The co-op survival RPG that took Steam Next Fest by storm has a release date, and it's soon-ish

Guy with pickaxe looking at village
(Image credit: Keen Software)

Co-op survival RPG Enshrouded had a killer run in October when it was the most played and wishlisted demo at Steam Next Fest. I was one of the people playing it, too: Keen Games' voxel-based open world RPG ticks a lot of boxes with me, like exploration, building, crafting, hunting, farming, and even grappling hooks and wingsuits. Heck, I even complained like a spoiled child that Enshrouded's eight hour demo wasn't long enough for my tastes.

So the question on everyone's fingertips is: when do we get the rest of it? Soonish. Keen Games has finally announced the early access launch date. Enshrouded will release on January 24, 2024

Accompanying the announcement is a boisterous new trailer showing off combat, stealth, magic, destructible environments, underground bases, a scaly new boss, and a narrator who seems shocked to discover all that stuff is crammed in there.

Will I complain like a spoiled child (again) that Enshrouded isn't coming out this year? I probably shouldn't. Don't get me wrong, I want to, especially since my other most-wanted game (Manor Lords) recently announced it too is not coming until next year. In fact, a bunch of games I was looking forward to this year slid into 2024.

These things happen. I'm just excited to play Enshrouded and I'm excited other people are excited. After the quick one-two-three punch of Baldur's Gate 3, Starfield, and Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 at the end of the summer, I've been genuinely wondering if gamers are really as interested in new co-op survival games as they were back in February when Sons of the Forest came out. After Enshrouded's performance during Next Fest, it looks like they are.

Christopher Livingston
Senior Editor

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.