Kicking off 2024 in fantasy style, Keen Games launched its open-world sandbox RPG Enshrouded into Early Access to a spate of positive and promising reviews from both critics and audiences alike. Now that the dust has settled and we’re three months out from its initial release, The Nerd Stash recently had the opportunity to sit down virtually with the game’s Creative Director, Antony Christoulakis. In it, we discuss what the future holds for the online role-playing experience. So, without further ado, let’s get into it, shall we?
Enshrouded Interview with Antony Christoulakis
Editor’s Note: The following interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
The Nerd Stash Editor, Dylan Chaundy: We’re a few months out from Enshrouded’s early access launch on PC. How do you feel the initial release has gone and how does it feel seeing the community finally diving in and exploring the land of Embervale?
Antony Christoulakis: This has been a phenomenal release that certainly surpassed all our expectations. We are really grateful that we have such a large and very positive community already. It’s really cool to be able to watch people on Twitch or Youtube playing the game and reacting in an unfiltered way. We’ve worked on the game for many years now. And at some point you lose the ability to judge how well things work from the perspective of a new player. So I really enjoy watching streams and learning from that.
Dylan: Clearly, Enshrouded is inspired by open-world experiences like Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. What were some of your other inspirations behind the game’s setting and story and why do they resonate with you?
Antony Christoulakis: We had a lot of influences and Zelda: Breath of the Wild was certainly a big one in terms of the way they embraced open-world exploration. I’ve been a D&D (pen & paper) fan for a very long time. So creating an open-world game where you can go on adventures with friends and become part of the world was always something I wanted to do. As a kid, I was fascinated by archeologic sites. So I wanted to create a world shrouded in mystery with the romantic beauty of abandoned places.
Dylan: Even though Enshrouded is steeped in history and boasts rich lore, it’s fair to say that there’s less of an emphasis on narrative than, say, exploration and a sense of adventure. Will you be adding more story elements as the game closes in on its full 1.0 launch?
Antony Christoulakis: For us, it was important that we create a world that has history and lore to be discovered and pieced together, but uses less direct storytelling as it’s really about the players’ own story and adventures. Players should be driven by their own goals. The game should just offer inspirations from various sources. We will for sure continue to flesh out the world, expand its lore and introduce more NPCs in the future.
Dylan: While we’re on the subject, what’s the overall roadmap looking like for the game’s full launch?
Antony Christoulakis: We recently published our roadmap of features for this year. (You can check out Enshrouded‘s official roadmap here.)
Dylan: Adventuring in the vast open-world of Enshrouded is a real thrill. What are the feelings that you really wanted to evoke within the player while they’re out exploring Embervale?
Antony Christoulakis: It’s exactly that: ‘a sense of adventure.’ We made sure to hide a lot of secrets in our hand-crafted world. So discovery of big and small things feels meaningful and engaging. The two sides of the world, the warm and sunlit world above and the mysterious, darker and dangerous world below the deadly clouds of the shroud hopefully provide a refreshing contrast in tone and at the same time create structure for the world to explore. I see that interesting-looking ruin on an island in the sea of clouds. But I need to find a safe passage through the shroud to get there… and there are always multiple ways to reach a desired destination – each of these ways can be a little adventure.
Dylan: The survival action-RPG genre is quite a crowded market. How do you think Enshrouded sets itself apart from other games of its ilk?
Antony Christoulakis: I think our unique setting with its hand-crafted world exploration, as well as our voxel building system that allows for really great creative freedom are key aspects of differentiation to other survival games out there. But, I also think our combat with free class specialization and deep character development is something that differentiates us. It’s always tough to find a sweet spot with something that feels familiar enough. But at the same time different and fresh, so players give it a chance.
Dylan: The monster designs are really cool, and I particularly love the hulking dragon-like Fell Wispwyvern. Were there any specific influences when it came to the monster designs, or were their composition more organic and natural?
Antony Christoulakis: Our concept artist will be happy to hear that! :) We made several revisions to our creature designs until we settled on what is in the game now. As mentioned above it’s always about finding a good spot between familiar and fresh. So there is a basis for players to connect with it. Fortunately, our world allows for a great bandwidth of things as it has the two sides of the world above, which feels more familiar and the world below that gets more dark and outlandish/eerie.
Dylan: Do you have any plans to expand Enshrouded with paid or free DLC once the game leaves early access?
Antony Christoulakis: We might offer paid DLC at some point after full release (similar to what we did with Portal Knights), but we haven’t decided yet. We definitely plan to support Enshrouded with further updates beyond Early Access for years to come and work closely with our community to make it the best game possible.
Enshrouded is available now in Early Access on PC, and is scheduled to launch on Xbox Series X|S and PS5 in 2025.
