‘There is a world beyond Embervale’: Enshrouded dev diary paves the way to 1.0 in fall of 2026, says ‘development will continue for years to come’

It’s not a concrete release date yet, but in today’s Enshrouded roadmap update, Keen Games announced a new 1.0 release window set for fall 2026. The shift isn’t a big departure from the original spring target and not entirely unexpected after last year’s Wake of the Water delay.

The announcement came as part of Enshrouded’s anniversary update and new roadmap reveal, celebrating two years in early access with details on upcoming features and rather interesting player milestones. Players have somehow spent nearly 21,000 years collectively exploring Embervale, and Steam says I’ve contributed 300 hours towards that myself, so I’m not wagging my finger at anybody.

And even though parts of it remain unfinished, Keen Games says a whopping 5 million players have started the journey through Embervale’s massive map. The added animal husbandry features seem pretty popular too, though I’m interested to know what kinds of critters make up the “6 million pets tamed” stat. I pick up every goat I see, so I reckon the goats I keep stuffing in chests account for about half that figure.

Anyway, today’s celebratory player stats are cool and all, but I’m more interested in what Enshrouded’s reworked path to 1.0 looks like. You can watch the developer diary below for additional context from Enshrouded community lead Francois and creative director Antony Christoulakis, plus check out my quick rundown below on this year’s update highlights (including a patch for tomorrow).

Enshrouded 2026 roadmap and fall release window

Enshrouded Twitch Drops and Patch 13

Starting tomorrow, on Thursday, January 22, you can collect another vanity gearset through Enshrouded Twitch Drops after Patch 13 goes live. If you prefer earning those items the good old-fashioned way instead, you can also start the quest for Enshrouded’s fancy new armor by speaking to the Huntress in-game.

As for more on Enshrouded Patch 13, we don’t know much else until the patch notes go live tomorrow, but the highlights so far include:

Combat improvements to blocking/parry telegraphy, projectile accuracy, and text visibilityRandomly exploding barrels will explode less randomly (thank god)Bug fixes to improve stability and performance

(Image credit: Keen Games)

Spring 2026 early access updates

Adventure Sharing system for sharing creations with the communityGeneral polish improvements, game balance, and bug fixes

Fall 2026 1.0 updates

Adventure Sharing update with new logic elements, spawners, and trapsNew areas within the world map, including added enemies and challengesAddressing combat criticisms through added technical depth. Includes enemy behavior, balancing changes, and improved enemy varietyFaster shader compilation and other optimization-focused updates, especially for lower-end systemsImprovements to the new player experienceQoL updates for quest progression

What’s in store for Enshrouded after 1.0?

After hitting the roadmap highlights, Christoulakis briefly detailed Enshrouded’s future beyond the version jump, noting it’s “not an end, but another beginning” for the team’s work in Embervale and that they plan to update the base building RPG “for years to come.”

Some of those will be free, though Christoulakis also mentioned Keen’s long-term support includes paid expansions. With how massive the current world is, I’m not really hurting for things to do in the base game right now, but I can see myself eventually growing bored with my current set of blocks and ready to build elsewhere.

And if that’s ever the case, it sounds like I’m in luck. According to Christoulakis, the team has even more planned for Enshrouded’s distant future, and he ends the video with, “There is a world beyond Embervale, and we’re really happy to explore that together with you.”