In its latest update, Enshrouded’s terrifying monsters have players asking ‘are we the baddies?’

Enshrouded’s latest update, “Thralls of Twilight,” could be its best yet, filling the game with terrifying new monsters and spicing up night-time adventures with new items and vaults.

I’ve been playing Enshrouded since its early access launch, but none of its updates have caught my attention like Thralls of Twilight. If you haven’t tried Enshrouded yet, there’s never been a better time to give it a shot.

For starters, Thralls of Twilight took Embervale’s deadly Shroud zones to a whole new level with major landscape improvements and a slew of new monsters straight out of the realm of cosmic horror. As someone who no longer bats an eye at the original zombie-like monsters crawling the Shroud, these new terrors are a welcome change of pace, especially since Keen Games also added new items and loot exclusive to the Shroud.

Fighting those creepy crawlies is more exciting now, too, thanks to new weapon gems. Now some high-rarity weapons will have a gem slot where you can equip various gems dropped by powerful NPCs. You have to find a Gem Forge to add or remove gems, but your reward is a customizable magic weapon.

Speaking of customization, Thralls of Twilight also introduced armor tinting, so you can now customize all of your armor using a variety of color schemes, similar to the armor customization in V Rising. It’s a minor change, but one I’m excited to see (it also makes it easier to tell your co-op teammates apart when players are wearing the same armor set).

While all of that is exciting, possibly the most important part of Thralls of Twilight is how it totally transforms nighttime in Embervale. There are now patrols of enemies that wander the map at night, certain gatherables that only appear at night, and even vaults you can only open after the sun’s gone down. Vastly improved lighting throughout the game makes it much easier to travel after nightfall, as well.

On top of all that, Thralls of Twilight brings a little extra spice to Enshrouded’s lore. A trailer for the update is narrated by one of the game’s monsters, told from their perspective. It recasts players as the vicious killers that must be stopped.

Some players might see the trailer as satirical, especially the bits about “vanity” and “excess,” which could be a humorous nod to some of the extravagant bases players have built in Enshrouded.

While I got a chuckle out of that myself, the trailer and the introduction of so many new monsters also hint that Enshrouded’s lore might be more complex than we thought. The monsters plaguing Embervale are supposedly mutations created from the Shroud, which emerged from the abandoned Elixir Wells all over the map. The Shroud and all its monsters are basically a corruption that the Flameborn (the players) must heal to bring the world back from demise.

Thralls of Twilight brings a little more texture to that story by hinting at some level of unity on the monsters’ side that we haven’t really seen thus far. At the very least, it reinforces that the creatures from the Shroud are hellbent on spreading their corruption and see the Flameborn as the real monsters.

Regardless of whose side you’re on, you should check out the new cosmic horror baddies and much-needed lighting improvements in Enshrouded’s Thralls of Twilight update. It’s currently still in early access, but Keen Games plans to launch the 1.0 release in spring 2026.