Enshrouded overview
Embervale is dying beneath a fungal fog, and the Flame you carry is the only thing standing between you and that fog. Enshrouded, developed and published by Keen Games GmbH, drops you into a hand-crafted voxel continent where you pick through ruins, put roofs over the heads of rescued survivors and work toward the horrors waiting inside the Shroud.
Version 1.0 ends Early Access on PC on October 15, 2026, and a PlayStation 5 edition launches the same day.
Top 3 Reasons to Play
A base that earns its keep
Every rescued craftsperson needs a roof, and each one who moves in unlocks a workshop and the means to craft better gear. The voxel tools let you customize every detail of the structures that house them, so the settlement you end up with reflects how you play rather than a fixed template.
Combat with a rhythm
The latest combat overhaul rebuilt fighting around timing and a resource you fill by hitting things.
- Dodge rolls and blink carry short windows of invulnerability, so a well-timed roll through an attack is a real option.
- Hits you land charge a focus bar. Once it is full, a weapon-specific special ability can be unleashed, provided you have unlocked it in the skill tree.
A world that adjusts to the group
One world can hold up to 16 players in co-op. The difficulty screen offers presets, and every individual setting can still be adjusted, including how many enemies roam the map.
Story and Lore
Embervale used to be a kingdom. Its people went after forbidden power, and the pestilence they released tore the realm apart. What remains of that history is scattered: notes pinned to broken walls, letters in empty taverns, research logs left at Ancient sites. The in-game Journal collects these entries, sorted under headings such as the Ancients and the Flame, Elixir and Elixir Wells, or Nobles and History.
You begin in the Cinder Vault as a Flameborn, one of a handful of warriors put into a long sleep so that someone could fight again when the time came. The Flame guides the first steps. The opening task is an altar that claims ground for a base, and the rest of the story is pieced together from what you find while pushing outward.
- Elixir Wells. The Shroud rises from these wells across Embervale. Felling the Shroud Root at the bottom of one rewards every nearby Flameborn with skill points.
- The Ancients. Their influence runs through the world, most visibly in the Pillars of Creation, two enormous volcanoes in the Nomad Highlands.
Gameplay and Mechanics
Surviving the fog
Stepping into a fog zone starts a countdown at the top of the screen, and when it reaches zero the Shroud consumes you. Red fog, known as deadly Shroud, drains the clock far faster. The timer grows by one minute with each Strengthen the Flame upgrade at your Flame Altar. Each upgrade also lifts your attributes and opens areas that used to be lethal. From the third level on, an upgrade asks for a trophy from a boss, such as a Scavenger Matron’s helmet or the head of a Fell Wispwyvern.
Claiming ground
A Flame Altar marks a build zone. Anything you change inside it stays, while terrain and structures altered outside it snap back after 30 minutes or at the next restart. Each altar also doubles as a fast-travel point.
Chores around the base have shortcuts. A Quick Stack Station sends stackable materials from your backpack into nearby magic chests, and you can build straight from those chests, or point at a block in your construction and click to select that material.
Fighting
- Hold the attack button for a heavy strike: double damage, double stun, and enemies cannot interrupt the swing.
- Enemies react to noise. They investigate suspicious sounds before they spot you, which lets you thin out a camp before the main fight begins.
- Double Jump sits near the center of the skill tree, so every build can reach it.
Between expeditions
Fishing was added with rods and bait, and the Fisher survivor sells better gear. A glider handles descents and, with the Updraft skill, also gains height. A grappling hook can be crafted and later upgraded for steeper climbs.
Characters and Factions
Survivors
Craftspeople are rescued from set locations around Embervale and then summoned to your base with the Summoning Staff. Once settled, they unlock workshops and hand out quests.
- Oswald Anders, the Blacksmith, forges melee armor and weapons.
- Balthazar, the Alchemist, brews potions and crafts magic armor.
- Athalan Skree, the huntress, supplies ranged armor and survival gear such as arrows.
- Cade Hawthorn, the Carpenter, makes anything built from wood.
- Emily Fray, the Farmer, cooks meals and teaches planting and animal taming.
Later arrivals include Alden Crowley the Collector, who makes darker furniture and food, Valory the Bard, who carves instruments, and Elio Ricci the Barber, who changes your look. Equipment upgrades with runes are handled by the craftsperson matching the item: the Blacksmith for Warrior gear, the huntress for Ranger gear and the Alchemist for Wizard gear. Villagers are decorative residents who sometimes offer side quests.
Factions
The Fell are what the Shroud leaves of people and animals: bodies overrun by fungal growth, minds gone, and in some a faint trace of the former self. Their bosses run from the Fell Thunderbrute to the Fell Dragon Youngling.
Scavengers were human until overuse of Elixir drove them mad. Glowing eyes and chemical burns mark them, and they attack anything in sight while hunting for more Elixir. The Scavenger Matron and the Scavenger Tyrant are among their bosses.
- Vukah: upright, fur-covered and intelligent. They defend their territory with guerrilla tactics and simple technology, and most live in the Nomad Highlands.
- Hollow: restless undead held to the mortal world by dark magic.
- Drak: reptilian descendants of Vesztah the Broodmother, split into four tribes. They are reclaiming Veilwater Basin after being driven to a nearby archipelago, and they believe humans took their place as the favorites of the Ancients.
Editions
Enshrouded comes in a single edition with no Deluxe or Collector’s tier. Steam lists one piece of add-on content, the Original Soundtrack, which is sold separately and is not needed to play.