Enshrouded: Getting Started & First Base

You do not need a perfect base in Enshrouded — you need a working one before the world starts asking for materials you cannot gather with starting gear. This route covers your first session: land, anchor an altar, get production moving, and take one controlled look at the Shroud.

First session, in order

1. Place your first Flame Altar as soon as the opening lets you. It anchors where you can build and where you respawn — everything else grows from it.
2. Build the minimum: shelter, storage, and a crafting station next to the altar, before you wander far in any direction.
3. Start the gather–craft loop. Collect what the area offers, hunt for materials, and craft the upgrades that unlock the next tier of gathering.
4. Take the survivors' quests and bring NPCs home. Each one you rescue expands your settlement's production — farming, crafting and refining — which is what turns scavenging into a supply line.
5. Scout the Shroud border before you enter. Note where the fog starts, pick one material you need, and plan the trip as in-and-out rather than a full expedition.
6. Make the first run short. Enter, fight only what blocks the material, grab it, and return to the altar. Dying far inside the Shroud costs you the whole trip.
7. Invest the haul into gear and skills rather than stockpiling it — the Shroud's deeper rings are gated by how well you fight, not by how much you carry.

Building a base you will keep

Put the altar where you have room to expand: flat ground, a nearby resource cluster, and a short path toward the nearest Shroud edge. Voxel building means the shape is entirely yours, but the practical layout is boring on purpose — storage and crafters near the altar, farming plots just outside, and a clear wall line on the side the fog faces.

Playing with friends

Co-op uses the same world, so decide early whether the base is yours alone or shared. On PC that is up to 16 players, on PS5 up to 8, with no direct PC↔PS5 crossplay at launch — Adventure Sharing covers visiting a world across platforms. Because production is settlement-wide, one shared base on a shared save beats everyone building separately.