2024 has just begun, and survival games have already taken over Steam. Following the surprising success of Palworld, Enshrouded and Nightingale quickly followed suit. Players are already complaining that they don’t know which one to play first. MeinMMO helps with the decision.
What kind of games are these? Palworld, Enshrouded, and Nightingale are all new games that can be categorized in the sandbox survival genre. You can find each game on Steam, with Palworld even available on Xbox. However, there is currently no PS5 version for any of them.
All three games offer extensive base building, exploration, and cooperative gameplay. Each has a unique twist:
- Enshrouded is heavily influenced by recent Zelda games and conveys a strong sense of adventure.
- Palworld lets you catch Pals, similar to Pokémon, but a bit… more adult and definitely nastier.
- Nightingale sends you through portals into dozens of worlds and features familiar characters from the Victorian era.
We present all three games here and give you a few quick tips to help you assess whether each game is worth your time or not. Keep in mind that they are all still in development, so you may encounter unfinished content or bugs. There’s also a small bonus with two games that have just left Early Access at the end.
Want more? Here you can find the 25 best survival games of 2024 for PC, Xbox, and PlayStation.
Enshrouded
What makes Enshrouded special: In Enshrouded, you play as one of the last humans in a world engulfed by a deadly fog, and you are among the few who can survive. Now you are supposed to save the land.
To do this, you uncover the massive map, defeat enemies and bosses, and are particularly active. What’s special about Enshrouded are the puzzle towers, where no enemies await, but tricky puzzles do. A detailed test can be found here on GameStar:
Enshrouded comes from the German developer studio Keen Games based in Frankfurt, and upon release, it had huge success on Steam, even though it had to compete directly with Palworld. In less than a month, the game recorded over 2 million players and currently holds 87% “very positive” on Steam.
Enshrouded is worth it for you if…
- …you liked the Zelda series.
- …you are looking for a combat system like in Valheim, but with a better skill tree.
- …the idea of a base with NPCs like in Conan Exiles appeals to you.
- …exploration and adventure are important to you.
- …you like building; Enshrouded has a voxel system like Minecraft.
Enshrouded is not for you if…
- …you do not like a comic look at all.
- …you are fully into survival; the system here works more like food in Valheim.
- …you are looking for realism, like in SCUM.
- 1
- 2
