Skip to main content

How to play Enshrouded with friends

A player character on a mountain in Enshrouded.
Keen Games GmbH

Enshrouded is a brand new fantasy survival adventure where players explore the world of Embervale, which has been invaded by a mysterious corrupting fog.

You can certainly explore this world on your own, but it's designed to be tackled co-op with other players. If you need help figuring out how to jump into the game with friends, we've got you covered.

Recommended Videos

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

  • Enshrouded

  • A paid server platform (if creating a dedicated server)

Private server menu in Enshrounded.
Keen Games GmbH

How to start a private solo server

If you're just starting to play Enshrouded and are learning the ropes or just want to test a build when you aren't playing with others, you can quickly jump into a private solo server and keep to yourself. This server will be saved locally and will not be accessible to anyone else (unless you later decide to convert it to a public server).

Step 1: From the main menu, select Play.

Step 2: On the play selection screen, select Private.

Get your weekly teardown of the tech behind PC gaming
Check your inbox!

Step 3: Select the Create button next to New Game. You can name your server and immediately jump into the game.

Step 4: When you return to the game, you'll find a list of all of your private servers here.

Public server creation menu in Enshrouded.
Keen Games GmbH

How to create a server to play with friends

You can also create a server to play with up to 16 other players at once. You can create a password-protected server to play with only invited friends or a public server that allows any player to join.

Step 1: From the main menu, select Play.

Step 2: On the play selection screen, select Host.

Step 3: Select the Create button next to New Game. Here you can name your server, set a password and set a limit on the number of players that can join the server. You can also adjust these settings later by selecting Edit from the Start a public game menu.

Joining server menu in Enshrouded.
Keen Games GmbH

How to join an existing server

Once you've created a server, your friends will have to find it to join. You can also explore these menus to browse and join other public servers hosted by other players. Hosting a server stored locally gives you server control. While online, others can join; however, if you log out, the server becomes inactive.

Hosting as server can be taxing on your PC, depending on its quality. Hosting a server for a few friends is possible but a hosting a 16-person server requires more serious hardware.

Step 1: From the main menu, select Play.

Step 2: On the play selection screen, select Join.

Step 3: In the Online games menu, you'll be presented with a long list of public servers to join.

Step 4: Use the Server filter sidebar to find a server. If you're looking for a specific server, your best bet is using the server name search bar to find it. If you have a lot of friends playing, you can also select the filter that only shows friend sessions to narrow your options.

Step 5: When you've found the correct server, select Join. If the server is password protected, you'll be asked to enter a password. Otherwise, you'll immediately enter the game.

Sam Hill
Former Digital Trends Contributor
As Digital Trends' Gaming evergreen lead, Sam Hill is here to help you find your new favorite game and dive right in. The…
Finally, a good vampire video game to sink your teeth into
cabernet vampire game recommendation hed

You would think with so many vampires in video games that we’d have more actual good vampire video games. Yet despite everything from Castlevania to The Sims 4 including blood suckers in some form or another, most games miss the point of what has made vampires so compelling. They lack bite.

That is, the biting commentary vampires excel at as vessels of our larger societal fears during any given moment in time. There are -- at best -- two vampire video games that successfully pull this off: 2004’s Vampire: The Masquerade -- Bloodlines and 2018’s Vampyr. With the release of narrative RPG Cabernet, that number goes up to three.
A night on the town
Vampires are social monsters. The terror they inflict comes from their ability to look like us and glide through regular society while carefully picking off prey to feed upon. While they have different powers depending on the story, mostly vampires use charm as their weapon of choice. This is the core idea behind Cabernet. Much like 2022’s Pentiment, this is largely a game about talking to people and building relationships. The caveat is that those relationships likely always come with a price.

Read more
You can try a radical new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game on Steam right now
The Ninja Turtles pose together in key art from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown.

Steam Next Fest is here and you're likely about to be up to your eyeballs in video game demos. There are plenty of promising indies you can try for free during the event, and we'll coming at you with some recommendations as we uncover the gems. If you need a place to start, though, look no further than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tactical Takedown.

The Turtles' latest adventure is unlike any they've embarked on before. It's not some form of beat-em-up, but a turn-based strategy game by I Am Your Beast developer Strange Scaffold. The tactics genre may sound like an odd fit for our reptilian friends on paper, but it works surprisingly well. That's thanks to a new spin on the genre that gives players much more to do on a single turn. It's a fast-paced tactics game that feels spiritually linked to the Turtles' arcade days in ways you may not see coming.

Read more
Steam Next Fest: what it is, start times, games, and more
The Steam Next Fest logo.

We all have a list of upcoming video games that we're eagerly awaiting getting our hands on. Waiting is always the hardest part, but Valve tries to make that wait a little bit more bearable with its Steam Next Fest events. Hosted multiple times a year, this gives PC players a chance to play demos for a ton of upcoming PC games while the celebration is going on. This is the perfect chance to get an early look at some games you have on your wishlist, but also get exposed to some new games you hadn't heard of before. This is a major event with tons to do and not a lot of time to do it, so here are all the details you need about Steam Next Fest to make the most of it.
What is Steam Next Fest?
Steam Next Fest - February 2024 Edition Official Trailer

In short, Steam Next Fest is an event Valve hosts during select times during the year where developers can all release demos for their upcoming games at once for everyone to see. The entire Steam page will be taken over with featured demos, streams, and more to encourage people to check out these projects and add them to their wishlists.

Read more