Early Access · updated September 12, 2026. Steam 1.0 is scheduled for October 15.
If Shroud progression blocks your next route, inspect Strengthen the Flame. If your workshop has reached the building boundary, inspect Upgrade Altar. The first advances the world's Flame progression; the second expands one base. Check which panel you have open before spending a Shroud Core or leaving to gather supplies.
Choose the right upgrade
| What you want | Menu option to inspect |
|---|---|
| A higher Shroud passage level | Strengthen the Flame |
| More available altars and stronger Flame benefits | Strengthen the Flame |
| More room around an existing base | Upgrade Altar |
Flame upgrades provide shared attribute bonuses and more strategic fast-travel bases.
Our recommended priority: if your next quest is blocked by progression, investigate strengthening first. Expand a base when a specific project needs the extra area. An empty extension is less useful than a workshop, garden, or comfortable route between the facilities you already use.
Read the blocker before starting another expedition
Look through the whole upgrade panel, including its prerequisites. An ingredient, a survivor requirement, and a required Flame level call for different next steps. Altar requirements include more than a material list.
- Missing ingredients: write down the shortfall and make that your gathering target.
- Missing survivors: return to your journal and pick the relevant rescue objective. More Sparks will not satisfy that requirement.
- Required Flame level: check Strengthen the Flame before collecting more materials for the base-area upgrade.
- Everything appears ready, but the action is unavailable: check your multiplayer permissions before replacing the altar.
For a crowded journal, start with the highlighted progression quests. Keen's Forging the Path update separates main and side quests and makes important progression objectives easier to identify. If a rescue or workshop is your next step, use the survivor unlock guide to choose a useful target.
Your first strengthening shopping list
For Flame level 2, the current reference lists 1 Spark, plus 5 each of Resin, Penny Bun, Bones, Shroud Liquid, and Animal Fur. Open the strengthening panel before leaving and compare its requirements with your inventory.
Sparks come from Flame Shrines and Flame Sanctums; the opening Flame-improvement quest explicitly directs you toward them. Track that objective rather than treating Sparks as another ordinary material to gather indiscriminately.
Make a short list of missing ingredients, not the full recipe. If you already own the necessary fur and bones, gathering more of either is optional. Reserve the required mushrooms before cooking a large batch of food. Check your equipment and leave enough empty inventory space for the resource you are actually missing.
Our suggested outing order is:
- Collect the missing supplies you can reach comfortably outside the Shroud.
- Make the Spark objective its own identifiable stop.
- Treat any required Shroud gathering as a separate, timed leg of the journey.
- Return to the altar and complete the intended upgrade before spending its materials elsewhere.
Use the Shroud survival guide for that timed leg. The point is to finish an upgrade reliably; collecting the entire list in one heroic expedition is unnecessary.
Expanding a base: the area ladder
These are the current base-area tiers. Dimensions describe the area's width, depth, and height.
| Altar level | Building area | Upgrade materials | Required Flame level |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 40 × 40 × 40 | Starting area | 1 |
| 2 | 80 × 80 × 80 | 1 Shroud Core | 1 |
| 3 | 120 × 120 × 120 | 5 Shroud Cores | 2 |
| 4 | 160 × 160 × 160 | 5 Shroud Nexus | 3 |
Before spending resources, sketch the next addition. A storage room beside the workshop is a concrete reason to expand; wanting the highest number in the menu is a less useful planning target. Position the new facilities so daily trips remain short. More area can make an awkward layout bigger without making it easier to use.
Getting a Shroud Core
Shroud Cores drop from Fell bosses, including the Fell Thunderbrute. Once the Alchemist is available, another route is crafting: 10 Shroud Spores and 10 Shroud Liquid produce 1 Shroud Core.
Choose the route that fits your present equipment and available supplies. If you already have the ingredients, check the crafting route before preparing another boss attempt. If you are heading to a boss for a quest anyway, consider whether that trip can supply the Core you need.
Keep an eye on competing projects. Cores also appear in storage and convenience recipes, so write down which upgrade gets the next one. Our survivor and workstation guide explains how to work through a missing crafting dependency; the storage guide covers the alternative investment.
Why an upgrade may still be unavailable
Start with the requirement displayed in red: distinguish an ingredient shortage from a missing prerequisite. Count what is available to the character performing the upgrade, and check the current Flame level before planning another area expansion.
In multiplayer, permission to build does not automatically include managing altars. For example, the standard Friend role in a hosted session can change the base while altar upgrades remain restricted. Ask the host to check the role you joined with in the server permission settings, or have an authorized player perform the upgrade. Keep the altar in place while checking this.
Upgraded, but still stuck: what to try next
First, reopen the altar and confirm which value changed. An expanded building area does not raise your Shroud passage level. If that was the wrong purchase for your route, inspect the strengthening requirements now rather than paying for another area expansion.
If the route is accessible but your timer is running out, plan a shorter trip with a clear exit. Keen recommends Shroud Survival Potions and finding safe places to leave the fog; see our Shroud survival guide for a return route checklist.
If your next upgrade needs a material you cannot make, follow that material back to its survivor and workshop. A production step may be a better next task than another boss run. If a survivor is reporting missing shelter, check their assigned bed before enlarging the whole base.
Give your next session one finish line: “rescue the survivor shown in my journal,” “make the missing Core,” or “finish the workshop that makes this ingredient.” Add the missing amount beside the task. That makes it easier to stop gathering once the upgrade is ready.
After strengthening, reassess the next quest instead of immediately buying another upgrade. If combat remains the obstacle, compare your gear upgrades and starter build priorities. Save the next material target in the adventure planner, or return to the Enshrouded hub.