Enshrouded has attracted over 100,000 players back to the Miasma-infested Survival Game with its 1.0 release. MeinMMO editor Benedict Grothaus and some of the colleagues here are part of it. However, their last outing was… unpleasant.
I really love Enshrouded and have now invested over 180 hours into the survival game. I have started several times, always continued with joy, often waiting for new updates. Now the game is finally finished and will easily cost me another 50 hours.
I have already started and feel really comfortable. Not only the larger skill trees, which now allow for really strong builds, but also details like visual character customizations or full voice acting create a gaming experience that I don’t have in any other game of this genre.
After the developers from Frankfurt finally finished, we rented a dedicated server so we can continue playing anytime, even if not everyone is there. We, that includes me and the colleagues Dariusz, who actually plays a diligent dwarf, Lydia, Benedikt, Alex, and some friends.
Yesterday, I convinced Dariusz and Lydia to explore a dungeon with me. Now I say publicly: I’m sorry.
A dungeon that lasts too long to be fun
We have more or less distributed roles on the server. I, as a frequent player, am usually out and about, completing quests and collecting resources and equipment. Accordingly, my personal progress is a bit further than most.
However, we tackle certain tasks in the story together, such as fighting tough bosses or dungeons – like the Hollow Halls in Revelwood. I already know that from my previous solo journeys and wanted help for exactly this reason.
Alone, I took over 3 hours and never wanted to see the halls again. The crux: A crucial component for the progress of workshops is hidden here. We have to go in sooner or later.
Hoping it would go faster together, the three of us set out around 11 PM. After two and a half hours, over 40 healing potions and bandages, and more than 300 arrows of various kinds, we finally got out. It was awful.
Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take screenshots – I was usually too busy fending off the hordes of skeletons. And I refuse to step foot in those halls again just for that reason. Therefore, there’s only a picture of our hard-earned loot:
Annoying mechanics, annoying enemies, and annoying ground
What makes the Hollow Halls incredibly tedious is… actually everything, when I think about it. Nothing in this dungeon is really fun, at most the rather sparsely placed puzzles. But even those are worse here than anywhere else in the game:
- Certain doors require runes to be opened. However, they are often so well hidden that I couldn’t find them – despite a prior visit – without a video guide.
- The enemies here are absolute damage sponges. Besides the fact that they only take full damage from specific weapons, they can take a lot of hits, constantly block, and push you around, sometimes into surrounding dangers.
- Also, the path is not clear. There are constant forks, and even with good orientation, it is sometimes difficult to find your way. Only corpses are an indicator that you’ve been in a specific place.
- As if that weren’t enough, a big boss awaits at the end with mechanics that can knock out even players with strong gear in one hit. And of course, he summons additional enemies into the fight…
Perhaps the worst thing about the whole dungeon, however, is “toxic slime,” a substance on the ground that you can break down. Touching it immediately drains all your stamina. All of your stamina. Especially when fighting about 20 skeletons, it’s particularly fun when you can’t block, dodge, or jump anymore. Not.
A few pictures of my skills and equipment can be found here:
I’m our strongest player, but absolutely useless in this dungeon
Just to put it into perspective: enemies in the halls are at level 15. Dariusz and Lydia were level 10 and 13, respectively, I went in at level 23 with gear that exceeds Revelwood by almost two biomes or tiers. So usually, I deal the most damage in fights. Not here.
The Hollow Halls are, as the name suggests, “inhabited” by the Hollow. That’s what the undead are called in Enshrouded: skeletons that come in the form of lesser servants, dogs, warriors, and mages.
My build is designed for high damage against single targets: daggers, poison, and sneaky attacks. I can immediately kill solitary foes and even elite mobs by sneaking up on them. But that doesn’t work in the halls:
- Skeletons are, as in most games, resistant to piercing damage. And daggers, of course, deal piercing damage.
- Poison is the greatest strength of my build. However, undead are completely immune to any poison and bleeding.
- Enemies don’t just stand around alone but are always in huge groups and often around corners. Sneaking is therefore impossible, even if you know where the enemies are standing. They see me immediately and 5 or more skeletons rush towards me. Assassination doesn’t work like that.
Even in ranged combat with arrows, not much could be achieved; I used up more arrows than anywhere else. Even Dariusz with his archer build was only moderately more efficient. I understand that not every build can be strong everywhere. But only allowing clubs and maybe magic to clear an entire dungeon is really annoying.
The Hollow Halls are perhaps my only real criticism on Enshrouded
Since Enshrouded launched in Early Access, I’ve been enjoying it continuously and usually lose many hours per session and even more per week in the world. Keen Games has created a game here that mixes exploration, RPG, and survival like no other, and this combination really pushes all my buttons.
Only this one dungeon is something I never, ever want to see again. The undead are my nemesis anyway, no matter what build: they are just annoying. Usually, I can handle it, but in such a mass as in the Halls, I completely lose my courage.
As a crowning conclusion, we actually fled right at the end from the respawning skeletons at the entrance after we had defeated the tough final boss in a laborious battle lasting several minutes. An ending without dignity, but an ending after all.
Nevertheless, I am optimistic: Now that we finally have this dungeon behind us, the game will finally be more enjoyable again. We can craft new items, I can advance the quests, and the next boss in the Nomad Highlands is also waiting. I am really looking forward to that. I just need to come up with a little gift to compensate my colleagues for the trauma last night.
Despite the exhausting outing, I’m still looking forward to playing Enshrouded, especially now in version 1.0, which has become really good. However, the survival game currently faces strong competition, even within its own genre: 2 of the best survival games of recent years are releasing in full
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