On the last day of our Gamescom journey, we had the pleasure to check out Version 1.0 of Keen Games’ Enshrouded. After more than two and a half years in Early Access, the game finally releases on October 15th on PC and Playstation and later in 2027 also for Xbox Series consoles and shapes up to be a highlight in the survival crafting and exploration genre.
At Gamescom we were shown both the PC and the Playstation version and what final improvements and features we can expect with Version 1.0
A Breathtaking World
We sat down with the developers and were first shown some of the technical innovations, they are implementing with 1.0, which make the game even more stunning. Enshrouded was already a looker and with it being content complete, they were finally able to dive into the optimization to improve performance of the game,
A feature they highlighted was the improved lighting of the game. The game doesn’t look as bright as before, but more natural now, so player based light sources such as torches and lights, look a lot better and more impactful.
Then the developer took us to the skies and showed the new brick renderer. Which uses less memory band with and makes it possible to allow much higher detail at greater view distance. And what a view we had, you could see multiple mountains in the background and the details were still there. Looking at the sun going down while some of the hills and mountains were covered in fog, looked absolutely stunning. And knowing the world of Enshrouded, the vistas in all the biomes were already breathtaking before. I am looking forward to just settle down for a bit in the game world and just enjoy the improved views.
From Floating Islands and Arcane Threats
But it didn’t just stop there, next to the mountains, we could see floating islands in the distance. The new Biome that comes with 1.0. Accessible only late and packed with new kinds of enemies, that looked like weird arcane golems and machines and rare materials, the floating islands will take the challenge to a new level. You have to use your hook, glider and proper endgame armor and weapon to deal with them.
A giant spheric boss we were shown, looked imposing and knocked us off one of the islands. And while in some games, this could have easily been a major boss, the developer told us this is just a random mid boss sitting there to mess with the player. I can’t wait to encounter the final boss of the area and find out all the secrets there.
Making the new area flying islands, is a very smart move overall. The world of Enshrouded is already massive and adding a form of verticality through it, makes it even more imposing.
The Combat Overhaul
Combat got a rework as well, if you followed the developer videos and latest updates, they were already working on it. But the jump from Early Access start, where I last played the game heavily to 1.0 feels like a proper leap. Enemy AI has significantly improved over the course of Early Access, and the combat got a proper overhaul as well. Combat is now more deliberate, actively dodging and blocking way more important and proper attack inputs are there now. I was shown the Greatsword, which got light and heavy, but also charge attacks and your timing was important for proper combo attacks. Same goes for the reworked magic. More and diverse spells invite the player to experiment and deal with enemies in different and more fun ways than ever before.
Additionally, skill trees got reworked and tuned and got treated with additional nodes and skill upgrades, making build crafting much more fun and diverse.
Adventure Sharing 1.0 – Incredible Possibilities
A very cool feature the developers implemented a while ago but are still working on and increasing the player accessibility and options for, is the Adventure Sharing. Players can upload and share customized builds with other players, who can then check them out. Players already have spent thousands of hours during Early Access to build mega-cities, ruined castles and elaborate puzzle dungeons and much more.
And it gets even better. In 1.0 the developers of Keen Games are implementing a new feature to building, that is quite similar to the programmable red stones in Minecraft. Now you will be able to build switches and programmable parts. From simple buttons that open doors, to trap doors, to rooms where you have to kill spawning enemies under time pressure, the programmable backend of the system is scanning all interactable items in the area, and you can connect them with each other or add things under the hood. The possibilities are impressive and the developers themselves can’t wait what the community will come up with. So, expect even more crazy dungeons and ideas for the Adventure Sharing 1.0
PS5 Impressions
At the end of the around 30-minute presentation, we switched over to the PS5 version of the game, and I was surprised by how good it looks. The PS5 version comes with a performance and a quality mode. Performance aims for 60fps, while Quality aims for 30fps. The performance mode looked great, and you could still see far into the distance and the resolution looked sharp. Then the developer switched over to Quality mode and gave me the controller. Quality mode looked sharper, but I have to say I was impressed by how good the 30fps felt. You could tell it was not 60fps, but I wasn’t bothered by the 30fps at all. The game looked gorgeous and felt polished on PS5 as well. I didn’t have any problems navigating the character around with the controller at all.
The only thing that is a bit disappointing is, that there will be no crossplay between PC and PS5 at launch. It’s a feature the developers want to implement post launch. Honestly 2026 this should be a feature being there right away. Hopefully it comes in time for the launch of the Xbox version, so everyone can play together.
Final thoughts
Enshrouded was already an impressive game during Early Access, but during the final months that lead up to 1.0 the developers took the right feedback from the community and works on everything you can hope for, (hardware) optimization, balancing, graphic fidelity and much needed combat and skill tree overhauls, as well as cool new biomes, enemies and systems such as programmable pieces in the already impressive Adventure Sharing. I honestly can’t wait to dive back into Enshrouded on October 15th with my friends and make the world of Embervale our own.
