Enshrouded 1.0 guide: what it is, history and which edition to buy

In brief: Enshrouded is a voxel-built co-op survival action RPG from Keen Games in Frankfurt. It spent almost three years in Steam Early Access and reached its full 1.0 release on 15 October 2026, launching on PC and, for the first time, on PS5. The Standard edition lists at $39.99 in the US and ₹1,799 on Steam India (Rs 3,330 on PlayStation Store India). Most players only need Standard. Xbox Series X|S is planned for spring 2027.

What is Enshrouded?

Enshrouded is an open-world survival game with action-RPG combat and a building system made of small voxel blocks. You play one of the Flameborn, the last survivors of the kingdom of Embervale, which has been swallowed by a corrupting fog called the Shroud. You explore, fight, gather materials, craft better gear and rebuild the world around a Flame Altar that lets you push deeper into the Shroud. Keen Games calls it a “co-op survival ARPG”.

Three ideas set it apart from other survival games. First, the combat is closer to an action RPG than to a crafting sandbox, with melee, ranged and magic builds on one large skill tree, so you are not locked into a single class. Second, almost everything can be built or carved, down to single blocks, so you can dig a home into a cliff or restore a ruined castle. Third, the world was designed by hand, with story quests, dungeons called Hollow Halls and named survivors you rescue and bring back to your base as craftspeople.

You can play alone or in co-op. On PC up to 16 players can share a world; on PS5 the limit is 8 players. There is no PvP mode in the 1.0 feature list.

A short history: from reveal to 1.0

Keen Games revealed Enshrouded in May 2023 and released it into Steam Early Access on 24 January 2024. The launch was a bigger success than the studio expected, and the press release for 1.0 says that it let Keen expand the game beyond its original scope and extend Early Access by “another year or so”.

During Early Access the team shipped 8 major updates, 14 patches and 42 hotfixes, and Keen says more than 5.5 million players took part. The 1.0 version arrived on 15 October 2026 at 14:00 UTC (10 a.m. EDT, 7 a.m. PDT, 3 p.m. in the UK) on Steam and PlayStation 5 together.

What 1.0 added

• The full map of Embervale, including a new endgame biome of floating islands called Cinder’s Cradle, plus new points of interest in older regions.

• An ending for the current story, with voiced dialogue and lore notes in English, German and Mandarin Chinese. The interface supports fifteen languages.

• Sparkworks, a logic system for building interactive bases and dungeons, and Adventure Sharing for sharing those creations.

• A higher level cap: the maximum character level is now 50 and the maximum gear level rose from 50 to 55.

• Nine new Mage spells, more enemy types and better ranged combat options.

• Visual upgrades: a new “brick renderer” for distant terrain, reworked lighting and HDR support, with lower memory use.

• Quality-of-life features such as Airborne Architect (fly around your base while building), auto-loot and upgrading chests without replacing them.

Why Enshrouded is trending now

The 1.0 launch pushed Enshrouded back up the Steam charts. On Steam’s global weekly top sellers (ranked by revenue), it was #9 in the week starting 13 October 2026, its launch week, and still #14 in the week starting 20 October. When we checked at 16:10 IST on 29 October, 33,022 people were playing it on Steam, according to the Steam Web API. These figures do not include the new PS5 audience.

Which edition should you buy?

There are only two choices, and they are sold a little differently on each store:

• Standard: the full game. Everything that affects gameplay is in it.

• Deluxe: the game plus cosmetic and collector items: three class outfit packs, three thrones and banners, a digital artbook and a high-resolution map. On PS5 it is sold as a Deluxe Edition. On Steam you buy the game and then add the Deluxe Upgrade Pack DLC. The soundtrack is a separate Steam purchase ($7.99).

Our advice: buy Standard unless you want the outfits and the artbook. The Deluxe items do not make you stronger. On Steam you can add the Deluxe Upgrade Pack later if you change your mind, so there is no reason to decide on day one.

If you bought the game during Early Access on PC, you already own 1.0. Keen says you do not need to buy it again, your Early Access saves are converted to the new format, and Early Access buyers get three exclusive decorative base items from the “Redeem Add-Ons” button in the escape menu. Keen does recommend starting a new character, because the first hours of the game were reworked.

Prices worldwide (checked 29 October 2026)

The table shows the official list prices, with US dollars first. Both Steam and PlayStation Store ran a 10% launch discount for the first 14 days. On PlayStation Store the discount ends on 29 October 2026 at 15:00 UTC in the US and 16:00 UTC in the UK, EU and India (8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. IST). Steam did not publish an end time, so treat any Steam sale price as possibly expired.

NextPlayIntel original infographic, built from official store prices checked 29 Oct 2026.

PC or PS5?

Choose the platform your friends play on, because worlds cannot be shared between PC and PS5 yet. PC is the better pick for big groups and for dedicated servers. PS5 is simpler, supports the DualSense haptics and adaptive triggers, and is cheaper in the UK. Our PS5 how-to covers installing it, the graphics modes and co-op.

PC requirements (Steam)

Are there Enshrouded cheats?

No. Enshrouded has no official cheat codes or console commands for players, and we will not publish a list we cannot verify. The official ways to make the game easier are the world settings Keen built into the game (difficulty presets and custom options you choose for your world) and playing in co-op with friends. Avoid trainers and “save editors” that ask you to turn off antivirus software. They can damage saves and are unsafe.

For players in India

Enshrouded is one of the cheaper new releases in India. Steam India lists Standard at ₹1,799 (₹1,619 during the launch sale), and the Deluxe Upgrade Pack costs ₹499. On PlayStation Store India, Standard is Rs 3,330 and the Deluxe Edition is Rs 4,162, so PC is much cheaper here. The PS Store launch discount ends at 9:30 p.m. IST on 29 October 2026. The 1.0 launch itself went live at 7:30 p.m. IST on 15 October 2026. Buy from the India storefront for your account and avoid “offline account” sellers.

More hardware help: PS5 · PS5 Pro · Steam Deck. See every edition and store link on the Enshrouded game page, or browse the games catalogue for other trending games such as Phantom Blade Zero.