Valheim but has friendly NPCs, voxel based building, tunnel digging (including through floors and walls).

Day 1 purchase, nuff said.

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It's quite clear as originally indicated the game has a lot in common with Valheim. While there are some differences, overall if you liked Valheim you'll probably enjoy playing Enshrouded. In addition, if there were things you didn't like about Valheim, there are also things you won't like about Enshrouded.

Some Noteable Similarities:

• Some recipes get discovered by acquiring a material or crafting item for the first time.
  
• A significant portion of gear/technology progression is tied to the elimination and looting of bosses.
  
• In combat, generally speaking the player wants to avoid facetanking enemies. Blocking/parrying/dodging are a good idea even in 1 vs 1 engagements due to the relatively high damage of some enemies.
  
• Consuming food is for buffs and health/stamina regeneration. The player won't die standing still and not eating (i.e. no hunger/thirst mechanic).
  
• Getting the rested buff by being in the presence of fire and comfort items in a sheltered area.

Some Noteable Differences:

• The player can build with very small blocks of all building type materials, allowing for a much more refined final creation. Building has no structure integrity in Enshrouded.
  
• Enemy difficulty is based on levels and there aren't champion/elite variants in Enshrouded.
  
• Enemies don't respawn in the presence of the player in Enshrouded.
  
• Progression in Enshrouded is tied to both boss killing and NPC crafter acquisition and subsequent quests (to collect crafting related items so you can make additional workstations).
  
• Player growth in Valheim is largely influenced by skill-ups but in Enshrouded it's from leveling, ability points and upgrading the Flame Altar.
  
• Valheim is significantly more visually atmospheric when compared to the non-shrouded areas in Enshrouded. The weather effects and biome specific lighting are top notch in Valheim. Outside of the shroud in Enshrouded there aren't weather effects like rain and storms, it's either light during day or dark during night with a small sunrise/sunset transition in between as appropriate.
  
• There's a significant amount of lore notes and quests in Enshrouded as opposed to the handful of objectives you get in Valheim.
  
• Enshrouded's map isn't procedurally generated. I've noticed the design of the POIs is a bit more involved and the traversal/exploration based puzzles associated with them are pretty satisfying to solve.
  
• There are no PvE raids in Enshrouded like there are in Valheim.
  
• Don't appear to be set-bonuses for armor in Enshrouded.
  
• Seems more convenient to get gear upgrades by finding high rarity drops in the world and upgrading them with runes rather than crafting in Enshrouded. Perhaps this changes later in the game.
  
• Health potions aren't on timers in Enshrouded.
  
• There aren't elemental effects to worry about in Enshrouded that requires specific gear (such as extreme cold).

Overall a very solid entry into Early Access with a strong foundation capable of significantly differentiating itself from other titles and providing a satisfying experience for fans of the open world crafting survival/survival-like type games. Though it certainly will still give off strong vibes from other games, such as Valheim.

The following are some lasting thoughts on some key differences between Enshrouded and Valheim:

• No real logistics around the transport of key resources (i.e. metal via boat). Magnified by the fact there's no weight mechanic and you can use a glider to traverse long distances as well as teleport between Ancient Spires and Flame Altars.
  
• No structural integrity mechanics for building.
  
• No real consumable/gear requirements for traversing different zones based on weather effects.

Looking forward to seeing if any of the changes made during Early Access affect any of the above.