Keen Games to release Enshrouded into Early Access on 24 January

After the success of the demo at the last Steam Next Fest, Frankfurt-based Keen Games has set the Early Access date for Enshrouded. It won't happen this year, but the ambitious co-op survival action RPG will launch on 24 January 2024.

German game studio Keen Games will launch co-op survival action RPG Enshrouded on 24 January 2024 via Steam for PC in Early Access. The title was first revealed in May 2023 and was a huge success at the last Steam Next Fest, winning the Most Played Demo, Most Wanted Game and Most Daily Active Users awards. Following the success of Portal Knights, which was published by 505 Games, Enshrouded is the first title from the Frankfurt-based company to be released independently. Console versions will follow later.

The Early Access launch was originally planned for this year, but the huge success of the demo means there will be no compromise on quality. The announcement reads: "With over 20 years of experience in a tight-knit team, Keen Games has learned to expect the unexpected. The release date was chosen because the team felt it was important to follow up the monumental success of the demo with a high quality Early Access launch. The team shares this announcement with great excitement and gratitude for the community and their support to date, including the surprise critical success of the Steam Next Fest demo.

The development team used Portal Knights as the spiritual basis for Enshrouded, but also drew inspiration from survival games such as Valheim. In general, they prefer a more relaxed approach to the survival elements. "The aim was to provide a more pleasant introduction to the survival genre and leave enough room for fun. Elements inspired by The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Minecraft have also been implemented in terms of the openness and variety of crafting and building options," says the Frankfurt-based company.