Highlights

  • Enshrouded poses formidable competition to Palworld due to their similarities in genre and early access release timing.
  • Enshrouded offers a more immersive narrative experience, including collectible books and intriguing characters, while Palworld relies on nostalgia and base-building.
  • Enshrouded already surpasses Palworld in quality-of-life features, such as fast travel and terraforming, as well as offering a larger skill tree and visually impressive graphics.

Palworld has taken off at a rapid pace, mostly due to its bizarre premise and nostalgia-inducing Pokemon-esque features. Now, developer Keen Games looks to steal the show with its open-world survival crafting RPG Enshrouded, which just entered early access and has already amassed a significant following.

Palworld and Enshrouded are undeniably different experiences, but they are nonetheless similar in genre and, for the most part, objectives. This, and the fact that they both entered early access around the same time, make them competitors somewhat. Despite being similar in many ways, their differences are clear, and it seems Palworld may have a rather formidable opponent in Enshrouded.

Palworld Pals all in different moods
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Palworld May Have a Formidable Opponent in Enshrouded

Enshrouded Offers More of a Story Than Palworld

In Enshrouded, players awaken as a Flameborn, "humanity's last beacon of hope," in the world of Embervale. As a Flameborn, players possess an "inner Flame," which allows them to withstand a deadly, all-consuming fog known as "the Shroud" for a brief period. The game's namesake is its Enshrouded mechanic, which triggers once players enter the Shroud.

Upon entering the Shroud, players can remain Enshrouded for five minutes before the fog claims their life unless they can find glowing hourglass capsules that extend their time. However, the benefits of being within the Shroud far outweigh the risks, as players can find rare and valuable rewards while inside.

Whereas Palworld relies on the power of nostalgia in its Pokemon-like qualities to keep players moving forward, Enshrouded actually has somewhat of a narrative, even to the point of including collectible books with worldbuilding lore scattered throughout Embervale. Players will encounter many different intriguing characters on their journey through Embervale as well, which adds to the game's charm and narrative appeal. Some of these NPCs can even be summoned to the player's base to provide various services.

Enshrouded could certainly be considered a bit more linear than Palworld, though not by much. This is primarily due to the subtle story that encourages the player to keep moving. Palworld's progression revolves around collecting Pals and upgrading the base, and simply drops players into its world with little instruction but "capture and build." Enshrouded, on the other hand, constantly feeds the player quests and objective markers to nudge them forward.

Enshrouded's Quality of Life Already Outshines Palworld's

Despite being in early access, Enshrouded already has plenty of quality-of-life features that are not currently found in Palworld. For example, players can fast-travel from anywhere in Enshrouded, whereas Palworld players can only fast-travel between Great Eagle Statues. Enshrouded also allows players to terraform using landscaping tools, which is a feature that Palworld is currently lacking and in dire need of.

Enshrouded leans heavily into its RPG elements, much more so than Palworld. Palworld's skill progression is largely tied to crafting recipes, though players can still upgrade their avatar's basic stats each time they level. On the contrary, Enshrouded offers a sizable skill tree with 12 different paths for players to take, each of which offers skills and upgrades for a unique class.

Despite being in early access, Enshrouded already has plenty of quality-of-life features that are not currently found in Palworld .

From a visual standpoint, Enshrouded is a bit more impressive than Palworld, though it could be argued that each game's world and premise are accurately represented by its visuals. Enshrouded's visuals look a bit like Fable and Dark Souls combined, casting a little bit of magic and whimsy over Dark Souls' typical foreboding atmosphere.

With both Palworld and Enshrouded in early access, there will likely be a healthy number of updates and improvements made to each game moving forward. However, Enshrouded's world, narrative, gameplay, and quality-of-life features already present a valid case for why Palworld fans should keep an eye on it, especially as it continues to receive care from its developer.