I constantly found myself getting sidetracked. And how could I not when these locations seem specifically designed to guide your eyes to all the other wonders on the horizon... far, far away from where you were originally headed.

These aren't small, bite-sized encounters either. Many locations are 15-20 minute romps full of combat, loot, and secrets, while the bigger ones can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a full hour to completely devour. And that's the beauty of exploration in Enshrouded - it keeps you guessing, and rarely disappoints.

The world is full of weird and wonderful locations to explore

You can always go higher

The way you can approach these locations is just as varied as they are. You can waltz in through the front door like you own the place... and then get promptly clobbered by the thirty defenders. You can be sneaky and look for the side passages or underground routes. Or, if you're feeling ambitious, you can pretend you're a Skyrim horse and just scale sheer cliffs to approach fortresses from angles nobody expected.

While it can be janky at times, being able to parkour my way across even the most treacherous terrain has been an absolute delight. Especially since powerful explosions - or just powerful muscles - can deform the terrain. So if you're determined enough, you can get just about anywhere not covered in mushroom-lava... which is a thing that exists. Don't question it!

This works so well because Enshrouded's environment has seemingly been designed with mountain goats like me in mind. Every location has a big focus on verticality. Walls are often ruined in such a way that you can scale them, buildings are full of holes that allow for alternate entry points, and city-sized areas are dense enough that you can explore them without touching the icky, shroom-covered ground where most of the enemies are.

It's the kind of freedom in exploration that you only really see in series like Gothic, Risen or Elder Scrolls. And for a game that's not even out of Early Access yet, that's as impressive as the structural stability of this ladder.

Every location is full of alternate entrances and exits

Moments of beauty

Another thing that surprised me was just how pretty Enshrouded can be. And I'm not talking about raw visual fidelity as its textures can look quite dated at times - but rather the beautiful scenery. When you're standing on one of those enormous towers looking out at mist-shrouded mountains in the distance, it's hard not to be in awe.

But those impressive vistas aren't my favorite views. My favorites are found wandering through the tall forests in early morning or late evening, when the light streaks through the trees at just the right angle to bathe everything in a warm, ethereal glow. It's a simple thing, but it brings me so much joy!

It really is quite the sight

Venturing into the Shroud

Things are much different when you're gliding into a region overrun by the Shroud. The moment when you pierce the mushroom haze that envelops the area is always unnerving - you go from a bright, sunny day to a grim and gloomy nightmare. It's such a stark difference that it really sells the Shroud as a place that doesn't want you there. And it really doesn't, because if you stick around for too long you're going to keel over dead from exposure alone.

Yet you'll want to be there anyway, because while the Shroud might be the source of everything wrong with the world, it's also the source of some amazing locations and loot. But we're not just talking about items here. Enshrouded did something quite clever with its world design - the Shroud is where you'll find the wacky wavy inflatable tube trees, each of which gives you skill points!

So not only do you have the usual RPG leveling through combat and quests, but you can also get a significant amount of extra power by wandering through the most dangerous areas in the game. Needless to say, these Shroud Roots are excellent bait to get you into the 'serious' parts of the world you might otherwise avoid. And while you're there, you'll probably spot a dozen more things you 'need' to do, and before you know it, you're three hours deep. I'm speaking from experience here!

This ties into a fairly meaty progression system that lets you specialize into melee bruisers, sneaky rogues, glass-cannon wizards, or some hybrid in between - all thanks to a sprawling talent tree with some genuinely interesting choices sprinkled through. Combine that with a wide variety of items you can find or craft, and you've got a good incentive to keep experimenting with different builds and playstyle. It's not Diablo levels of complexity, don't get me wrong, but it's just enough to keep the exploration-heavy gameplay fresh and rewarding.

The talent tree has some genuinely fun options in it

Combat and jank

As you might imagine, you can't just waltz up to the Shroud Roots and chop them down. To reach them, you'll have to smash, bash, stab, or wizard your way through hordes of genuinely tough enemies. And they're not tough just because they're guarding the Shroud Roots - everything in Enshrouded can and will kick your ass if you don't approach it carefully. They don't play by separate rules though - they too crumble like a sandcastle once you get your hands on them.

So while Enshrouded isn't a Souls-like, you need to approach things with a similar mindset. Scope out your opponents, get them to commit to a foolhardy attack, and then punish them. Or in the case of groups, get them to huddle together and then blast them with explosives or magic. If you're in trouble you can dodge to avoid attacks, parry to deliver devastating counter-attacks, or just use your superior mobility to escape where the mushroom-infested freaks can't follow. It’s a simple system, but the fact that everyone’s a glass cannon keeps even basic fights tense and exciting, which I do like.

That said, the core combat mechanics need tweaking before I can call them actually good. Right now there's an all-encompassing feeling of jank to most fights - the kind that doesn't matter most of the time, but when it does, it really pisses you off. For example, your attacks lock you into an animation from which you can't dodge. And this lasts just a smidgen too long, so you're going to facetank hits you can see coming from a mile away.

These are the little things you can learn to live with, but never feel truly comfortable with. So even though I like what Enshrouded is going for, the combat needs just a bit more time in the oven to get that lovely golden sheen.

Easy!

Home sweet home

And where would you bake it? Why, in the base you've created from scratch using a surprisingly solid set of building tools! So solid, in fact, that I'm pretty sure most of the game's buildings were created using them. That would certainly explain why they feel so lived-in.

I don't have much of a homesteading instinct, so I didn't spend a lot of time building elaborate structures. But the friend I played with had a blast creating all sorts of building code violations. I mostly amused myself by adding little details to it: decorations, crafting stations, a toilet on the top of the house - you know how it goes. So was our base the prettiest thing in the world? Strange question to ask given that it's perpetually on fire, but I can say it certainly felt like home.

And honestly, Enshrouded really shines when you're playing with friends. The world feels much livelier when you've got someone else pointing out landmarks and dragging you into trouble. And since progression is mostly tied to the world rather than individual characters, it always felt like a shared adventure. That said, solo play still works perfectly fine too - it just requires a different kind of approach since you won't have someone offering fire support from afar... or stealing all your loot!

The fire is load-bearing

Crafting conundrum

After every adventure you'll return home to stash your exceedingly large piles of assorted garbage and craft all sorts of different items. Gathering and crafting make up a pretty big part of the game, and unfortunately the most unpolished one as well. A lot of crafting involves juggling items between a wide variety of different crafting stations and NPCs, which feels quite awkward. The game has magical chests that let crafting stations pull materials from your stash, and I'd love to see that system expanded so that literally everything is linked together. As it stands, crafting involves a bit too much needless busywork for my taste.

Which is a shame, because the concept is quite good. You start with only the most basic recipes, and then have to find the rest out in the world... along with the unique materials needed to actually create each crafting station. This makes exploration always rewarding, because even if you don't find any items you like, you might discover new recipes or construction blocks to play with. And that's the magical thing about Enshrouded. Everything keeps pulling you back to exploration, which is exactly where the game shines the brightest.

Just imagine having to dig through all of that manually

So... is it worth playing?

Do you remember that cautious guy from the start who avoided Enshrouded for a year and a half? Well, turns out he was an idiot. Enshrouded isn't perfect - the combat needs a layer of polish and the crafting has too much busywork - but that hardly matters when there's something new and exciting around every corner.

So if you're a fan of exploration, and especially if you have a friend willing to take the plunge with you, I'd heartily recommend giving Enshrouded a try, even in its currently unfinished state. I've already lost an entire week playing it, and all I can think about is diving back in. And that right there is the mark of something truly special!