Like the idea of ‘reviewing’ early access games so developers are encouraged to offer it and get the feedback they need to make sure they aren’t launching one of the duds we saw last year
Just an FYI if you intend on playing co-op on a dedicated server. The quests are all tied to the server, not the character. What this means is, if your friend is offline and you decide to play through some quests, they will miss out and will be unable to replay them. It also means that if you want to have multiple small groups of people on the same server (like Valheim, Ark, Conan Exiles) you cannot effectively have your own bases, or have separate group progression on the same server, as the NPCs can only be spawned at a single base at a time. The developers have said that feedback on this design choice is on their radar and they are looking into it. "It's been one of our most requested things right now"
This is potentially a huge issue so I hope more people see it. It's fine if you know what you're getting yourself into! I just can't imagine trying to actually play this with 16 people in its current state.
It's a co-op game, not an MMO. If you aren't going to wait for your friends to play through stuff, why even bother? Just keep a solo save for playing on your own.
@@rhythmicon Im also a bit confused why people blame the game for this.. if anything, be thankful that the devs might be able to add an option later, so not everything gets shared. x)
@@TuriGamer You can both for less than the price of a single 'AAA' game. Even though they share a genre they are sufficiently different that they aren't mutually exclusive experiences.
@TuriGamer This is what we're doing now? Really? Palworld sold over 7 million copies in 5 days. Every AAA game released in the last decade is 'drowning' then because they didn't sell as fast? Such a stupid thing to comment.
I appreciate the in depth impressions of this game. This looks pretty good, especially for the price point.hopefully the devs will fine tune these systems to make the engagement a bit deeper
I'd say the "tug" for building the base should be pretty obvious - the duration of your rested bonus is a direct result of how opulent/built-up your base is. As you mentioned, the "survival" mechanics are less survival, and more buff mechanics. You won't die/fail if you don't have a nice base with all things unlocked, but your time in the game will be much easier if you do. Enshrouded uses the carrot method of survival games, rather than the stick method.
i've been looking for a survival game like this, with magic and classes, with survival elements that don't constantly require upkeep, and a world that isn't completely random. i'll be following this game's progress.
@@gringo533 I really really tried to get into V rising so many times. I like the world I enjoy the base building, but I cannot get over how boring the combat feels. I haven't played in a few months so they may have updated it by now but it just felt so repetitive having only two attacks animations per weapon and having to choose between so few combat abilities. I'm used to top down games like path of exile where I have access to like 15 abilities so I just could never adapt to having so little at my disposal l.
I'm really happy for this to come from Germany. Sad but true, Germany, while being one of the biggest consumer markets in the world, when it comes to media of all kind, has no movie OR game production that is really worth speaking of, especially with Daedelic having gone down the deep end now. So a real potential banger coming from here, may be the first step to a more refined industry taking hold here
Deep Silver studios, the makers of the Gothic series of games and Elex 1 and 2 are pretty good, it's Eurojank rpg's but the Gothic series is beloved worldwide. I wanted to add that Pirana Bytes were the makers of these games, from Germany and deep silver the publisher, also German.
Signalis is worth a mention. Also we germans mostly make strategy building games like Anno, Die Siedler (don't know the english name). Also let's not forget Crytek who made Crysis and Far Cry. We just don't really have iconic big scale games, but we certainly have iconic games
Keen have taken some of the best aspects from some of the more popular genres over the past decade and somehow made them work fairly well together. They also put Bethesda to shame as Keen's environmental storytelling is some of the best I've come across. Also, I think it was a great idea locking early access content to just the bottom section of the map. As much as I want to explore the snowy mountains, Keen definitely needs to fix some of the issues with the game currently (i.e. roads not spawning with their proper material).
@@simon88397 To be fair no one has played this game enough to give it a proper full review, it's just that Skillup has really good intuition when it comes to games and pays really close attention to the design
Aside from the initial crash problem when loading the server list (which is fixed now), I'm having a total blast with the game - the building system is completely groundbreaking, combat is fast and responsive, and the world is huuuge
Brother, I just wanted to thank you guys for everything you do. You always present high-quality content that's engaging and an absolute joy to view. I'm sure your vids bring just as much happiness to others as they do to me. Never stop & thank you!
The new update implemented a lot of player suggestions as well as new blocks dungeons etc… The building is magnificent and the render distance makes large scale building rewarding. And the developers seem to be doing a much better job than most aaa games
7:49 who would ever be disappointed that a game isn’t procedural. That’s bizarre that people would actually want procedural over hand crafted. Remember Starfield.
exploration is fun for me, crafting is simple and not a pain in the ass, dont have to stress about timers per say besides when you're in the shroud or gliding, combat is simple but really enjoyable, i just truly love the sense of: Im building stuff so I can explore longer.@@ConeyIslandKing
You can build anywhere in the wind placing the alter. I have seen the video you mentioned it at 28:00 as the camera and your fire altar was below you, you have to place it beside you in somewhat flat place and with lvl 2 you can place 4 of those and with level 3 you can do 6. Which means you can explore, place one down, teleport to main base drop resources and go back to last location continuing on. It has perfect teleport system to anywhere you like, that is not enshrouded by fog, that is. Is one of the most appreciated mechanics of the game, compared to other games with portals or fixed fast travel points.
It gets my hopes up that every drawback and failing could be explained away with project management reasons, where you want the core framework to function well first and then build from there, which makes all the more sense in the context of game development, where player feedback is necessary to help you really hit the mark. It's also my dream genre, even if my specific combo would be Dark Souls, Death Stranding, Valheim, and EVE Online.
When you have a good fundation for you to build upon, the rest is tweaking and polishing the stuff that goes on top of it. As soon as I saw this game and heard some reviews, I knew I will be stepping onto a rough concept of the kind of game I always dreamt about. I really want this title to achieve the heights of the potential it has behind its concept and to that point, we need critiques like this one. Honest to god feedback that points out flaws but also offers ideas and highlights the strong points of the game.
I'm looking forward to trying this out some day. I like the idea of "action RPG" first, plus some survival elements, because what I really want out of one of these games is have a loop where the survival system serves the exploration and combat parts of the loop. Like, you're supposed to prepare for the next adventure, so you need a base to prepare at, but that is it's primary purpose. The survival system shouldn't bog you down. That's fine for some games, don't get me wrong, just not the ARPG of my own personal dreams!
I played for about 6 hrs last night and i was blown away. I don't know how I'll feel at hour 50, but i can't wait to get off work so i can play more right now. Solo, by the way.
Half of this game's issues could easily be solved with world modifiers. Just adjustments to enemy spawn density or damage, hunger/sleep/thirst impacts, creative mode/free form building. They don't have to change any of that, only add the ability for the player to freely adjust that stuff for themselves (Minecraft seriously does this free difficulty adjustments the best to date and im not sure why more survival games don't take note).
Devs said they are going to finish the game with community feedback . I think if they do it right this game has the potential to be an absolute juggernaut in the survival game genre
I completely agree with "it feels like it has all the elements of the best game, but doesn't do them right, and one day a game that does them right will come out." For me it's schrodinger's game. On one hand, it's a VERY polished game for early access, to the point where it often feels "finished." It has a lot of interesting systems, especially the building one, and combat is fluid and responsive. On the other hand, this game lacks some key "feeling" elements and I think it's missing the mark on a few things which is really bringing the quality down. First, there's the lack of combat depth and enemy variety/density/complexity. I quickly got bored of the repetitive combat in this game and its over-simplicity. I would love to have active abilities, or a deeper counter system with more enemy attacks I need to dodge and counterplay. The loot and endgame looting is also terribly balanced. Clearing a whole camp just to find a single bomb in the "loot chest" is crushing, and finding the 100th green bow is pretty lame as well. The loot needs variety, but also some intrigue and better balancing. Simultaneously, at the endgame, all the best loot is tied to chests, incentivising "chest runs" and ignoring the bosses and combat. Crafting gear is also pretty worthless at any point in the game other than the intro. I would love to see greater loot variety and more unique loot tied to a greater variety of enemies and bosses, similar to valheim. The puzzles suck. That's all I'm saying about them. This game has all the elements to be my "perfect game" but misses the mark on enough of them to leave me feeling disappointed. I end up getting fatigued after playing for a few hours, whereas in games I'm hooked on, I can play 18+ hours straight, like Palworld. The great thing about Palworld, is you are always getting meaningful progression, and despite the buggy and basic combat, it's pretty deep with how you can approach it with different weapons, pals and element counters. The loot is also much more interesting and varied, changing from region to region, type of encounter from open world c hests to dungeon chests, and boss drops.
I want to say that there is more to the game. you talked about more food things, and there is definitely a quest with the farmer that gets you the ability to do that!
Really hope the developrs see this and listen to some of the criticism. If the combat was really fun and the survival systems a bit more engaging, this could be amazing!
i just hope they fix the night day transition asap, the weather situation, sheating weapons, and maybe add some colors to enchantments as well as maybe tree physics Oh and dont let me forget the BOW aimbot mechanic, let us shoot ourselfs its a bit too easy..oh and the throw items on ground mechanic instead of only deleting option is kinda rough too
For me Enshrouded is one of the very few games that served me a bit of the bethesda magic I have been longing for since Skyrim (unlike Starfield). Casual ARPG with rewarding exploration, character development and magic loot. Having an intricate building system where I can make myself a stylish tiny hut on a cliff is a nice bonus.
Sounds l like Enshrouded has a bright future, still you've given developer Keen Games a huge list of potential adjustments to be applied to their game, let's hope the developers are listening and that they're capable of delivering.
I prefer lighter survival mechanics, there are already plenty of deeper options among games there; no shortage at all, really. And spending more than half the time maintaining timers through bush foraging isn't my idea of fun. Weather conditions should be added, though.
I think having a population of NPCs with quests would do wonders for this game. That's what made you overlook all the rest of the shortcomings of Witcher 3.
End of this video with the cheering for them bit was just so wholesome. Really appreciate you guys keep the focus on optimism and love of games when a lot of reviewers lean into cynicism, disappointment, and ragebait.
This sounds ....actually pretty amazing. I don't really have much time this year to play a lot of games (and I'm still playing Baldurs Gate 3 XD), but I will buy it to support the developers and maybe a year down the road this will be even better.
Near me inaccessible high mountain area I came across freezing cold, but it really only have a debuff that made me nice way slower. Didn't notice taking damage from it. I drink camo tea now instead of playing water and am waiting to upgrade to better tea. I have a fireplace to cook food for me without holding the mouse button and oven coming soon. I do have a farming problem which is basically why I need few serfs to work my massive fields. Magic is still a bit overpowered compared to melee and arrows later take massive amounts of time to craft. But overall there's potential. They've already addressed changing how quests progress with co-op.
I think your intro did it justice. I was delighted by the game mechanics they seem to have collected from across the genera of RPG's and Survival-Builder's. I very much feel it needs iteration and refinement. But, dam is it a good collection of mechanics in a very compelling game-world and setting. It's a wish list of fun game ideas, that actually went together well. And at a reasonable price, making a easy purchase decision.
I actually really like how this game handles the survival elements. I do agree that they are maybe a bit too forgiving at times, but it's nice not having to interrupt my building session with having to go hunt some food. I like that they've taken the Fallout 76 route, where eating and drinking give you buffs, instead of receiving debuffs for not eating or drinking.
Yes, you have payed the devs the compliment of offering them a detailed, thoughtful and comprehensive breakdown of your feedback. I hope they’re listening, especially on the, “balance,” points.
I don'tunderstand your rambling about 21:57 "Thirty hours with this combat is good, 100 hours with this combat will be not good". I have friends that have far more than 100 hours in games like Valheim, Elden Ring and others... and they never tire of the combat. This is like saying "the combat in Super Mario Bros 1 NES is tiresome" when the combat is just a piece of the puzzle that makes up a game. Enshrouded is not only about combat, same as with Elden Ring where I ran around for more than 100 hours basically using Light and Hard attacks with occasional using the Special attack. Enshrouded is as much Exploration and Building as it is Combat. I am not saying you never tire of it's combat, but you yourself Skill Up "strongly suggested" games with similar combat.
It seems like your negative points are points that can be asserted during early access period. I’m having a blast with the game. Can’t wait to get home and have free time to play. Palworld and then Enshrouded, the two games that are getting me into survival/crafting games. And all in less than two weeks. I say good job to both games.
Thanks, Ralph. It definitely combines a lot of stuff I'm into as well and sounds awesome on paper. Hopefully they really dig into the combat stuff, and I'll check it out down the line. And I know you miss the heavier survival stuff, but maybe they're just intending to borrow building mechanics without necessarily trying to make it push back in that way.
Maybe having a main base for NPCs and smaller bases for resources would help the building aspect a bit. A greater need for those resources would help too. Upkeep isn't required if there is a constant need for resources anyway.
Wait so with how there were invisible barriers preventing you from exploring in the steam next fest demo from anywhere besides the initial zone, even now in Early Access more than half the map is still invisi-walled off?
Been playing for a few hours now mostly just building my first base and my main complaint is inventory management. Devs just need to give us a master storage chest and anything in it can be used for building without the need to constantly switch things out of storage and into the backpack. Maybe this would only work for solo play but it needs to be an option
If this game had the combat system of Severance - Blade of Darkness, i would never play anything else ever again. Severance is a game from 2001. And since then i have it installed on my PC. I migrated this game over all my new Hardware and Operating Systems to this very day. From Windows XP, to Vista, 7, 8/8.1 and Windows 10. Always worked, always played. And im still playing it in 2024, because solely of the combat system. Its working game mechanics what keeps games standing the test of time. Can't say that from any other game that came out in the past 10 years...
Buying this purely to support their dev team, indies are on a roll right now its been amazing to watch people open their eyes to the shit we've been getting from so called AAA's. Will probably play a few hours as it is now and come back once they beef up the enemies and story. If they have enough passion to release a game on this scale and polish then I have no doubt they will be supporting it for years to come. Great review cheers, throw us an update in 6 months ;)
You brought up a great point about streamlining games like this. Streamlining could be mechanics without depth. I think about this often when I play titles like this. We have played so many titles that we favor certain mechanics. We not only wish there was a game with all of them. Where is the line we are satisficed with lack of depth?
Well. This is the first survival type game that I actually like. It’s the first one that respects my time. I am not forced to do anything, and I love that..
Base needs some automation, npcs need to be lived in move around have some cycle be able to craft and make things without you there and the materials need to be usable from storage chests. Not just inventory
I think at the end of the day the game is marketed to casuals; everything from the minimalist survival aspect to the quests in co-op needing to be played together. I do feel that it does offer some fun for the hardcore but agree that it is not likely they will put in more than 100 hours. All in all it looks like a step in the right direction. Great video.
I've never been a huge survival fan. But, after downloading Palworld because of all of the buzz (which I have enjoyed so far), the algorithm gods thought I might like Enshrouded. Well, I guess for me all the streamlining of the survival aspects has work wonders. So far I am really enjoying exploring the world, and building my little settlement.
It's really impressive how much this game has been able to pack in to one product. The exploration and world is definitely the best feature, traversal is pretty easy and fun, and the building has some depth to it. Hopefully they fine tune and add a bit more to the melee combat and skill excitement.
as a german, i am happy to finally see more ambitious games being made in my homeland. I feel like the only games we had going were Anno and Crysis and it has been a while.
Valheim's strong sides are indeed in survival elements. You prepare expeditions, setup the logistics, learn every environment and develop a special approach to it. It is an adventure with things at stake (and not a hardcore or grindy one, it can be played semi-casual, it's just well balanced). This is what's missing from Enshrouded. The world is beautiful, but it's empty and basic. It all feels the same. Subnautica is also pure magic btw. Every part of the world, every biome, you learn intimately, and it has it's own identity.
I think hand-crafted worlds are a great change to the survival formula. There's plenty of procedural worlds and that can be fun but also feel empty and lifeless or inconsistent. This games world looks very good and I applaud their decision
I feel the same way about exploration. It's great, but for a limited time, and after that time you've seen what it has to offer and it's all the same from that point on. I'd love some more random encounters, maybe larger enemies roaming the land, something to fill all that space inbetween. As for the class system, it has potential but it's really barebones and artificially bloated (eg. 3 nodes from warrior tree give you stuff like +10% melee damage, they could just be one node with tiers or something like that). I hope they revisit the skill trees and build upon them.
Great stuff. They clearly have a great foundation they are working with. Hoping for repeatable & randomized dungeons/towers at some point, world events, story story story. Just loads of replayability. RE: survival aspects I could see this being their easy/normal mode with higher difficulty settings that ramp up survival aspects.
My gf and I share a gaming laptop, but when she’s away for work and needs the laptop for school, I use Geforce Now on my old shitty 2013 MacBook Pro and it still delivers an insane gaming experience. Can’t recommend the service enough.
There is definitely a reason to build ur base. It provides a comfort buff to ur characters. That greatly boosts ur characters stamina. And the more comfort ur base provides, the longer and stronger that buff becomes.
this game has all the ingredients to be awesome game. the only key ingredient missing is the fun and unique weapons and items that has unique effect of mechanics. Just imagine terraria's unique item put into this game!
I do think your review overstates the early access when this game is so realised as is. I disagree about the crafting/survival mechanics as I think its well implemented. The farming to get sticks and arrows and food and to upgrade the base. The mining, the exploration. I havent quite played a game that integrates all these to the game. I bought this and I'm loving it. Its a lot of fun and I think its quite the package. Jank aside, I love it. Love the survival item clutter and crafting. and glut. Its got a hook.
Great review as always Ralph. I would have liked you to add in a small section on pc performance like you usually do. Thanks for the review! Definitely going to keep my eye on this as it progresses to a full launch.
I just want to add that you can actually make more powerful food and cook food passively. But playing solo you’re unlikely to get this unlocked until around 25-30 hours.
I am playing this game with my 4 friends and it is a blast, combat gets very easy with 4 people where one is a tank due to the overpowered aggro skills. But other than that we have been nolfing it for the last 3 days. I highly recommend it. The feeling of explorations and discovery never goes away, the voxel building is incredible and gives a lot of freedom in constructing projects (need a bit of work on round shapes but that will come I'm sure), the combat is passable, highly recommend trying out magic as it is probably the most interesting. All and all a great game to play with friends I'm sure we will easily put in a 100h+, solo maybe not so much.
Love that it's massive, wanted a game like this where I can blast through second screen content. About 6 hours in, i love the look of all the equipment and enemies so far.
I love that Ralph´s idea for perfect survival game is pretty much what I decribed to my friend some time ago. I´d also love game like this in sci-fi environment but.. well, right now I am glad for ANY sci-fi game as the genre is not quite well apart from exceptions like Cyberpunk or.. well. Strfld.
…why are there people disappointed that the map isn’t procedurally generated? That’s like saying you’re disappointed a game uses real voice actors instead of that text-to-voice thing on 90’s computers
I think survival games can profit from >some< PG. Not all the way through though. I disliked how Valheim did it. Every kind of biome felt the same with little reason to explore. All this pointless, samey randomness. I believe NMS is relying way too much on it too. I expect the same from "Light No Fire" and for that reason will not play it.
Just a small edit to this amazing review, you do eventually unlock the fireplace, an upgraded cooking station that allows you to make more complex food through the farmer, planting seeds becomes essential in the mid game, and I didn't see anything in this guide about the snow biome? is this not apart of the EA?
I think the biggest favor this game could do itself is releasing modding tools. I feel like the modding community would have an absolute field day with this game
If they want the game to have wingsuits and grapple hooks and magical / fantasy enemies the character and base building should be far less 'generic Viking simulator'. This game seems to lack any overarching visual themes which is kinda something you need to have planned from the beginning. Arguing that map markers are necessary otherwise you might miss secrets is bizarre. The point of exploration is to find secrets, especially so in static map.
I would argue its a better singleplayer game rather than coop as progression is serverbased so if someone does a quest without you your shit out of luck. same with loot chests only drop enough for one person
There are so many releases these days where the biggest criticism is just, "you put too much game in your game." I wish more games would just niche down & do a couple of things really well. Or do the things they do but not stretch them out over 50+ hours.
One thing Palworld really needs to steal from Valheim or this is their building system because holy shit, trying to build a simple cabin or a bridge in Palworld is such a hassle with the unintuitive controls and snapping.
Like the idea of ‘reviewing’ early access games so developers are encouraged to offer it and get the feedback they need to make sure they aren’t launching one of the duds we saw last year
I love never ending early access games
Like what? which "duds" are u referring to?
Cube world? 🌈@@wood2103
All the ones you like and are frothing to defend the moment they're mentioned.@@wood2103
@@wood2103Starfield comes to mind for me as dud of the year
Ah Zeldenheim Ring - can’t wait to play this!
That gave me a much needed chuckl, thanks ❤
Zeldenheim is a better name than Enshrouded !
I described it to my friends as Zeldenheim Sky Ring.
More like Zeldenheim's Gate lmao
Just an FYI if you intend on playing co-op on a dedicated server. The quests are all tied to the server, not the character. What this means is, if your friend is offline and you decide to play through some quests, they will miss out and will be unable to replay them. It also means that if you want to have multiple small groups of people on the same server (like Valheim, Ark, Conan Exiles) you cannot effectively have your own bases, or have separate group progression on the same server, as the NPCs can only be spawned at a single base at a time.
The developers have said that feedback on this design choice is on their radar and they are looking into it. "It's been one of our most requested things right now"
This is potentially a huge issue so I hope more people see it. It's fine if you know what you're getting yourself into! I just can't imagine trying to actually play this with 16 people in its current state.
mega lame. Had plans to play this with my mates, huge ark addicts. Upon hearing this we noped out immediatly.
It's a co-op game, not an MMO. If you aren't going to wait for your friends to play through stuff, why even bother?
Just keep a solo save for playing on your own.
@@rhythmicon Im also a bit confused why people blame the game for this.. if anything, be thankful that the devs might be able to add an option later, so not everything gets shared. x)
People just love bitching about shit that's why 😅 they're quick to bitch instead of looking into the game@@rhythmicon
This looks bloody amazing for such a relatively small team to make. It may be a bit rough around the edges, but it's still looks like an absolute W👏
I'll probably still get it while in early access. Cheaper and I can help leave feed back. Reminds me of Conan, so I'm already eager to play.
Lol its drowning next to palworld
They should have delayed 100%
@@TuriGamer You can both for less than the price of a single 'AAA' game. Even though they share a genre they are sufficiently different that they aren't mutually exclusive experiences.
@TuriGamer This is what we're doing now? Really? Palworld sold over 7 million copies in 5 days. Every AAA game released in the last decade is 'drowning' then because they didn't sell as fast? Such a stupid thing to comment.
@@TuriGameroh not to mention, if Nintendo does pursue legal action, all those people are gonna be really pissed when the game shuts down.
“All the character models look weirdly squat.”
😅 *5’5 me thinking they look fine*
(Heavy TF2 voice) YOU ARE SO SMALL! IS FUNNY TO ME!
Who said that?
I love dwarves.
that was on my mind and didn't know it was on my mind. thanks! short king game ftw
It's average :(
12hrs in and I'm completely blown away. Sometimes I even forget it's an early access game
Can you recruit NPC to join you during the adventure? I would like to play with some companion during my adventure while exploring the world
no@@Vandy--
@@Vandy-- co-op companions 😁
@@Vandy-- Nope. Hopefully tho in a future update, maybe.
I appreciate the in depth impressions of this game. This looks pretty good, especially for the price point.hopefully the devs will fine tune these systems to make the engagement a bit deeper
I'd say the "tug" for building the base should be pretty obvious - the duration of your rested bonus is a direct result of how opulent/built-up your base is. As you mentioned, the "survival" mechanics are less survival, and more buff mechanics. You won't die/fail if you don't have a nice base with all things unlocked, but your time in the game will be much easier if you do. Enshrouded uses the carrot method of survival games, rather than the stick method.
i've been looking for a survival game like this, with magic and classes, with survival elements that don't constantly require upkeep, and a world that isn't completely random. i'll be following this game's progress.
While you are waiting, you might want to check out V Rising. I am having a blast with it at the moment in 2 player coop.
@@gringo533 i was actually looking at V Rising before Baldur's Gate 3 consumed my life, I'll definitely be checking it out too
@@gringo533 I really really tried to get into V rising so many times. I like the world I enjoy the base building, but I cannot get over how boring the combat feels. I haven't played in a few months so they may have updated it by now but it just felt so repetitive having only two attacks animations per weapon and having to choose between so few combat abilities. I'm used to top down games like path of exile where I have access to like 15 abilities so I just could never adapt to having so little at my disposal l.
Outward kinda fits the description
Seen the new update. It was exactly what the players wished for. If they continue at this rate this will be an awesome game
I'm really happy for this to come from Germany. Sad but true, Germany, while being one of the biggest consumer markets in the world, when it comes to media of all kind, has no movie OR game production that is really worth speaking of, especially with Daedelic having gone down the deep end now.
So a real potential banger coming from here, may be the first step to a more refined industry taking hold here
Well you should watch Uwe Boll's Movies then, he is the GOAT of sophisticated cinema.
Same here. Really hoping game projects like these will help the industry to grow here!
Deep Silver studios, the makers of the Gothic series of games and Elex 1 and 2 are pretty good, it's Eurojank rpg's but the Gothic series is beloved worldwide. I wanted to add that Pirana Bytes were the makers of these games, from Germany and deep silver the publisher, also German.
Signalis is worth a mention. Also we germans mostly make strategy building games like Anno, Die Siedler (don't know the english name). Also let's not forget Crytek who made Crysis and Far Cry.
We just don't really have iconic big scale games, but we certainly have iconic games
Made one of the best drama TV series ever in Dark :) also some video game gems but yes no real mass market stufr
Keen have taken some of the best aspects from some of the more popular genres over the past decade and somehow made them work fairly well together. They also put Bethesda to shame as Keen's environmental storytelling is some of the best I've come across.
Also, I think it was a great idea locking early access content to just the bottom section of the map. As much as I want to explore the snowy mountains, Keen definitely needs to fix some of the issues with the game currently (i.e. roads not spawning with their proper material).
I've watched a lot of reviews and this is the only one that actually gives me an accurate idea what the strengths and weaknesses are of this game
Yeah most "reviewers" only give info on the game and then give a bit of opinion at the end
@@simon88397 To be fair no one has played this game enough to give it a proper full review, it's just that Skillup has really good intuition when it comes to games and pays really close attention to the design
Lazy peon has a good one. Skip to the end for the actual review
Aside from the initial crash problem when loading the server list (which is fixed now), I'm having a total blast with the game - the building system is completely groundbreaking, combat is fast and responsive, and the world is huuuge
I do too, however, I share the disappointment that the 'survival' part of the game is largely optional and underbaked (by design).
I wonder how much it bugs Ralph's perfectionism that he said, "I'll be cheering from them from the sidelines" right at the end
Brother, I just wanted to thank you guys for everything you do. You always present high-quality content that's engaging and an absolute joy to view. I'm sure your vids bring just as much happiness to others as they do to me. Never stop & thank you!
Survival mechanics always scared me away, this game looks just perfect amount of it. I'm very much looking forward to the full release of this
Same. I find them tedious in most games. If the mechanics really are available if you want to use them but not required that sounds perfect to me.
The new update implemented a lot of player suggestions as well as new blocks dungeons etc… The building is magnificent and the render distance makes large scale building rewarding. And the developers seem to be doing a much better job than most aaa games
7:49 who would ever be disappointed that a game isn’t procedural. That’s bizarre that people would actually want procedural over hand crafted. Remember Starfield.
I have been waiting so long for this review. Like for two hours now.
it is an absolutely beautiful game with so much exploration! really happy with it so far.
what do you like? im thinking of buying
exploration is fun for me, crafting is simple and not a pain in the ass, dont have to stress about timers per say besides when you're in the shroud or gliding, combat is simple but really enjoyable, i just truly love the sense of: Im building stuff so I can explore longer.@@ConeyIslandKing
You can build anywhere in the wind placing the alter. I have seen the video you mentioned it at 28:00 as the camera and your fire altar was below you, you have to place it beside you in somewhat flat place and with lvl 2 you can place 4 of those and with level 3 you can do 6. Which means you can explore, place one down, teleport to main base drop resources and go back to last location continuing on. It has perfect teleport system to anywhere you like, that is not enshrouded by fog, that is. Is one of the most appreciated mechanics of the game, compared to other games with portals or fixed fast travel points.
It gets my hopes up that every drawback and failing could be explained away with project management reasons, where you want the core framework to function well first and then build from there, which makes all the more sense in the context of game development, where player feedback is necessary to help you really hit the mark. It's also my dream genre, even if my specific combo would be Dark Souls, Death Stranding, Valheim, and EVE Online.
When you have a good fundation for you to build upon, the rest is tweaking and polishing the stuff that goes on top of it. As soon as I saw this game and heard some reviews, I knew I will be stepping onto a rough concept of the kind of game I always dreamt about. I really want this title to achieve the heights of the potential it has behind its concept and to that point, we need critiques like this one. Honest to god feedback that points out flaws but also offers ideas and highlights the strong points of the game.
28:39 This was flawlessly seamless transition. Your editor(s) is/are great 👍🏿
introducing combo's into combat. letting it combine with spellcasting as well would be a very good start to improving it feeling samey over time.
I'm looking forward to trying this out some day. I like the idea of "action RPG" first, plus some survival elements, because what I really want out of one of these games is have a loop where the survival system serves the exploration and combat parts of the loop. Like, you're supposed to prepare for the next adventure, so you need a base to prepare at, but that is it's primary purpose. The survival system shouldn't bog you down.
That's fine for some games, don't get me wrong, just not the ARPG of my own personal dreams!
I played for about 6 hrs last night and i was blown away. I don't know how I'll feel at hour 50, but i can't wait to get off work so i can play more right now. Solo, by the way.
Half of this game's issues could easily be solved with world modifiers. Just adjustments to enemy spawn density or damage, hunger/sleep/thirst impacts, creative mode/free form building. They don't have to change any of that, only add the ability for the player to freely adjust that stuff for themselves (Minecraft seriously does this free difficulty adjustments the best to date and im not sure why more survival games don't take note).
Devs said they are going to finish the game with community feedback . I think if they do it right this game has the potential to be an absolute juggernaut in the survival game genre
I completely agree with "it feels like it has all the elements of the best game, but doesn't do them right, and one day a game that does them right will come out."
For me it's schrodinger's game. On one hand, it's a VERY polished game for early access, to the point where it often feels "finished." It has a lot of interesting systems, especially the building one, and combat is fluid and responsive.
On the other hand, this game lacks some key "feeling" elements and I think it's missing the mark on a few things which is really bringing the quality down. First, there's the lack of combat depth and enemy variety/density/complexity. I quickly got bored of the repetitive combat in this game and its over-simplicity. I would love to have active abilities, or a deeper counter system with more enemy attacks I need to dodge and counterplay. The loot and endgame looting is also terribly balanced. Clearing a whole camp just to find a single bomb in the "loot chest" is crushing, and finding the 100th green bow is pretty lame as well. The loot needs variety, but also some intrigue and better balancing. Simultaneously, at the endgame, all the best loot is tied to chests, incentivising "chest runs" and ignoring the bosses and combat. Crafting gear is also pretty worthless at any point in the game other than the intro. I would love to see greater loot variety and more unique loot tied to a greater variety of enemies and bosses, similar to valheim.
The puzzles suck. That's all I'm saying about them.
This game has all the elements to be my "perfect game" but misses the mark on enough of them to leave me feeling disappointed. I end up getting fatigued after playing for a few hours, whereas in games I'm hooked on, I can play 18+ hours straight, like Palworld. The great thing about Palworld, is you are always getting meaningful progression, and despite the buggy and basic combat, it's pretty deep with how you can approach it with different weapons, pals and element counters. The loot is also much more interesting and varied, changing from region to region, type of encounter from open world c hests to dungeon chests, and boss drops.
Wish that when crafting it would recognize the mats in your storage like a lot of games do. Instead, you have to have them in your inventory.
Keep playing the game and you’ll be able to do that! :)
A chest you can craft will fix that
Yup that is fixed later in game it’s awesome
Keep progressing through your quests, and you'll eventually get to a certain point where you can craft a magic chest!
I want to say that there is more to the game. you talked about more food things, and there is definitely a quest with the farmer that gets you the ability to do that!
Seems like a Kingdoms of Amalur with survival and building mechanics.
Board meeting: What game should we make?
CEO: All of them.
Really hope the developrs see this and listen to some of the criticism. If the combat was really fun and the survival systems a bit more engaging, this could be amazing!
I love when creators go meta; making this video last almost as long as the projected play time for Enshrouded is pure genius.
I seen this yesterday on Steam and all I could say was that I felt so bad for them releasing at the exact same time as Palworld 😂😂😂
You saw it. You can’t seen something.
Palworld is crap compared to enshrouded
@@Jaekization That remains to be seen.
@@bravexheart76 million people wouldn’t agree with you on that.
@@nicalotss popularity doesn't = good
I'm an absolute knob to say this but my brain instantly had the thought. "I would love the world of V Rising brought to this format."
You have infected me now I want this, it would be amazin
skillup's perfect game is 3D terraria with a story mode
i just hope they fix the night day transition asap, the weather situation, sheating weapons, and maybe add some colors to enchantments as well as maybe tree physics Oh and dont let me forget the BOW aimbot mechanic, let us shoot ourselfs its a bit too easy..oh and the throw items on ground mechanic instead of only deleting option is kinda rough too
Planned on buying this after playing the demo. Demo's used to be much more common and I miss that.
For me Enshrouded is one of the very few games that served me a bit of the bethesda magic I have been longing for since Skyrim (unlike Starfield). Casual ARPG with rewarding exploration, character development and magic loot. Having an intricate building system where I can make myself a stylish tiny hut on a cliff is a nice bonus.
Sounds l like Enshrouded has a bright future, still you've given developer Keen Games a huge list of potential adjustments to be applied to their game, let's hope the developers are listening and that they're capable of delivering.
I prefer lighter survival mechanics, there are already plenty of deeper options among games there; no shortage at all, really. And spending more than half the time maintaining timers through bush foraging isn't my idea of fun.
Weather conditions should be added, though.
I think having a population of NPCs with quests would do wonders for this game. That's what made you overlook all the rest of the shortcomings of Witcher 3.
As it stands, the simplicity of these mechanics means this game's main market will be under 18.
It's always hard to remember these games are in early access, but when you see those updates start rolling in it's usually worth ut
End of this video with the cheering for them bit was just so wholesome. Really appreciate you guys keep the focus on optimism and love of games when a lot of reviewers lean into cynicism, disappointment, and ragebait.
I’ll definitely keep an eye on this project. It looks wonderful! Thank you for introducing it to me
Go grab it now and support the devs. It's a great game
@@CricketsAreUsI am playing on console exclusively at this time. Sadly it’s not an option for me at this time
This sounds ....actually pretty amazing. I don't really have much time this year to play a lot of games (and I'm still playing Baldurs Gate 3 XD), but I will buy it to support the developers and maybe a year down the road this will be even better.
Near me inaccessible high mountain area I came across freezing cold, but it really only have a debuff that made me nice way slower. Didn't notice taking damage from it. I drink camo tea now instead of playing water and am waiting to upgrade to better tea. I have a fireplace to cook food for me without holding the mouse button and oven coming soon. I do have a farming problem which is basically why I need few serfs to work my massive fields. Magic is still a bit overpowered compared to melee and arrows later take massive amounts of time to craft. But overall there's potential. They've already addressed changing how quests progress with co-op.
I think your intro did it justice. I was delighted by the game mechanics they seem to have collected from across the genera of RPG's and Survival-Builder's.
I very much feel it needs iteration and refinement. But, dam is it a good collection of mechanics in a very compelling game-world and setting. It's a wish list of fun game ideas, that actually went together well.
And at a reasonable price, making a easy purchase decision.
I actually really like how this game handles the survival elements. I do agree that they are maybe a bit too forgiving at times, but it's nice not having to interrupt my building session with having to go hunt some food. I like that they've taken the Fallout 76 route, where eating and drinking give you buffs, instead of receiving debuffs for not eating or drinking.
Yes, you have payed the devs the compliment of offering them a detailed, thoughtful and comprehensive breakdown of your feedback. I hope they’re listening, especially on the, “balance,” points.
I don'tunderstand your rambling about 21:57 "Thirty hours with this combat is good, 100 hours with this combat will be not good". I have friends that have far more than 100 hours in games like Valheim, Elden Ring and others... and they never tire of the combat.
This is like saying "the combat in Super Mario Bros 1 NES is tiresome" when the combat is just a piece of the puzzle that makes up a game. Enshrouded is not only about combat, same as with Elden Ring where I ran around for more than 100 hours basically using Light and Hard attacks with occasional using the Special attack.
Enshrouded is as much Exploration and Building as it is Combat. I am not saying you never tire of it's combat, but you yourself Skill Up "strongly suggested" games with similar combat.
It seems like your negative points are points that can be asserted during early access period. I’m having a blast with the game. Can’t wait to get home and have free time to play. Palworld and then Enshrouded, the two games that are getting me into survival/crafting games. And all in less than two weeks. I say good job to both games.
Thanks, Ralph. It definitely combines a lot of stuff I'm into as well and sounds awesome on paper. Hopefully they really dig into the combat stuff, and I'll check it out down the line. And I know you miss the heavier survival stuff, but maybe they're just intending to borrow building mechanics without necessarily trying to make it push back in that way.
Maybe having a main base for NPCs and smaller bases for resources would help the building aspect a bit. A greater need for those resources would help too. Upkeep isn't required if there is a constant need for resources anyway.
Wait so with how there were invisible barriers preventing you from exploring in the steam next fest demo from anywhere besides the initial zone, even now in Early Access more than half the map is still invisi-walled off?
It's huge though, like 23km² (the area of map players can currently explore)
Been playing for a few hours now mostly just building my first base and my main complaint is inventory management. Devs just need to give us a master storage chest and anything in it can be used for building without the need to constantly switch things out of storage and into the backpack. Maybe this would only work for solo play but it needs to be an option
Keep playing and you will unlock it :) look for the carpenter npc
Its an unlock later in the game
I want to play this now. Can’t wait for it to come out on consoles.
Consoles are still a thing? Interesting!
If this game had the combat system of Severance - Blade of Darkness, i would never play anything else ever again. Severance is a game from 2001. And since then i have it installed on my PC. I migrated this game over all my new Hardware and Operating Systems to this very day. From Windows XP, to Vista, 7, 8/8.1 and Windows 10. Always worked, always played. And im still playing it in 2024, because solely of the combat system. Its working game mechanics what keeps games standing the test of time. Can't say that from any other game that came out in the past 10 years...
Buying this purely to support their dev team, indies are on a roll right now its been amazing to watch people open their eyes to the shit we've been getting from so called AAA's. Will probably play a few hours as it is now and come back once they beef up the enemies and story. If they have enough passion to release a game on this scale and polish then I have no doubt they will be supporting it for years to come. Great review cheers, throw us an update in 6 months ;)
I started Elden Ring last month, 180h in. I might have finished it when Enshrouded comes out of early access.
You brought up a great point about streamlining games like this. Streamlining could be mechanics without depth. I think about this often when I play titles like this. We have played so many titles that we favor certain mechanics. We not only wish there was a game with all of them. Where is the line we are satisficed with lack of depth?
Well. This is the first survival type game that I actually like. It’s the first one that respects my time. I am not forced to do anything, and I love that..
Base needs some automation, npcs need to be lived in move around have some cycle be able to craft and make things without you there and the materials need to be usable from storage chests. Not just inventory
I think at the end of the day the game is marketed to casuals; everything from the minimalist survival aspect to the quests in co-op needing to be played together. I do feel that it does offer some fun for the hardcore but agree that it is not likely they will put in more than 100 hours. All in all it looks like a step in the right direction. Great video.
I've never been a huge survival fan. But, after downloading Palworld because of all of the buzz (which I have enjoyed so far), the algorithm gods thought I might like Enshrouded. Well, I guess for me all the streamlining of the survival aspects has work wonders. So far I am really enjoying exploring the world, and building my little settlement.
It's really impressive how much this game has been able to pack in to one product. The exploration and world is definitely the best feature, traversal is pretty easy and fun, and the building has some depth to it. Hopefully they fine tune and add a bit more to the melee combat and skill excitement.
as a german, i am happy to finally see more ambitious games being made in my homeland. I feel like the only games we had going were Anno and Crysis and it has been a while.
Valheim's strong sides are indeed in survival elements. You prepare expeditions, setup the logistics, learn every environment and develop a special approach to it. It is an adventure with things at stake (and not a hardcore or grindy one, it can be played semi-casual, it's just well balanced). This is what's missing from Enshrouded. The world is beautiful, but it's empty and basic. It all feels the same.
Subnautica is also pure magic btw. Every part of the world, every biome, you learn intimately, and it has it's own identity.
I think hand-crafted worlds are a great change to the survival formula. There's plenty of procedural worlds and that can be fun but also feel empty and lifeless or inconsistent. This games world looks very good and I applaud their decision
A MAJOR UPDATE FOR ENSHROUDED IS COMING TOMORROW, JUNE 5TH.
This game 6 months from now should be amazing. Buying to support the devs.
As someone who has played an unhealthy amount of dragons dogma, good god that stamina regeneration fills me with dread
I don’t even care about the game I just like listening to skill up talk games
I feel the same way about exploration. It's great, but for a limited time, and after that time you've seen what it has to offer and it's all the same from that point on. I'd love some more random encounters, maybe larger enemies roaming the land, something to fill all that space inbetween.
As for the class system, it has potential but it's really barebones and artificially bloated (eg. 3 nodes from warrior tree give you stuff like +10% melee damage, they could just be one node with tiers or something like that). I hope they revisit the skill trees and build upon them.
Great stuff. They clearly have a great foundation they are working with. Hoping for repeatable & randomized dungeons/towers at some point, world events, story story story. Just loads of replayability. RE: survival aspects I could see this being their easy/normal mode with higher difficulty settings that ramp up survival aspects.
I appreciate the solo perspective review. Your take makes this look more appealing than my few looks at it so far. Thanks
My gf and I share a gaming laptop, but when she’s away for work and needs the laptop for school, I use Geforce Now on my old shitty 2013 MacBook Pro and it still delivers an insane gaming experience. Can’t recommend the service enough.
There is definitely a reason to build ur base. It provides a comfort buff to ur characters. That greatly boosts ur characters stamina. And the more comfort ur base provides, the longer and stronger that buff becomes.
this game has all the ingredients to be awesome game. the only key ingredient missing is the fun and unique weapons and items that has unique effect of mechanics. Just imagine terraria's unique item put into this game!
18:45 those beetles look and act almost exactly like the Seekers in the Mistlands of Valheim.
I do think your review overstates the early access when this game is so realised as is. I disagree about the crafting/survival mechanics as I think its well implemented. The farming to get sticks and arrows and food and to upgrade the base. The mining, the exploration. I havent quite played a game that integrates all these to the game. I bought this and I'm loving it. Its a lot of fun and I think its quite the package. Jank aside, I love it. Love the survival item clutter and crafting. and glut. Its got a hook.
Great review as always Ralph. I would have liked you to add in a small section on pc performance like you usually do.
Thanks for the review! Definitely going to keep my eye on this as it progresses to a full launch.
Palworld and This, man we are off to a good year with Early Access.
Loving this game so far. Palworld didnt scratch my valheim itch enough but enshrouded feels like home
I just want to add that you can actually make more powerful food and cook food passively. But playing solo you’re unlikely to get this unlocked until around 25-30 hours.
I am playing this game with my 4 friends and it is a blast, combat gets very easy with 4 people where one is a tank due to the overpowered aggro skills. But other than that we have been nolfing it for the last 3 days. I highly recommend it. The feeling of explorations and discovery never goes away, the voxel building is incredible and gives a lot of freedom in constructing projects (need a bit of work on round shapes but that will come I'm sure), the combat is passable, highly recommend trying out magic as it is probably the most interesting.
All and all a great game to play with friends I'm sure we will easily put in a 100h+, solo maybe not so much.
Love that it's massive, wanted a game like this where I can blast through second screen content. About 6 hours in, i love the look of all the equipment and enemies so far.
I love that Ralph´s idea for perfect survival game is pretty much what I decribed to my friend some time ago. I´d also love game like this in sci-fi environment but.. well, right now I am glad for ANY sci-fi game as the genre is not quite well apart from exceptions like Cyberpunk or.. well. Strfld.
…why are there people disappointed that the map isn’t procedurally generated? That’s like saying you’re disappointed a game uses real voice actors instead of that text-to-voice thing on 90’s computers
I think survival games can profit from >some< PG. Not all the way through though. I disliked how Valheim did it. Every kind of biome felt the same with little reason to explore. All this pointless, samey randomness. I believe NMS is relying way too much on it too. I expect the same from "Light No Fire" and for that reason will not play it.
looks amazing what a triumph from the development team
Just a small edit to this amazing review, you do eventually unlock the fireplace, an upgraded cooking station that allows you to make more complex food through the farmer, planting seeds becomes essential in the mid game, and I didn't see anything in this guide about the snow biome? is this not apart of the EA?
I think the biggest favor this game could do itself is releasing modding tools. I feel like the modding community would have an absolute field day with this game
If they want the game to have wingsuits and grapple hooks and magical / fantasy enemies the character and base building should be far less 'generic Viking simulator'. This game seems to lack any overarching visual themes which is kinda something you need to have planned from the beginning.
Arguing that map markers are necessary otherwise you might miss secrets is bizarre. The point of exploration is to find secrets, especially so in static map.
The one guy i trust for reviews
I would argue its a better singleplayer game rather than coop as progression is serverbased so if someone does a quest without you your shit out of luck. same with loot chests only drop enough for one person
There are so many releases these days where the biggest criticism is just, "you put too much game in your game."
I wish more games would just niche down & do a couple of things really well. Or do the things they do but not stretch them out over 50+ hours.
The map being handmade really got me. So many survival worlds are bland and generated now so this is refreshing.
One thing Palworld really needs to steal from Valheim or this is their building system because holy shit, trying to build a simple cabin or a bridge in Palworld is such a hassle with the unintuitive controls and snapping.