Enshrouded 1.0 Review Roundup: Critics Call It One of the Best Survival Games, but Players Want Better Performance

The Enshrouded 1.0 review scores are in, and critics love it. Keen Games' survival action RPG left Early Access on 15 October 2026, and the PC version has an 88 Metascore from 12 critic reviews, all of them positive. Critics call it one of the best survival crafting games around. On Steam, players mostly agree, but performance after the 1.0 update is the most common complaint.

This is a roundup of what critics and players say about the full release, not our own review.

Enshrouded 1.0 review roundup at a glance

What is the Enshrouded 1.0 Metacritic score?

On PC, Enshrouded 1.0 has a Metascore of 88, based on 12 critic reviews, and every one of them is positive. The Metacritic user score is 8.1. The PS5 version has three reviews so far (PC Games 90, TheSixthAxis 90 and Jeuxvideo.com 85), which isn't yet enough for a Metascore.

OpenCritic shows an 82 Top Critic Average, with 93% of critics recommending it. That's lower because OpenCritic keeps one page for the game, so it still includes reviews of the Early Access version from 2024, such as IGN's 7/10. The 1.0 reviews are higher.

What critics loved

• Try Hard Guides gave it 100, calling it "an exemplary entry into its genre" that delivers the best of survival crafting and action RPG exploration.
• GamingBolt (90) said two years in Early Access helped it emerge "as one of the best survival crafting games in the business".
• Hardcore Gamer (90) called it "a phenomenal achievement in survival RPGs", praising the Sparkworks system that lets you design and share your own dungeons.
• 4P.de (90) compared its building system to Minecraft's, and PC Games (90) praised its "incredibly versatile voxel-based building system".
• TheSixthAxis (90, PS5) called it its favourite of the recent survival games, "arguably" the best of the year.
• CGMagazine (8.5) said 1.0 "delivers on everything that was originally promised".
• GAMES.CH (85) liked that it puts exploration and freedom first, so it doesn't feel like "a second job".

The world comes up again and again: critics praise the handcrafted map, the views and the reasons it gives you to keep exploring. Many also say it works well solo and gets even better with friends.

What critics didn't like

Even the positive reviews had reservations:

• Jeuxvideo.com (85) said it doesn't reinvent the survival formula, the combat "still lacks a bit of depth" and the voxel world shows its limits.
• Uagna.it (85) felt resource management could be less fragmented, the graphics are sometimes inconsistent and some boss fights need more polish.
• Several critics said it leans more towards action RPG than hardcore survival, which suits some players better than others.

What players are saying about Enshrouded 1.0

Enshrouded is Very Positive on Steam, with 86% of more than 109,000 reviews positive. In a sample of the 100 most helpful reviews from the week after launch, 79 were positive. Players praise the building and the world, but performance is the biggest complaint:

• Ciri called it the "best building system in a game I've ever seen" and gave it 10/10.
• The Peak reported sub-60 fps at 1440p on high settings with low CPU and GPU usage, and blamed the game for leaning on a single CPU core.
• shadowseba said performance dropped after 1.0 and the game looked blurrier, noting that DLSS was switched on by default.
• BadMedium enjoyed it overall but felt the world is "a little bit lifeless".
• M asked for a toggle sprint option, which currently needs a config file change.

These are players' opinions. Keen Games hasn't confirmed a single-core performance problem, although its 1.0.0.3 hotfix does improve stuttering with V-Sync on AMD graphics cards.

What have the Enshrouded 1.0 hotfixes fixed?

Keen Games has released three hotfixes since launch:

• Hotfix 1.0.0.1 (15 October): random crashes, an indoor lighting problem, and the Fire Wisp scroll, which is now fixed at level 27 because it had become "ridiculously strong" in the endgame. Keen also suggested keeping the master volume at 100% to avoid a reverb bug.
• Hotfix 1.0.0.2 (16 October): a bug that stopped you configuring world settings, a grey fog rendering issue on NVIDIA cards (especially in the Hollow Halls), crashes when gliding or fast travelling in busy worlds, and server crashes in very large fights.
• Hotfix 1.0.0.3 (21 October): missing Early Access rewards are now redeemable from the pause menu, crashes linked to the water simulation and to factories are fixed, save migration is more reliable, an endless black screen when joining multiplayer games is fixed, and V-Sync stutter on AMD cards is improved.

Keen posts every changelog on its Steam news page.

Watch the Enshrouded 1.0 launch trailer

Should you buy Enshrouded 1.0?

If you like building and exploring, critics and players agree it's one of the best survival games you can buy right now, alone or with friends. If you want punishing hardcore survival or deep combat, it's lighter than some rivals. On PC, check that your hardware is comfortably above the recommended specs, and expect some tuning while Keen works through the post-launch issues. New to the game? Start with our Enshrouded 1.0 guide.

More survival games on iGame Magazine

• Enshrouded 1.0 guide – what's new and what to do first
• Enshrouded 1.0 is out – launch day players and what comes next
• Enshrouded mage guide – the best magic builds for 1.0
• Windrose guide – another co-op survival game worth a look

Enshrouded 1.0 review FAQ