Enshrouded

Enshrouded is an ambitious open-world survival game. Its large world and freedom make it fun to explore. It has cool features like voxel building that work really well. But too much repetitive travel and dull combat can be frustrating, which doesn't match its great overall design. [Early Access Provisional Score = 78]

Despite being in early access, Enshrouded shows incredible promise, and while it would be easy to write off the game as a Valheim clone, it's actually much more than that. The game has a noticeable difficulty spike, but it disappears as soon as someone joins you. The world of Embervale is simply breathtaking and perfectly combines hyperrealism and whimsical fantasy. Even the most dangerous parts of the game are pleasing to the eye, and the game itself is simply incredible. [Early Access Provisional Score = 80]

Enshrouded is overflowing with possibilities that can be used for any play style and boldly challenges genre competitors like Valheim. [Early Access Review]

While not perfect, Enshrouded has a strong foundation, and its early access state means it has plenty of time to grow. I hope to see the developers take some of my feedback to heart, but as it stands, the game’s pros far outweigh the cons. [Early Access Review]

While the genre itself is filled with games that are often too derivative of each other without a strong sense of identity, Enshrouded thankfully bucks that trend. [Early Access Score = 70]

Enshrouded will likely be an instant hit for anyone who’s ever wanted to build a castle in a fantasy world full of danger, and it makes all that building fun and easy with an intuitive set of tools. But even if you don’t care much about crafting or building, Enshrouded’s RPG systems are already solid enough to carry you through its open world for a few dozen hours – even if its vague story isn’t all that powerful, its puzzles are forgettable, and its combat and movement systems could use some fine-tuning. Thankfully, there’s usually no pressure to do anything but try to unlock the next visually-breathtaking area, and that made for a smooth 62-hour journey. [Early Access Score = 70]

Enshrouded is undeniably a game to play with friends, as I struggled a bit playing by myself, but the way the world is crafted, and the way the expansive environments are filled with interesting points of interest is wonderful. The crafting and building system could use some work, but they are minute changes and quality-of-life fixes that only detract from the experience a little bit. Despite this, the detail put into the world and environments was enough to convince me that there's something magical going on here, and I could personally see myself losing days of my life to exploring Enshrouded's wilds. [Early Access Provisional Score = 80]