When a game is tagged as “Survival” on Steam, I expect it to include at least the basic survival mechanics. However, upon launch, Enshrouded lived up to all its other tags, but the survival aspect was lacking. Now six months into early access, Keen Games is addressing this issue in the third major update to Enshrouded.

The developers introduced a variety of difficulty settings, such as relaxed, to make the game easier for those who either just want to enjoy the world and its story or build a massive base. Hard mode is the opposite, here enemies are cranked up to the max and will take some work to take down. The new difficulty that has me most excited is Survival. The monsters are as tough as they would be on hard more, but they also added a few unique features like a classic staple of the survival genre, the hunger bar. You will not only need to eat to stay alive, but if you die, you will also have to retrieve all your dropped items.

Additionally, you can create a custom game mode. There are around 30 settings for you to mess around with to make your desired way to play. This is perfect for people who like to have the survival mechanics but struggle with the combat. You can even make all mobs passive, so the monsters won’t attack until provoked. You can make your character strong by giving yourself a massive health and mana boost, or you can flip these settings to the other side and make your character as weak as paper for the ultimate challenge run. The difficulty can be changed at any time from the save select menu, so even if you have an old world, you can enjoy what this update has to offer.

If you enjoy building, the developers added three new furniture items. Mannequins for displaying armor, a weapon stand, and a decorative shelf so you can display your spoils of war. Alongside this, there are also a few more character customization options, which include different colors for your skin, eyes, and eyebrows. If you are overwhelmed by the variety of settings, there are also six new preset characters to choose from.

What do you think about the new Survival difficulty? Let me know in the comments.