World Settings and Difficulty

3:35 Enshrouded's world settings are five presets (Default, Relaxed, Hard, Survival and Custom), and choosing Custom opens about 40 individual settings: player health, mana and stamina, time in the Shroud, enemy amount, damage and health, boss strength, resource yields, crafting speed, experience, day and night length, hunger, durability and what you lose when you die. Keen Games has kept it that way on purpose. In its "Road to Release" video (Jan 21, 2026), Keen says that while combat gets more depth, "we will still keep it customizable as we have before", so "whether you're a fighter or a builder" you can enjoy the game your way, rather than "just dialing up the difficulty". The settings belong to the world, not the character, so friends on your server play by yours. Every setting below comes from Keen's support article, last updated Oct 18, 2026, and the 1.0 changelog; how to host is on Multiplayer and Co-op and Dedicated Servers.

Quick facts

Where to change world settings

On PC and PS5 you choose the settings when you create a world and can edit them later from the world list. At 1.0 Keen "unified the flow for starting a game" and turned the hosting menu into "easily selectable modes that allow additional configurations if needed" (1.0 changelog). Two launch bugs touched this menu: hotfix 1.0.0.1 broke the Edit button for some players (Keen's workaround was to subscribe to anything in Adventure Sharing first), and hotfix 1.0.0.2 on Oct 16, 2026 fixed "an issue that prevented configuring world settings" (Keen). If the menu misbehaves, see Server Troubleshooting.

On a dedicated server the preset is the line "gameSettingsPreset", and "only then", with "Custom", does the server read the individual values under "gameSettings". A value outside its range is replaced by the minimum or maximum; invalid text stops the server from booting and names the bad value in its console (Keen).

0:37 You are not locked in. The Louey7 Library's 1.0 settings guide (Oct 16, 2026) shows that "if you wish to change the world settings, you can actually do that anytime". In the world's edit menu, a Compare tab sets the presets side by side under four tabs (enemies, player, survival and resources), and pressing F opens Customize Difficulty, where every value can be changed one by one.

A few options are personal game settings, not world settings, and change only your own game: automatic loot collection, "put items into backpack first", aim assist, HUD visibility and the low-health vignette. Keen's "Things we're fixing for 1.0" video places the Updraft choice in "the game tab" too, while the changelog also lists its charge duration among the world settings.

The five presets

Keen's own descriptions (Server Gameplay Settings):

Keen does not publish the exact values each preset uses, as of Oct 28, 2026; the in-game Compare tab shows them.

Every world setting: player and survival

2:20 The health, mana and stamina sliders change only the maximum. Louey7 notes that this "does not change the regeneration", so at the easiest end a big health bar can feel slow to refill. For hunger, the counter is simple: with starvation on, drinking water from a water pouch helps, and the hungry state lasts 10 minutes by default, 5 to 20 if changed. Loot loss on death has three steps: the default drops what is in your backpack but not your equipped gear, the easier step keeps everything with no tombstone, and the harder one drops everything.

Every world setting: world, resources and experience

9:09 Keen's article contradicts itself on the recycling yield: its description gives a default of 0.1 (10%), while the default file it prints says 0.5 (50%). The 1.0 game settles it: Louey7 shows salvaging "starts at 50% by the default", up to 100% for a full refund or down to 0%, and points out that the "weapon upgrade cost" slider also changes the cost of upgrading other gear. The two 1.0 settings are from the 1.0 changelog, which says the pushback level "can be lowered to any level via the world settings"; Keen has not documented their file keys, as of Oct 28, 2026.

4:31 The pushback setting is the one builders change first. Louey7 calls it "the flame level required for shroud removal": the default is 11 "because they want you to get through the entire game" first, but it goes all the way down to Flame level 1 "if you prefer to just build". Fishing has a shortcut too: on Very Easy the fishing minigame disappears completely, and Mining XP is the only experience slider that goes down to 0%, which Louey7 suggests for groups where one player mines far more than the others.

Every world setting: enemies and bosses

2:08 In the 1.0 world menu, Enemy Amount starts on Automatic, Louey7's guide shows, "to automatically control the number of enemies", with Normal, Few, Many and Extreme as the alternatives; Keen's server file still writes Normal. Pacified Enemies still fight back once you provoke them.

7:03 Three enemy changes in 1.0 affect how these settings feel. Automatic counts "every player actively playing in the vicinity", not players elsewhere in Embervale; tutorial enemies now always spawn even on "few"; and Keen "reworked the values for the enemy damage slider" so it "better reflects the factual damage increase observed during combat" (1.0 changelog). Keen's 1.0 highlights add that enemies "no longer regain all their health instantly when you die", so a second try at a boss starts with it partly hurt, whatever the settings. Enemy strength also scales with group size (Keen, Feb 9, 2024).

Recommended setups

These are Vi.ki's suggestions, built from what Keen says each setting does; change them at any time.

Relaxed (building and story). Start from the Relaxed preset, which Keen built for "base-building and light-hearted adventuring". If fights still frustrate you, switch to Custom and lower Enemy Damage and Boss Damage, raise Shroud Time to 150% or 200%, and set Workstation Effectiveness, Mining Effectiveness and Plant Growth to 200% to cut the grind. Lower the Flame level for Shroud removal if you want to build in the fog early, and set fishing to Very Easy to skip its minigame. Pacified Enemies leaves the world peaceful until you start a fight, and No tombstone keeps everything on death. See Building Guide and Best Base Locations.

Solo. Default is Keen's recommendation for a first game, alone or not. Keep Enemy Amount on Automatic so camps match your party when friends drop in, then fine-tune only what bothers you: Shroud Time if you run out in the fog, Boss Health if a fight drags. Hollow Halls are the hardest solo content; Keen says a solo run is possible "but it might be a very challenging experience" (Keen). More on Tips and Tricks.

Hard. The Hard preset adds enemies and aggression. For a survival game on top, use Survival or Custom with Hunger on, Tombstone Mode "Everything", Shroud Time at 50%, Many or Extreme enemies and more Simultaneous Attacks, and a longer night. Raising Enemy Perception makes stealth harder. Turn Updraft back to its charged version and leave Glider Turbulence on. The Combat and Best Builds pages help you survive it.

Frequently asked questions

What difficulty should I play Enshrouded on? Keen Games recommends Default for a first Enshrouded playthrough; Relaxed has fewer enemies and more loot for builders, and Hard and Survival are tougher.

Can I change world settings later in Enshrouded? Yes. In Enshrouded you can edit a world's settings from the world list after creating it, and a dedicated server reads new values from enshrouded_server.json on its next start.

How do I turn off hunger in Enshrouded? Hunger is off by default in Enshrouded; it is on in the Survival preset and can be switched with "Hunger and Starvation" under Custom.

How do I make the Shroud timer longer in Enshrouded? Choose Custom in Enshrouded's world settings and raise Shroud Time up to 200%; upgrading the Flame, the Inner Fires skill and Shroud Survival Flasks also add time.

What does Automatic enemy amount do in Enshrouded? Added in Enshrouded 1.0, Automatic scales the number of enemies per encounter to the players actively playing nearby, ignoring players elsewhere in the world.

How do I keep my items when I die in Enshrouded? Set Tombstone Mode to "No tombstone" in Enshrouded's Custom world settings to keep everything; by default you drop your backpack's materials in a tombstone.

How long is a day in Enshrouded? By default an Enshrouded day lasts 30 minutes and a night 12; each can be set from 2 to 60 minutes.

Sources

• Server Gameplay Settings, Keen Games support, updated Oct 18, 2026, read Oct 20, 2026
• Release trailer, changelog... everything you need to wait for tomorrow!, Keen Games on Steam, Oct 14, 2026
• Changelog for Hotfix 1.0.0.2, Keen Games on Steam, Oct 16, 2026
• Back to the Shroud update, Keen Games on Steam, Jul 29, 2024
• On Quest Progression, Keen Games on Steam, Feb 9, 2024
• Hollow Halls update, Keen Games on Steam, Mar 26, 2024
• Enshrouded 1.0: Best World Difficulty Settings (Before You Play), The Louey7 Library, Oct 16, 2026 (video)
• Enshrouded - Road to Release, Enshrouded, Jan 21, 2026 (video)
• Enshrouded 1.0 - Update Highlights, Enshrouded, Oct 15, 2026 (video)