The release and unexpected success of Palworld has surprised both developers and players alike. Amid the hype surrounding the new sandbox game with Pok- uh, Pals and guns, another game got somewhat overshadowed: Enshrouded. The survival adventure from Germany has to compete against a tough competitor – and is successful.
What kind of game is it?
- In Enshrouded, a dark power dominates the land and cloaks it in “Miasma,” a deadly mist for humans and many other beings. You play as a “Flame-Touched” who can resist the Miasma and helps to reclaim the world.
- At its core, Enshrouded is a sandbox game with survival and adventure elements akin to Valheim and Zelda. For a while, it was considered “Minecraft for adults,” but ultimately offers significantly more content in terms of combat, building, and exploration.
- Enshrouded was released in Early Access on Steam on January 24. The game is developed by the German indie studio Keen Games based in Frankfurt am Main.
Here’s the current status of Enshrouded: According to steamcharts, Enshrouded has had an average of over 74,000 players since its release and even peaked at over 112,000. This peak was only reached recently, on the weekend of January 27.
The ratings are “very positive” at 84%. Great praise is especially given to the beauty of the world, exploration, as well as the building and voxel system. Almost everything in Enshrouded can be terraformed, you can mine at will and even build houses and bases in caves if you want.
Criticism mainly revolves around the optional multiplayer/co-op aspect. Enshrouded can be played with up to 16 players, but progress is tied to the server owner. Many players believe that playing alone offers more from the game.
- You can find our preview report on Enshrouded here: A new survival game from Germany could become the next Steam hit, but has one major problem
- A detailed review of Enshrouded has been written by the colleagues at Gamestar
- Here you can find Enshrouded on Steam
Additionally, there are a few minor and mostly negligible bugs. Enshrouded is generally very well-received and seems to be exactly what over 100,000 players currently want. Only the timing of the release could have been better.
Enshrouded is a top game, but gets overshadowed by Palworld
On January 19, just before the release of Enshrouded, a competitor emerged with Palworld. The “Pokémon game with guns” has proven to be an extraordinarily successful sandbox game with many exploration, building, and complex breeding mechanics.
The success was so surprising, that the developers had to hold an emergency meeting and the servers were unable to handle the influx. Similar issues were seen with Baldur’s Gate 3.
By now, Palworld has over 2 million players and is the most played game on Steam (via steamcharts). A good portion of these players would have also been interested in Enshrouded – but that interest came a bit later.
On Reddit and other social media, players report feeling torn. Both games are great, but they’ve already started with Palworld. Enshrouded will have to wait for later.
Others see Enshrouded as a perfect alternative to Palworld. Those who for some reason do not like the colorful world with quirky creatures and guns have the ideal place to switch to with Enshrouded.
From my own experience, I can say: Enshrouded offers an excellent fantasy world where one can easily get lost. I especially enjoy the combat, which allows for various play styles with skills, and the different weapons like the two-handed axe, sword and shield, or wand all feel good. With a bit more testing time, Enshrouded will surely soon appear on my list of the best survival games.
