Survival genre games have become one of the top genres in the gaming industry with hundreds of games inspiring you to become a hero in a fantasy world and change it the way you like. Every survival genre game has its own aspect of the world and the range of freedom that it gives to change the world.
This is the same case with the latest Survival Action-Adventure RPG named Enshrouded developed and published by Keen Games requiring players to step into a ruined world with nothing and fix it for the remaining survivors.
Story
The story of Enshrouded takes place in the realm of Embervale which has been consumed and ruined by Shroud Roots. It has summoned various demons and monsters to rule several areas around the realm where the Shroud Roots reside. After a long time of slumbering, you wake up from a chamber by the call of an enduring Flame requiring you to find a place in the ruined world and stand strong against the Shroud Roots to cure the realm.
It has an interesting plot and the further origin of the story can be found by picking up Journals located in debris of homes and ruins throughout the world.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Enshrouded includes a mixture of various games of this genre but it plays out well. Gather various resources, craft gear items, tools, and weapons, and build and enlarge your base to rest to gain certain buffs. Gathering the resources is crucial in Enshrouded as it is the only way to unlock recipes for all the items and the structures. The crafting menu will allow you to craft the necessary starting items and tools of the game but to craft the gear items, you must get the Workbench.
Having a workbench will allow you to repair your gear items as well as craft the blocks that are used for building the base around the Flame Altar, an Altar necessary for the base and fast traveling. Building a base in Enshrouded is quite immersive as each block can be placed in numerous shapes and sizes. It allows players to dive in depth for the love of building their dream house in a ruined world.
Exploration is a big part of Enshrouded as its map is pretty big and includes several biomes. However, since it is in the Early Access stage, the complete map is included in this version. There is a red wall up in the north direction which will warn you to return to the early access area. Despite the limited areas of the map, it is still bigger than most of the other survival games and what makes the exploration more fun is the use of Grappling Hook and Glider.
Both of these gear items can be crafted at the workbench early in the game and will allow you to traverse through the areas in a fun way. Not only that, you can also use the Pickaxe tool to mine your way up to the mountain that is harder to climb.
The combat of Enshrouded is where it shines the most as it does not bind you to a linear play style, thanks to 12 different varieties in which you can build up your character by choosing and mixing the branches in the skill tree. Increase your main stats to strengthen the build you are going for and use the skill points to unlock various skills that can benefit you with the build. It is essential to view all the possibilities for your build and if there is a skill you like in another build, feel free to mix it up in your build.
Building your character in unique ways will let you tackle the enemies and destroy the Shroud Roots easily. Now, destroying the Shroud Roots is the main objective of the game that the main quests will require you to follow. Alongside the main quests, there are also the side quests that will require you to find the other survivors like you trapped in chambers. Freeing them from the chambers will unlock side quests for them and reward you with various structures that can be used to enhance your overall gear.
Since the enemies in Enshrouded get tougher as you level up, it is better to consider completing these side quests to be fully prepared for the next encounter, especially the bosses near the Shroud Roots.
Visuals
The realm of Embervale is both beautiful and terrifying because of the spread of Shroud. It might not have the best-looking graphics compared to the next-gen consoles but the design of the enemies and bosses is decent which lives up to the mark of the fight they bring.
Performance
One of my biggest concerns about this game is the performance as I experienced big dips from time to time in playthrough. It surely can run on medium-range gaming PCs but only on Performance settings with FSR enabled to get 60 FPS. Playing the game with Quality settings with 60 FPS consistently will require you a decent modern-day Gaming PC.
Verdict – Score 8/10
Enshrouded is an immersive Survival Action-Adventure RPG that can be played in several ways. The ability to build up your character in so much variety and use various skills to traverse the world is what makes it more fun. It surely is different than other typical survival games in this genre and that is why it is living up to its hype.
Enshrouded is now available on Steam and will be released later on PlayStation 5 and XBOX Series S|X.
The post Enshrouded Review – Enlightening A Ruined World Was Never This Fun appeared first on Nintendo Smash: Video Games News, Reviews & Guides.
No responses yet