10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Enshrouded

Enshrouded is an amazing game, but all games have their quirks and sometimes you just wish you knew about them before you start. Honestly, if I’d known that the NPCs all say the same lines over and over again, I’d have visited my base much less often in the beginning or even shoved them in their own room aside from my main area. So annoying. We’ve all got our things, but maybe I can save you some confusion by letting you know some of the things I wish I knew when I started Enshrouded.

10. Fog Sucks

So, it’s pretty hard to see through the fog in the Shroud. The enemies are basically undetectable until they’re right on top of you. It’s annoying to try to stay on the path, and if I get stuck on one more itty bitty little plant on the ground, I might blow a gasket. Really, though, that’s not why I wish I knew how bad fog was when I first started Enshrouded. The fog absolutely messed up my game’s performance. If you want to have really smooth gameplay and not get as frustrated as I did my first few hours in-game, do yourself a favor and turn the fog quality down in your display settings.

9. Avoid the Blue Shrooms

When you’re out gathering berries and mushrooms to fill up on whenever you get low on health, you seriously need to be careful. Certain foods, if they aren’t cooked properly, will give you food poisoning and lower your health and stamina a wild amount. I’m talking 75% or more. Take those extra few seconds that it takes to gather up a couple of wood logs and craft a campfire. You’ll seriously thank me later. Don’t take the risk, just cook it. Oh, and if you come across blue mushrooms in your travels, do not eat them. Well, don’t eat them raw, anyway. I learned the hard way that they basically cause insta-death.

8. Death Drops Are a Bit Wonky

I spent a good day or so being utterly baffled over what was happening every time I died. Typically, you’d think you would drop all your things and you’d have to go back and get them, right? Wrong. Enshrouded is a bit odd in the fact that only certain items are dropped on death. You’ll keep everything in your action bar, but when it comes to the things hidden behind the inventory screen, it’s a toss-up of whether or not it will drop if you die. I still haven’t figured it out for sure, but I do believe that there’s absolutely no rhyme or reason for what you lose when you die.

7. Food Bonuses

When it comes to food, there are certainly some types of food that can be eaten raw, like Purple Berries or Corn. Though I can’t imagine why anyone would eat corn raw, but that’s another matter entirely. Each food type gives you a certain bonus, and when you get to more difficult areas, you will find improved bonuses for the food you pick up. However, when you cook your food, the bonus changes. Sometimes it can improve the bonus, and other times, it can change the type of bonus altogether. Make sure you check out the details on your food before you cook it up and chow down.

6. NPCs Can Be Super Annoying

If somebody had told me that all my roommates would lack any and all originality when I started Enshrouded, there’s a good chance I would have made them sleep outside. Yes, they’re helpful. Yes, they offer excellent options for crafting. But, hear me out, they say the same dialogue lines repeatedly. There are really only so many times you can hear the same line about how you need to get moving from the Blacksmith before you want to pull out that Summoning Staff and move him very far away from your cozy sleeping quarters.

5. Explosive Traps Are a Thing

Yep, you read that right. Explosive traps. If you’ve spent any time pillaging villages, then you’ve probably already learned about them the hard way like I did. Evidently, those pesky raiders like to booby-trap their resources. I suppose it makes sense in the “If I can’t have it, no one can” way, but come on, man. I just want a couple of extra pieces of Torn Cloth. You don’t have to go and rig your loot piles to explode in the face of anyone who tries to pillage your nice little run-down, half-standing village. Uncalled for. Outrageous. I just want Torn Cloth.

4. Building Is Weird

The building mechanics in Enshrouded seem like they would be pretty nice. They have a function that allows you to build off previously placed building pieces so that they clip together pretty perfectly. The only issue is that you can overlap them. This might come in handy someday, or even that one time when I woke up to find a massive hole blown in the side of my base in the form of a perfect circle. However, for now, while I’m trying to build a base, I would really rather not have to remove every other ceiling tile placed because it overlaps halfway into the previous one. If I’d known it would have been an issue, I probably would have been much more careful with my placement.

3. Lore Is Important

While this might not have affected me the most, it might be useful for you. I’ve always had a thing for lore in games. If I can learn more about why I’m doing what I’m doing, I’m all for it. But if you don’t have that kind of mindset, it can actually slow you down quite a bit in Enshrouded. Reading all the lore that pops up, conveniently highlighted by a red beacon, unlocks new points of interest on your map, and thus, allows you to see more of what’s going on in Embervale before you walk into an ambush or super difficult area.

2. Lots of Flame Altars = Easy Travel

You can teleport from Flame Altar to Flame Altar, and even extinguish them if you aren’t happy with where it’s placed. I ended up developing a method to make sure I would be able to get to all the important areas of the map within seconds if I needed to. Whenever I go somewhere new, I bring a Flame Altar with me. If it ends up being somewhere I need to return for a certain resource or a place I’ll be getting into a big fight at, I place one down. Then, I can come back for resources or even come back to grab my items if I die super easily. This is literally a game changer that would have saved hours of my time if I’d known about it when I first started Enshrouded.

1. If You Can’t Find It, It’s Locked Behind a Quest

I don’t know how many times now, that I’ve climbed into my friends’ chats and threw the old “How the heck do I get this?” at them. Honestly, it’s getting annoying, even for me. However, as I played more and learned everything I could about the game, I learned some very important information. Most of the time, if there’s a resource or material you need that you haven’t come across yet, there’s a good chance it’s locked behind one of those quests that doesn’t give you a reward list. Don’t stress, just play. Finish quests, don’t avoid side quests, and you’ll get there.

Enshrouded is now available on PC.