After many years of development, two survival games that impressed during early access are finally ready: Valheim and Enshrouded. Both games will be released within a few weeks of each other – so which one should you check out first if you don’t have time for both? MeinMMO editor and survival expert Benedict Grothaus helps with the decision.
Generally, I can of course warmly recommend both games; there’s a reason they have been on the list of the best survival games for PC, PS5, and Xbox since their early access release and have not moved from there since.
However, not everyone has the time or money to check out both games, at least not immediately. The comment from MeinMMO reader Skaalian (as well as the reply from themrc, thanks for that, by the way) prompted me to compare the two survival games.
Because even though they belong to the same genre, they clearly target different audiences and fulfill different needs. They will be released very close together:
- Valheim celebrated its release on September 9th, after more than 5 years in early access. You can play the game on Steam, Xbox, and PS5.
- Enshrouded leaves early access on October 15th on Steam and PS5 after 2 years. The Xbox version will be released later, in early 2027.
I have now played Valheim for over 120 hours, and have already had the pleasure of testing version 1.0 with great enthusiasm. Enshrouded has consumed a similarly large number of hours so far, and I have also had the opportunity to see the full version here, although I haven’t played it yet.
Enshrouded is the game for you, if you’re looking for an RPG with survival elements
What Enshrouded offers:
- A picturesque world with a Zelda-like feel that invites exploration and often presents you with platformer puzzles.
- Fully voiced NPCs and stories with version 1.0.
- Detailed skill trees and the ability to create real builds.
- A playful comic look that can be switched to a more realistic appearance upon request with 1.0.
- Voxel mechanics that allow you to terraform the entire land if you wish, and embark on absurd projects like building all of Erebor or the famous Hogwarts – which even works without mods.
- A story-driven experience that guides you through the world with quests, NPCs, and stories.
The focus in Enshrouded is clearly on the world itself and on you as a character, rather than on the survival aspect. While you can set how “punishing” mechanics like death are when creating the world, eating and drinking are not generally necessities.
Enshrouded plays more like a classic role-playing game in the style of The Elder Scrolls or Dragon Age but also gives you the freedom to build your own home or even a small village if you wish. Instead of just releasing you into the world, there are quests and markers on the map for orientation.
Various building components and crafting workshops, as well as NPCs, allow you to fill your base with life, improve equipment, or create upgrades. Building itself is only necessary in that you need certain buildings to progress quests.
Most of the time, however, if you want to finish the story, you will spend your time slaughtering through various enemies and bosses, leveling up, and improving your equipment. You can also ascend towers to progress, where you are to master jump puzzles and other challenges. They serve as fast travel points.
Visit Valheim if you want to experience real survival gameplay and a harsh Viking world
What Valheim offers:
- A world based on Norse mythology, with many contents, creatures, and gods that you know from these legends.
- Viking feeling with real dragon ships and battles against Odin’s enemies. For the Allfather!
- Significantly more dangerous environments where a mistake can quickly lead to death. Even trees are deadly enemies if you’re not careful.
- Somewhat quirky graphics that ensures the game runs excellently even on machines with lower performance.
- Procedurally generated maps that can make each run and each world look different.
If you prefer the survival aspect of games, Valheim is probably more your game. While there is also no “real” hunger or thirst, you are significantly weaker if you haven’t eaten – which is more noticeable than in Enshrouded.
Skill and leveling systems are rather secondary in Valheim. You fight a lot, but you can’t directly allocate skill points. Instead, you get better at what you do, whether it’s using specific weapons or farming resources.
Since the maps in Valheim are procedurally generated, you are more dependent on exploring and asserting yourself in the world – the classic survival sandbox experience. There is a rough guideline, but how you reach your goal varies in each run and can present you with different challenges.
In general, you have more freedom in Valheim, as you can build almost anywhere, whereas Enshrouded has more restrictions. The only limitation is that using portals does not work with certain items in your inventory, which necessitates building multiple bases. Valheim also has an integrity system you must consider when building structures.
Enshrouded and Valheim – Where do they overlap?
Despite the differences, there are several similarities between the survival games that you can find in both games, such as:
- Bosses and boss fights that represent the end of a chapter. In Enshrouded, you will usually find special items or equipment here, while in Valheim, the recipes you need to unlock the next biome – as well as cinematics that are very well done.
- Along with this, both games have a sort of “journey” or a “red thread” that runs through the experience and that you can follow. In Valheim, this culminates in a brutally difficult but wonderful final boss fight and a credit roll.
- Both worlds are full of dungeons, which are either meant for farming specific resources or for quests or story progress. In any case, there are strong enemies and good loot here.
- Crafting and building: You can build your own base in both Valheim and Enshrouded, farm resources, prepare food and drinks, and create or improve armor and weapons.
- Fishing!
The playtime should be approximately the same in both games. A run in Enshrouded will take roughly 50-60 hours, while in Valheim it will take a bit longer as the world is simply bigger. However, significantly more hours are possible if you take your time, build a lot, or explore, and correspondingly less if you just hunt from boss to boss.
One additional tip: Since Enshrouded is graphically demanding and requires more performance – solely for voxel mechanics and physical water – Valheim may be the better choice if you have only older hardware available.
Both games are in the AA segment, so you only pay 30 Euros (Valheim) or 40 Euros (Enshrouded, after a price increase), although both Enshrouded and Valheim have often been available in sales.
In both Valheim and Enshrouded, you can (and will) lose many hours. Personally, I have had my eye on another game for a while, which has also positively surprised me during early access and has a setting that I regrettably little explored: My latest tip on Steam is like Palworld with magic and already way bigger than expected in early access
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