Enshrouded: Early Access Review

Enshrouded already deserves a great deal of credit. At the moment of the Palworld phenomenon's explosion, with which it shares the genre, survival, and shared the launch window, it still managed to capture the attention of over a million players, according to data. A success, then, the first stage of what is now the consolidated path for games published in early access; it will be up to subsequent updates to confirm it, with new content released over the weeks, providing the already developed user base with new adventures, gameplay mechanics, items, and whatever else you can imagine.

But what is Enshrouded like today? Enshrouded is a survival game, as mentioned, or rather, to give a general idea of its setup, it's almost a survival game grafted onto the structure of an action RPG. In fact, few game elements have any connotation related to the concept of survival, and those few have a rather limited impact on the overall gameplay experience. In its most evident and recognizable dimension, Enshrouded is, instead, a production in which you explore a world that is certainly dangerous, due to the presence of various types of enemies and environmental obstacles, but according to a gameplay that prioritizes combat over sustenance or other primary needs.

Enshrouded: Survival, but not too much

Eating, resting, staying warm are secondary requirements, which provide certain bonuses when satisfied (greater stamina recovery, a longer health bar), but if neglected, they do not cause negative consequences for the player's character, nor do they limit their actions in any way. Among those strictly linked to the survival tradition, there is only one element that truly has a specific weight in the game's economy, and that is crafting. Gathering materials, creating new ones, upgrading crafting platforms is what keeps the player most engaged. This system makes it possible not only, in parallel with the classic level-up, to improve the avatar's attack and defense with new weapons and armor, but also to construct buildings of all types and sizes.

The building construction model is one of the best things about Enshrouded, perhaps the best overall. Again, it's quite detached from survival dynamics, in the sense that, for example, you won't need to take refuge in your base at night, and it's therefore a bit of an end in itself. But for those who like to build their base, customizing it in detail, erecting buildings as they please, the possibilities are truly vast, made available by a very convenient and intuitive system.

There is no gameplay element in Enshrouded that is truly deep and complex, and while this is a difficult invitation for new players to decline, it is also what, at the moment, makes Keen Games' production very weak in the long run. The immediacy is undeniable. You explore this vast and rich world, well supported by adequate technical prowess and an artistic direction that is certainly a bit generic, but pleasant; you fight against the creatures that inhabit it and against bosses that are not particularly ingenious; you gather, you create, you build, but in practice, for what purpose?

Lost in the Shroud

The slowness and emptiness of the progression are palpable; there's no engine that pushes the player to continue after a while. There isn't one at the gameplay level, because the gameplay components are too flimsy and poorly cohesive; there isn't one at the narrative level, because despite a background story of a land enveloped by the deadly Shroud, it plays absolutely no central role and is told in bits and pieces through documents found around the map. Curiosity alone cannot suffice when it is rarely rewarded; nor can the almost mechanical advancement through various quests, which boil down to finding a material to build yet another item and unlock new recipes; nor even a combat system that is too simple and simplistic, where merely being adequately equipped is enough to emerge victorious, striking blows without particular concern.

There is work to be done, and a lot of it, to fill Enshrouded with the substance it currently seems to lack. It's a survival game but not too much, where you explore a world that holds no great secrets, where you build and produce, but without feeling much need for it, and you fight in unexciting encounters. In short, nothing that can sustain the experience after a few hours of gameplay.