Valheim

Valheim is one of those rare games that never loses its magic. No matter how many times I come back, it somehow pulls me right back in. I finished my third full playthrough about six months ago, and it still managed to consume my entire weekend the moment I reinstalled it. That's saying something for a survival game that's been in early access this long. Either Odin really wants me chopping trees, or I have absolutely no self-control. Visually, Valheim punches way above its weight. The lighting does so much of the heavy lifting, and the atmosphere is incredible. Sunrises, sunsets, and shafts of light breaking through dark forest canopies look genuinely cinematic. It's one of those games where you'll stop just to admire the view... right before a troll reminds you that sightseeing has consequences. I've seen people dismiss Valheim because of its low-poly graphics, but I couldn't disagree more. The art direction is fantastic and proves that style matters far more than photorealism. I still remember building my first tiny cabin by the water and being weirdly proud of it. Between the weather, lighting, music, and atmosphere, that little shack somehow felt more like home than the giant castles I've built in other survival games. If you're someone who values immersion over graphical realism, Valheim absolutely delivers. The co-op experience is easily one of the game's biggest strengths. I've met some genuinely great people through Valheim, both here on Steam and in the official Discord, and it's one of the few games my friend group never complains about reinstalling. There's always something useful to do, so everyone naturally falls into a role... unless you're that one friend (aka me, sorry Hafsol) who mysteriously disappears every time it's time to haul ore. Apparently my Viking ancestors weren't miners. Progression stays satisfying from beginning to end. Each biome introduces new resources, new crafting options, tougher enemies, and another boss to conquer. Combat encourages experimentation because no weapon works for every situation, and eventually you unlock magic, which feels hilariously out of place in a game that starts with, "Go hit a tree with a stick." Even after three full playthroughs, Valheim still has that "I'll just grab some wood" curse. Four hours later you've sailed halfway across the map, picked a fight you definitely weren't ready for, discovered another island, and started planning yet another base because this one is definitely going to be your forever home. Very few survival games have kept me coming back the way Valheim has. The exploration, building, atmosphere, and co-op experience are some of the best in the genre, and somehow the game still captures the same sense of adventure every time I start a new world. I can't wait for the full PlayStation release so my entire friend group can finally jump into the same world together. Skål to another few hundred hours... and probably another "forever" base.

As of this review, the game is a month and a half out from receiving its 1.0 release. My group and I finished all available content with roughly 90 hours of playtime, and we decided to collaborate on a review. As an FYI, the group I was playing with consisted of a veteran, a competent player, and a newbie to the genre (myself). We played at a brisk pace, crafting and upgrading new weapons and armour as needed, but not 100%ing every zone before killing the boss and moving to the next one. We played zero PVP (other than friendly duels with each other) and we did not play with or against random players. Our findings may or may not match your own given your personal playstyle. With all of this in mind, let's begin. --- The Good - The game is clearly designed with co-op in mind. The world is expansive enough, and the crafting deep enough, that it's beneficial to have different people to divvy up tasks. - Exploring the game is fun on its own. The biomes are colourful and varied, and the sheer number of materials to gather and secrets to uncover incentivizes searching every corner. In addition to standard walking/fighting your way through zones, you can also sail to different landmasses, which is very cool and fits well with the viking aesthetic. - With this in mind, progression is intuitive. Go to a new location, find new things, create new items, kill a boss, rinse and repeat. Speaking of killing, there's never a weapon or strategy that works for everything, which incentivizes experimentation (or, of course, having a party). Combat can be boiled down into 2-3 archetypes: during the early game, you have access to melee weapons and ranged weapons, and later down the line you have access to magic, which is an interesting (and, in my opinion) inspired choice that one might not expect in a viking-themed game. The combat itself isn't overly complicated, which may be a positive or a negative depending on your preferences, but there's enough to it that it feels satisfying to improve your skills and learn which weapons, consumables, etc. suit you best. - Speaking of preferences, difficulty is highly customizable in the game. If you don't want to grind as much, or if you find the combat too easy, or something else entirely, you can probably tweak that in the settings so the game plays more to your liking. We chose to leave the values vanilla, with the sole exception of allowing all items to be moved through all portals, rather than disallowing metal as in the base game - this may have been an error in hindsight. For the uninitiated, what this essentially means in practical terms is needing to create satellite bases in every biome as opposed to simply laying down portals to your main base as needed. We figured it'd clear up some grind (and it did), but one could definitely argue that building settlements in far-off lands is part of the game's fantasy. - Relating to settlements, the building systems themselves have plenty of depth - it's not Minecraft, but there's plenty for engineers and engineers-at-heart to work with here. - In terms of drop-in potential for the guys who can only play sometimes, I'd say it's about medium. You can't really fall behind in terms of skills or quests (since the former don't matter much and the latter don't exist in this game), but gear is pretty important, and you'll need a friend to spot you some if you want to keep up. This is doable if you keep a set off to the side for your buddy, but keep in mind that it's associated with his character (and not your game world) if he's wearing it, meaning that you can't upgrade it when he's not around unless he gives it back to you before logging off. - Furthermore, while skills (such as running, jumping, axe usage, etc.), can be trained by use (and lost on death), the game does not expect you to grind these to succeed. This is good, because you will probably die. A lot. -- The Bad - While I do firmly believe that the game was made with co-op in mind, the combat scaling of co-op seems a bit off. It felt generally easier to fight by yourself - the monsters have noticeably less HP and do less damage when nobody else is around. Additionally, the weapons don't seem well thought-out for this purpose; for example, your weapons knocking back the enemy will mess up the aim of your ranged friends. Now, on boss battles this was different, and it felt generally better to stack people on those, but world battles make up about 92% of the overall combat. - Some implementations seem half-baked; for instance, you can fish, but the process is a lot more arduous than gathering materials normally or through farming, so we never really bothered. Speaking of farming, it feels a bit underwhelming - specifically when it comes to animal husbandry. While capturing wild animals is cool, you have something of a choice to make - either you breed specimens of inferior rarity, which isn't that great compared to simply hunting them, or you spend the time to locate rare specimens... and when you've actually found them, you've probably grown past the zone they're useful in. Again, if you play more slowly, this might not be an issue, but it was for us, with the sole exception of chickens (but for their feathers, rather than meat or eggs, because I chewed through arrows like a fat kid chews through cake). Also, animals don't go into portals, which heavily limits an animal's use and scalability into the later parts of the game if you make use of said portals (which most people will, I think). (if you're curious, we ended up breeding boars, chickens, and askvin in our playthrough) - Inventory slots are very limited and there's no way to increase them. This wouldn't be as much of an issue if equipment didn't take up such a huge chunk of the slots - my mage friend had to dedicate about a third of his space to his equipment, while I, as an archer, used a bit less than half to account for the arrows. - We experienced noticeable stuttering and chugging in the Ashlands (and only the Ashlands). Our rigs are more than enough to run the game (and had no issues elsewhere). A lot of other people also report this issue. Given that this zone is really hard (I'm assuming it's tuned the way it is because it's currently the final zone in the game, because if Deep North is harder, it'll steer into ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ territory imo), this can be life or death when you encounter it. --- Now, after reading ALL THAT (seriously impressive on your end), do we think you should play it? Yeah, we thought it was pretty good and worth our time. If this sounds appealing to you, go for it. I hope it gets even better after the full release. Suggestions for features: - Show death count command - Make dodge keybinding its own binding (not linked to jump) and able to be changed (at least on PC) - Make map table (or something like it) that allows recipes to be copied by the rest of your team - Game too dark even with lamps and max brightness. Make brighter pls - Add magic earlier in the game in the full release - Make weapon progression clearer for lategame (Ashlands weapons vary a lot in quality compared to Mistlands) - Buff the wisp visibility in the Mistlands. Alternatively, make a stronger wisp you can craft after killing the Queen - WHY HAVE A BIG YGDRASSIL TREE IF YOU CAN'T GO TO IT?! PLS PROVE ME WRONG IRON GATE!!! LET THIS REVIEW AGE LIKE FINE MILK!!!!

I absolutely love Valheim. Playing on a server with my friends makes the experience even better, and there’s honestly a little bit of everything to enjoy. I love the open-world exploration, building, crafting, foraging, sailing, and just wandering around seeing what we can find. The atmosphere and music are especially great and give the game this surprisingly cozy feeling. There’s something really relaxing about gathering materials, sailing around, or working on a base with your friends. Of course, sometimes Valheim likes to remind you that you are, in fact, mortal 😂 The grind can be a lot, and while I actually enjoy the grind, it can definitely get frustrating. The skill system is probably one of my biggest love/hate relationships with the game. Dying causes your skills to drop, which can put you into a frustrating cycle of trying to rebuild your skills while also trying not to die again. Sometimes it feels like you're finally getting better, only to die and have to work your way back up. It's stressful, but somehow that makes the relaxing moments feel even better. There's something really satisfying about finally making progress after struggling for a while. Overall, Valheim is one of those games where I can spend hours just doing whatever I feel like doing. Build a house, go sailing, explore, fight monsters, gather resources, or just hang out with friends. Definitely recommend it if you enjoy open-world survival, crafting, exploration, and games that can somehow be both cozy and terrifying at the same time.