Enshrouded Early Access Review In Progress | MMORPG.com

System · January 24

Enshrouded Early Access Review In Progress | MMORPG.com

Enshrouded has been on our radar ever since it was first announced. Launching into early access today, how does the survival MMO stack up? Check out our review in progress.

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Slapshot1188 · January 24

"Honestly, it feels like Enshrouded took the best aspects of multiple games in the genre and packaged them all in one place. "

That was my take from playing a few hours in the beta. Really looking forward to diving into this one this week (and then Nightingale next month).

Hopefully it delivers on the promise from the beta.

olepi · January 24

A survival "MMO" that lets up to 16 players play together.

Sigh.

Elidien_ga · January 24

Slapshot1188 said:

"Honestly, it feels like Enshrouded took the best aspects of multiple games in the genre and packaged them all in one place. "

That was my take from playing a few hours in the beta. Really looking forward to diving into this one this week (and then Nightingale next month).

Hopefully it delivers on the promise from the beta.

I am quite glad to have them about a month apart and looking forward to both.

ShankTheTank · January 24

We were the first to arrive

Angrakhan · January 24

Steam reviews coming in as Mostly Positive with about 1000 reviews in now. Scanning the negative ones they fall into either "it has bugs" or "it's poorly optimized", which ... it clearly states this is Early Access, so... while you may want to hold off it does appear the game over all is delivering a good experience. I'll keep my eye on it for sure. Hopefully they can get some fixes and performance optimizations out in the next couple of months and then I'll dive in.

SophusVir33 · January 24

Angrakhan said:

Steam reviews coming in as Mostly Positive with about 1000 reviews in now. Scanning the negative ones they fall into either "it has bugs" or "it's poorly optimized", which ... it clearly states this is Early Access, so... while you may want to hold off it does appear the game over all is delivering a good experience. I'll keep my eye on it for sure. Hopefully they can get some fixes and performance optimizations out in the next couple of months and then I'll dive in.

Those sound valid

sabrefoxx · January 24

It sounds like a fun game and if I weren't already playing and enjoying Palworld I might have bought it by now. But I can't play two fun games at once. I'll wait until Palworld become stale or until I've done everything I can because I'm level 36, and I've explored MAYBE 40% of the map and done perhaps 25% of the things there are to do in the game so far. I've caught Pal/Pokemon, fought bosses, done dungeons, survived, built bases, and it sounds like I'm trying to justify my experience.... now that I think about it there isn't much to do in Palworld except catch pokemon and grind in some form or the other. It's fun, BUT, when I get to max level what's there to do? They gonna add end game content soon but until then there isn't even a story to the game to pursue (I'm playing single player).

Maybe I will give enshouded a try but not now. Perhaps this weekend after a patch or two and play with a friend or so.

ValdemarJ · January 24

I'm excited for this game and love Portal Knights. I was excited for Enshrouded because of how Portal Knights was made. They took Minecraft and added multiplayer RPG to it. With the very basic systems in that game, I could imagine how they would bring them to a more standard 3D environment. When I saw the trailers and info drops for Enshrouded I could see how they took what they already did well and made it even cooler.

I might pick it up on Steam, but I'm really hoping they'll bring it to Xbox sooner than later. My only concern there is that Portal Knights is console only on Xbox, and I hope they make their game work on both PC and console for Xbox so I can move back and forth between the two.

So, for now I'll wait. I'm in the middle of Ark, and casually playing Palworld and Valheim when I want a dino break.

cameltosis · January 24

Nice write up as always Joseph!

Couple of things:

1) 16 players is NOT massively multiplayer. It's not even large multiplayer. Valheim is not an MMO, nor is ARK. To date, I don't think there has ever been an MMO survival game. So, your trying to slot this into a genre that doesn't actually exist (yet! i still hope for the future!).

2) Can this be played single player? I have zero interest in regular multiplayer games. If it's not massively multiplayer then it needs to have a single player option, like ARK and Valheim have.

3) What's the combat like? Survival games usually have absolutely dogshit combat, soooooo basic and shallow. Generally the worst area of the games. But, you talk about tanks, healers, battlemages, proper skill trees etc. This makes me think the game must have skills that players can use, beyond just basic / power attack. If I'm a tank, are there threat mechanics? Do I have buffs I can use to increase block/parry etc? If I'm a mage, can I build up a repetoire of different elemental magics?

I can probably deal with terrible combat as I mainly play survival games for the creativity of building bases, and Enshrouded's building looks really great. But if it happens to have good/average combat, that'll be a real bonus.

lotrlore · January 24

cameltosis said:

Nice write up as always Joseph!

Couple of things:

1) 16 players is NOT massively multiplayer. It's not even large multiplayer. Valheim is not an MMO, nor is ARK. To date, I don't think there has ever been an MMO survival game. So, your trying to slot this into a genre that doesn't actually exist (yet! i still hope for the future!).

2) Can this be played single player? I have zero interest in regular multiplayer games. If it's not massively multiplayer then it needs to have a single player option, like ARK and Valheim have.

3) What's the combat like? Survival games usually have absolutely dogshit combat, soooooo basic and shallow. Generally the worst area of the games. But, you talk about tanks, healers, battlemages, proper skill trees etc. This makes me think the game must have skills that players can use, beyond just basic / power attack. If I'm a tank, are there threat mechanics? Do I have buffs I can use to increase block/parry etc? If I'm a mage, can I build up a repetoire of different elemental magics?

I can probably deal with terrible combat as I mainly play survival games for the creativity of building bases, and Enshrouded's building looks really great. But if it happens to have good/average combat, that'll be a real bonus.

So you can play this solo, though it really is better with a few friends. That said, boss encounters seem easier when you're by yourself (they feel like they scale based on the amount of players taking the boss on at a time), and the world begs to be uncovered. I got plenty of enjoyment playing by myself during the last two weeks. I just crave the social aspects.

As far as the genre discussion, I *knew* this would come up. It's the unfortunate shifting of meaning across sites, marketing, etc. This is billed like most of the other games that make up the "survival MMO" genre that has taken root. I think in this case, MMO is being used as a catch-all since it's something casual players read/hear and instantly know it's a multiplayer online game with more than just four people.

Does that *really* make it a true MMO? No, of course not. But that is the more colloquial definition of this genre now, so we used it (keep in mind too - some of this is purely for SEO - people search for "survival MMO" more than "survival RPG" or "survival game." Dems the breaks).

Combat will be covered more in our full review - I didn't want to cram everything into the review in progress since there is still so much for me to experience (while we worked on this I dealt with a family emergency and have been benchmarking graphics cards, so a little behind the 8-ball). BUT combat feels good - it's action combat that takes cues from Zelda with it's dodge rolling and lock-on mechanic, magic staffs take charges that make it feel like a magical bow more than anything else, and Wands feel floaty, but in a good way? It's weird. There aren't skills perse, but there are things you can unlock to fit more into your role. So Tanks do have threat mechanics, a Wand user can deal more damage with each successive wand attack that hits, turning them into a glass cannon in the right situation, and more.

We'll definitely have more as we move into next week, though!

cameltosis · January 24

Nice one, thanks for the quick response Joseph!

Currently downloading :-)

ShankTheTank · January 24

lotrlore said:

cameltosis said:

Nice write up as always Joseph!

Couple of things:

1) 16 players is NOT massively multiplayer. It's not even large multiplayer. Valheim is not an MMO, nor is ARK. To date, I don't think there has ever been an MMO survival game. So, your trying to slot this into a genre that doesn't actually exist (yet! i still hope for the future!).

2) Can this be played single player? I have zero interest in regular multiplayer games. If it's not massively multiplayer then it needs to have a single player option, like ARK and Valheim have.

3) What's the combat like? Survival games usually have absolutely dogshit combat, soooooo basic and shallow. Generally the worst area of the games. But, you talk about tanks, healers, battlemages, proper skill trees etc. This makes me think the game must have skills that players can use, beyond just basic / power attack. If I'm a tank, are there threat mechanics? Do I have buffs I can use to increase block/parry etc? If I'm a mage, can I build up a repetoire of different elemental magics?

I can probably deal with terrible combat as I mainly play survival games for the creativity of building bases, and Enshrouded's building looks really great. But if it happens to have good/average combat, that'll be a real bonus.

So you can play this solo, though it really is better with a few friends. That said, boss encounters seem easier when you're by yourself (they feel like they scale based on the amount of players taking the boss on at a time), and the world begs to be uncovered. I got plenty of enjoyment playing by myself during the last two weeks. I just crave the social aspects.

As far as the genre discussion, I *knew* this would come up. It's the unfortunate shifting of meaning across sites, marketing, etc. This is billed like most of the other games that make up the "survival MMO" genre that has taken root. I think in this case, MMO is being used as a catch-all since it's something casual players read/hear and instantly know it's a multiplayer online game with more than just four people.

Does that *really* make it a true MMO? No, of course not. But that is the more colloquial definition of this genre now, so we used it (keep in mind too - some of this is purely for SEO - people search for "survival MMO" more than "survival RPG" or "survival game." Dems the breaks).

Combat will be covered more in our full review - I didn't want to cram everything into the review in progress since there is still so much for me to experience (while we worked on this I dealt with a family emergency and have been benchmarking graphics cards, so a little behind the 8-ball). BUT combat feels good - it's action combat that takes cues from Zelda with it's dodge rolling and lock-on mechanic, magic staffs take charges that make it feel like a magical bow more than anything else, and Wands feel floaty, but in a good way? It's weird.

There aren't skills perse, but there are things you can unlock to fit more into your role. So Tanks do have threat mechanics, a Wand user can deal more damage with each successive wand attack that hits, turning them into a glass cannon in the right situation, and more.

We'll definitely have more as we move into next week, though!

He was the first to arrive

Sovrath · January 24

lotrlore said:

cameltosis said:

Nice write up as always Joseph!

Couple of things:

1) 16 players is NOT massively multiplayer. It's not even large multiplayer. Valheim is not an MMO, nor is ARK. To date, I don't think there has ever been an MMO survival game. So, your trying to slot this into a genre that doesn't actually exist (yet! i still hope for the future!).

2) Can this be played single player? I have zero interest in regular multiplayer games. If it's not massively multiplayer then it needs to have a single player option, like ARK and Valheim have.

3) What's the combat like? Survival games usually have absolutely dogshit combat, soooooo basic and shallow. Generally the worst area of the games. But, you talk about tanks, healers, battlemages, proper skill trees etc. This makes me think the game must have skills that players can use, beyond just basic / power attack. If I'm a tank, are there threat mechanics? Do I have buffs I can use to increase block/parry etc? If I'm a mage, can I build up a repetoire of different elemental magics?

I can probably deal with terrible combat as I mainly play survival games for the creativity of building bases, and Enshrouded's building looks really great. But if it happens to have good/average combat, that'll be a real bonus.

So you can play this solo, though it really is better with a few friends. That said, boss encounters seem easier when you're by yourself (they feel like they scale based on the amount of players taking the boss on at a time), and the world begs to be uncovered. I got plenty of enjoyment playing by myself during the last two weeks. I just crave the social aspects.

As far as the genre discussion, I *knew* this would come up. It's the unfortunate shifting of meaning across sites, marketing, etc. This is billed like most of the other games that make up the "survival MMO" genre that has taken root. I think in this case, MMO is being used as a catch-all since it's something casual players read/hear and instantly know it's a multiplayer online game with more than just four people.

Does that *really* make it a true MMO? No, of course not. But that is the more colloquial definition of this genre now, so we used it (keep in mind too - some of this is purely for SEO - people search for "survival MMO" more than "survival RPG" or "survival game." Dems the breaks).

Combat will be covered more in our full review - I didn't want to cram everything into the review in progress since there is still so much for me to experience (while we worked on this I dealt with a family emergency and have been benchmarking graphics cards, so a little behind the 8-ball). BUT combat feels good - it's action combat that takes cues from Zelda with it's dodge rolling and lock-on mechanic, magic staffs take charges that make it feel like a magical bow more than anything else, and Wands feel floaty, but in a good way? It's weird. There aren't skills perse, but there are things you can unlock to fit more into your role. So Tanks do have threat mechanics, a Wand user can deal more damage with each successive wand attack that hits, turning them into a glass cannon in the right situation, and more.

We'll definitely have more as we move into next week, though!

In that case “sold!”

Elidien_ga · January 25

I was so excited for this game. However I requested a refund. The UI settings related to motion blur and similar features are non-existent and I cannot play it. Motion blur is not as bad as say other games but it is still there. Hopefully this may get patched in at some point and fixed but until then I cannot physically play it.

But there is another fundamental problem. The entire multiplayer aspect is static and by that I mean if player A and B start a multiplayer server and do the intro quests, you cannot come along after them and do the quests. If they loot a chest, you cannot loot it. Everything is tied to joint progression. So the only way you can see the content of the game is only play together and NOBODY can play and progress without you, otherwise you or your friends will miss out on content. I was told by a very unhelpful discussion board to "just play single player" and catch up. I had to laugh because I did not choose to play a multiplayer game with my friends only to be FORCED to play single player to see the content of the game.

I get this is the design decision of the devs and I respect it but it does not work. I logged into our multiplayer server and could do nothing because the server as a whole was hours and many quests ahead of me. I had no tutorial because it was done, no entry level quests because they were done, chests without loot, secrets and hidden things exposed that I could not find. It was no fun and I cannot recommend it at this time.

blix2006 · January 25

between this and palworld it has been a rough week for survival when it comes to time...and to make it harder they are both great.....and it isnt going to get easier when nighting gale comes out too fight for our time as well....good problem to have i guess.

cameltosis · January 25

Managed to put in about 4 hours last night. Had a good time! My initial observations:

1) Progression is really slow!

I'm used to survival games chucking new levels at you very quickly, constantly unlocking new recipes and things to do. Not Enshrouded. 4 hours of gameplay and im only level 3! This seems to be because crafting and building is barely rewarded in comparison to killing and completing quests, and i spent a decent amount of time building my first home.

2) The world feels great!

I felt like I was playing a fantasy RPG, not a survival game. Not that the world was high fantasy or anything, it was fairly generic, but something about the layout and design made me feel like I was playing an RPG. This is a good thing for me.

3) I could feel the Zelda BotW influence

You get a wingsuit fairly early, along with a grappling hook. Jumping felt good, plus I'm playing in 3rd person. Where I really felt the influence was in the first "spire" you get sent to. These are tall buildings that, when u reach the top, you unlock fast travel to that spire as well as unlock POIs on the map. But inside it reminded me of BotW's temples. There were some jumping challenges, a slight maze-like feel, deadly lava pits and spike traps. Luckily, Zelda's survival elements and breaking weapons were absent :-)

4) The Shroud adds to intensity

Certain areas of the map are covered in a mist called "the shroud". When you enter, you get a timer (starts at 5mins) and when u run out of time, you die. There are ways to extend / top up your timer, but that countdown adds some real intensity to the game. The first boss was in the shroud, and I was still fighting him when my timer got under 1 min. I felt the pressure!

I haven't really formed an opinion on the combat yet. So far it's very basic action combat, but at least blocking works properly (unlike elden ring /shakes fist). I couldn't figure out magic - my wand never seemed to hit everyone, and my magic staff requires ammo.....but ive no way to make ammo.

However, looking at the character progression it looks like there is a hell of a lot of stuff to unlock. Some look like skills to me, so im hopeful that the combat will get better.

On the building side (which is what im most interested in), again haven't really formed an opinion. Being only level 3, I just don't have many options for stuff to build. So, I've built everything I can. One thing that seems like a big negative is you can only build when within range of a flame alter, and you are restricted in how many flames you can have. In other survival games, I was constantly building little towers, or ramps, or winding staircases, to help me get around the world. I'm a bit disappointed that i wont be able to do that here (though, being voxel based, I can just dig a tunnel or a dirt ramp).

Slapshot1188 · January 25

Elidien_ga said:

I was so excited for this game. However I requested a refund. The UI settings related to motion blur and similar features are non-existent and I cannot play it. Motion blur is not as bad as say other games but it is still there. Hopefully this may get patched in at some point and fixed but until then I cannot physically play it.

But there is another fundamental problem. The entire multiplayer aspect is static and by that I mean if player A and B start a multiplayer server and do the intro quests, you cannot come along after them and do the quests. If they loot a chest, you cannot loot it. Everything is tied to joint progression. So the only way you can see the content of the game is only play together and NOBODY can play and progress without you, otherwise you or your friends will miss out on content. I was told by a very unhelpful discussion board to "just play single player" and catch up. I had to laugh because I did not choose to play a multiplayer game with my friends only to be FORCED to play single player to see the content of the game.

I get this is the design decision of the devs and I respect it but it does not work. I logged into our multiplayer server and could do nothing because the server as a whole was hours and many quests ahead of me. I had no tutorial because it was done, no entry level quests because they were done, chests without loot, secrets and hidden things exposed that I could not find. It was no fun and I cannot recommend it at this time.

Yeah that's a big miss. Was like that in the beta but assumed/hoped it would be straightened out for launch. But I guess.. Early Access is the excuse.

Still going to hit this one once my group wraps up our BG3 run.

Elidien_ga · January 25

Number one feature on their website's upvote requested from the players is character not server progression. 2.2k requests, more than double the next closest. I doubt it would happen in EA though.

kitarad · January 25

Motion blur makes me ill like first person too which s why this game and Nightingale is out for me.

Elidien_ga · January 25

kitarad said:

Motion blur makes me ill like first person too which s why this game and Nightingale is out for me.

Do we know if there will be a toggle? Cyberpunk has crazy motion blur but I can disable it completely and I am fine so I am hoping Nightingale will be the same.

Scot · January 26

It is a review in progress guys, you can wait a week or to for the full review before you jump in or am I sounding like I live on another planet here?

It sounds solid for an early access, but my two concerns, survival tends to always be "More Fun With Friends" (i.e friends make up for the lack of content) and just how survival it is. I noticed no mention of drinking, eating and exposure which boded well, are they part of gameplay?

Scot · January 26

Elidien_ga said:

kitarad said:

Motion blur makes me ill like first person too which s why this game and Nightingale is out for me.

Do we know if there will be a toggle? Cyberpunk has crazy motion blur but I can disable it completely and I am fine so I am hoping Nightingale will be the same.

It is really typical in games of any genre to be able to turn motion blur off, so I am not sure if that is actually what Kitarad is talking about.

ShinyFlygon · January 26

Elidien_ga said:

But there is another fundamental problem. The entire multiplayer aspect is static and by that I mean if player A and B start a multiplayer server and do the intro quests, you cannot come along after them and do the quests. If they loot a chest, you cannot loot it. Everything is tied to joint progression. So the only way you can see the content of the game is only play together and NOBODY can play and progress without you, otherwise you or your friends will miss out on content. I was told by a very unhelpful discussion board to "just play single player" and catch up. I had to laugh because I did not choose to play a multiplayer game with my friends only to be FORCED to play single player to see the content of the game.

I get this is the design decision of the devs and I respect it but it does not work.

Why would you respect a patently bad design decision? It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen in any multiplayer game, and the developers need to be told loudly and often how stupid they are. My gaming group of 6-10 players would have loved most of what Enshrouded has to offer, but we will not be touching this game with an adventurer's standard 10-foot-pole unless Keen fixes this ridiculous system.

Sovrath · January 26

ShinyFlygon said:

Elidien_ga said:

But there is another fundamental problem. The entire multiplayer aspect is static and by that I mean if player A and B start a multiplayer server and do the intro quests, you cannot come along after them and do the quests. If they loot a chest, you cannot loot it. Everything is tied to joint progression. So the only way you can see the content of the game is only play together and NOBODY can play and progress without you, otherwise you or your friends will miss out on content. I was told by a very unhelpful discussion board to "just play single player" and catch up. I had to laugh because I did not choose to play a multiplayer game with my friends only to be FORCED to play single player to see the content of the game.

I get this is the design decision of the devs and I respect it but it does not work.

Why would you respect a patently bad design decision? It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen in any multiplayer game, and the developers need to be told loudly and often how stupid they are. My gaming group of 6-10 players would have loved most of what Enshrouded has to offer, but we will not be touching this game with an adventurer's standard 10-foot-pole unless Keen fixes this ridiculous system.

I actually do respect the decision. I just don't think it works the way it's implemented. They're basically trying to make it less "game like" by removing resetting already accomplished tasks for someone to do it all over again.

In a game that's trying to be more like a "world" it makes sense to have accomplished tasks "done!"

The problem is that it gives other players nothing to do.

So yeah, if a passage is unblocked then there's no reason to block it again other than giving new players the same task to do all over again.

My guess is that the decision is more about how the developers believe players will play. Meaning, they most likely think a small group will consistently play together and accomplish things together. Doesn't really work that way in most cases.

I'll admit that when thinking of designing my own game, a similar feature has always cropped up in my mind. Basically "one and done" tasks as I mostly prefer the idea of a world than a game.

But again, something has to replace those tasks so that other players can do things as well. That's not even considering a hypothetical series of bosses where once one is killed then "that's it." Which would just leave the most dedicated players always enjoying what the game has to offer with nothing left for others.

The only way I can imagine it working is to have a very steady stream of new tasks that need to be solved whereby it's too much for a small group and everybody can have something to do.

But I don't really think most players would like that system. So "yeah" I respect the decision it just doesn't really work well in a "game."

Elidien_ga · January 26

Sovrath said:

ShinyFlygon said:

Elidien_ga said:

But there is another fundamental problem. The entire multiplayer aspect is static and by that I mean if player A and B start a multiplayer server and do the intro quests, you cannot come along after them and do the quests. If they loot a chest, you cannot loot it. Everything is tied to joint progression. So the only way you can see the content of the game is only play together and NOBODY can play and progress without you, otherwise you or your friends will miss out on content. I was told by a very unhelpful discussion board to "just play single player" and catch up. I had to laugh because I did not choose to play a multiplayer game with my friends only to be FORCED to play single player to see the content of the game.

I get this is the design decision of the devs and I respect it but it does not work.

Why would you respect a patently bad design decision? It's the dumbest thing I've ever seen in any multiplayer game, and the developers need to be told loudly and often how stupid they are. My gaming group of 6-10 players would have loved most of what Enshrouded has to offer, but we will not be touching this game with an adventurer's standard 10-foot-pole unless Keen fixes this ridiculous system.

I actually do respect the decision. I just don't think it works the way it's implemented. They're basically trying to make it less "game like" by removing resetting already accomplished tasks for someone to do it all over again.

In a game that's trying to be more like a "world" it makes sense to have accomplished tasks "done!"

The problem is that it gives other players nothing to do.

So yeah, if a passage is unblocked then there's no reason to block it again other than giving new players the same task to do all over again.

My guess is that the decision is more about how the developers believe players will play. Meaning, they most likely think a small group will consistently play together and accomplish things together. Doesn't really work that way in most cases.

I'll admit that when thinking of designing my own game, a similar feature has always cropped up in my mind. Basically "one and done" tasks as I mostly prefer the idea of a world than a game.

But again, something has to replace those tasks so that other players can do things as well. That's not even considering a hypothetical series of bosses where once one is killed then "that's it." Which would just leave the most dedicated players always enjoying what the game has to offer with nothing left for others.

The only way I can imagine it working is to have a very steady stream of new tasks that need to be solved whereby it's too much for a small group and everybody can have something to do.

But I don't really think most players would like that system. So "yeah" I respect the decision it just doesn't really work well in a "game."

took the words right out of my mouth. There is a difference in something that I respect (as in I respect the devs for their vision) and the fact it does not work.

I think they view it like D&D nights. A group of people gather together and go on these grand adventures, together. But gaming does not work like that. Its okay if somethings are tied to server progression sure (I do not mind killing bosses in Valheim after others for example) but it simply does not work for everything.

Take unlocking the NPC's in Enshrouded. A so looked forward to it. I wanted to be the person who freed them. And to find out that not only am I NOT the person, but I am barred and prevented from doing so was exceptionally disappointing.

I am hoping they change some of the server side progression but I do not think it will happen. If anything I guess make character progression a quick few levels to get basics down like building, combat, exploration and then open up the gameworld for everyone at a higher level. But then thats a whole different argument.

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