Retreat To Enen

I'm a bit sad about this one, it looked really cool. Movement makes me nauseous, no way to turn off the head bobbing. In-game menus and crafting not very intuitive. Graphics okay, but you can step into trees and they vanish. Awful visual effects when swimming, even if you stay above water.

Game was interesting, but a few major design choices made the game a not recommend. 1. Compass or some way to navigate beyond line of sight and 'navigation flags'. A soceity that can materialize or dematerialize items on command can't figure out a basic magnet? Uh, yeah ok. 2. Building options are lacking. Ir you don't build a box or rectangle house you *will not* be able to make a roof for that section due to the lack of an inverted corner roof piece. Every survival game of the last 10 years and more have this nifty thing called an inverted corner that, surprise surprise, allows for builds that aren't perfectly square or rectangular.

Retreat to Enen is a survival game built around a quiet, contemplative core, presenting a future in which humanity has rediscovered the value of nature after nearly destroying the planet. You play a young initiate sent to the island of Enen as part of a rite of passage, tasked with living in harmony with the land, meditating at ancient ruins, and slowly building a personal refuge. This premise sets a tone uncommon in the survival genre—one that emphasizes reflection and serenity over dominance and conquest. The world immediately reflects that tone: lush tropical beaches, towering redwoods, and icy northern plains envelop you with ambient wildlife, shifting weather, and soft environmental soundscapes. Simply walking through these biomes creates moments of genuine tranquility, and the visual design consistently reinforces the idea that this is a world worth protecting. The game blends traditional survival mechanics with its meditative philosophy, aiming to create a balance between resource gathering and spiritual restoration. You must hunt or forage for food, gather and purify water, craft tools and shelters, and maintain your health, stamina, and a unique “spirit” meter. That last mechanic is meant to anchor the game’s theme: visiting meditation domes refuels your spirit and unlocks new building recipes, encouraging regular moments of pause. In concept, it’s a refreshing twist. However, spirit functions mechanically as just another survival meter—one that drains over time and punishes you for neglecting it—so what should feel grounding can instead feel like yet another chore. Still, when taken at a slow pace, the rhythm of scavenging, crafting, exploring, and meditating begins to form a gentle loop that rewards patience. Base-building provides much of the long-term structure. As you progress through the island’s ruins, new construction options unlock, ranging from functional shelters to ornate decorations. Building becomes a way of expressing the personal retreat you are meant to create, and it’s here that the game’s quiet creativity shines. You can nestle a camp between redwoods, erect a small settlement on the shore, or craft a peaceful space overlooking the snowy North. These small acts of customization give the island character and allow the experience to feel like your own. Yet, the interface and systems behind crafting can feel underdeveloped. Many items lack clear explanations, and the game provides little guidance about how structures interact. As a result, trial and error becomes a larger part of the experience than it should be. Where Retreat to Enen struggles most is in its conflicting design philosophies. The survival mechanics often introduce pressures—rapid hunger and thirst decay, punishing status effects, limited resources—that run counter to the meditative atmosphere the game wants to foster. Instead of entering a peaceful flow, you may find yourself constantly checking meters or scrambling for basic sustenance. Moments that should feel serene, such as meditating at ancient domes or watching the sun rise over the ocean, can be interrupted by the demands of survival gameplay that seems more at home in harsher titles. The minimal tutorials and lack of clear tooltips amplify this tension; early hours can feel confusing as you are left to decipher systems without context. Despite these flaws, the game can be deeply rewarding when approached with the right mindset. Turning off hostile wildlife, slowing down, and leaning into the experience as a meditative journey rather than a traditional survival challenge reveals Retreat to Enen’s strengths. The environments are undeniably beautiful, exploration is calming, and the act of slowly building a quiet refuge can feel therapeutic. Completing the three-biome journey and unlocking the final meditation sites carries a sense of closure that fits the game’s reflective tone. Yet once that journey is complete, replay value becomes limited. Without a strong narrative or evolving systems, there is little incentive to return beyond the desire to exist in the world for its atmosphere alone. Ultimately, Retreat to Enen is an earnest and unusual entry in the survival genre—ambitious in theme, serene in tone, and occasionally conflicted in execution. For players seeking a slow-paced, nature-focused experience infused with mindfulness, it can offer something genuinely soothing. For those who want deeper mechanics, clearer systems, or a more robust survival loop, it may feel too thin or too inconsistent to satisfy. It is a game built with sincerity, and its most beautiful moments linger long after the frustrations fade. But it is also a reminder that crafting a peaceful experience within a survival framework is a delicate balance—one that Retreat to Enen reaches for bravely, even if it doesn’t always fully achieve it. Rating: 6/10

Es war mal wieder ein schönes Singleplayer survivalgame. Habs in 35 Stunden Komplett durchgespielt. Hat Spaß gemacht :) <3 War mal was anderes <3

A good game, worth playing. If you played Green Hell and liked it, you will like this game too. The beginning is hard, you have to think correctly to survive, then it becomes easy once you learn to use all the resources on the map. A little short, only 27 hours to get to the last map, but there you can turn a survival game into a building game. I recommend.

I love crafting survival games, but this one adding the element of meditation was just a cool little addition. I would love if they gave the option to have a guided meditation with every meditation station use.

After reading the reviews and seeing how many people struggled with the game, I still wanted to take on the challenge—it seemed like most of the complaints were just skill issues. However, this is now the second day I've tried to sit down and learn the game, only to run into a technical problem that makes it completely unplayable. The game fails to recognize the primary display monitor and instead launches on my third screen. The display is so offset that I can't even navigate to the settings because my mouse input doesn't register correctly. After years of following the game's concept and marketing, I was genuinely excited to finally try it out—only to be met with a frustrating, broken experience right out of the gate. Refund sent.

Couldn't even get past the main menu due to it opening in some high resolution and i couldn't get it to open on a single monitor.

Its a very unique game so I am not giving it a thumbs down. And it does actually have controller support. Theres an option in the games menu for it. However Steam by default will have kb+mouse emulation. If you turn that off for native gamepad support the controls actually work really well. Except for in the save menu you cannot choose an option there so need to revert back to kb+mouse emulation for controller. Anyway I gathered some sticks and stones and build my first shelter. Also was bit by a snake and drank some dirty water which got me infected. Will play again! Oh and I meditated. I love the game already just for that!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ idk the game was rilly hard to get in to but what it dose it dose kinda well.... i gess lol. read some of the other reviews then make your disishon. i like the game but i feel it still needs a ton of work. ill have to play it again to see if i like it lol. 7/2/25