At its core, Valheim is an exploration sandbox survival game. Valheim is a procedurally-generated purgatory inspired by Viking culture. You play as yourself, a battle-slain warrior whose soul has been ferried to Valheim by the Valkyries. You will essentially work as the world’s “custodian” adventuring all across the realm slaying an array of beasts as well as legends feared by Odin himself. While combat will come with almost every turn you can also build towering castles and sail longships. Your journey and steps you take along the way will be uncertain but what is almost always certain is death awaiting you at every corner.
Valheim is a game that reminds us of Dark Souls in some ways. The game itself isn’t going to hold your hand while you learn to play. While there is a nice bird that gives you some advice on what to do, the bosses and general mobs around the map are going to be hard. The combat is also almost Dark Souls esc, while not as hard by any means it is a punishing dodge & block-based combat. Valheim is also filled with plenty of mythical beasts and wildlife that won’t think twice about running at you to engage in said combat.
Once you learn the combat to some degree you can start looking for bigger and badder foes. Boss fights in Valheim feel epic, a change in music the surroundings get darker and you’re off. Not only do the fights feel epic but the bosses look epic as well. Eikthyr the first boss you will encounter while in the game is an extremely fun and interesting way to be thrown into the game and has a level of difficulty that won’t turn you away too hard.
To even get to any of the bosses you will have to do some exploring. The map is huge! Not only is the map huge but it is also full of random structures, dungeons, and ruins. In those structures you might be lucky enough to find a chest with some loot in it or a few monsters to remind you, you can’t explore stress free. The dungeons can also be very interesting and vast. As you explore deeper and deeper you will find different creatures you maybe haven’t seen before. Of course there will be plenty of fighting within the dungeon but if you manage to make it to the end treasure will await.
There are also a number of different biomes in Valheim. Each biome comes with its own dangers and mysteries to uncover. Dark forests, snow-peaked mountains and, lush valleys make up some of those biomes but it doesn’t stop there. You can also take to the seas in Valheim as you cast off on your vessels you’ve built just for this exploration. Any true Viking will know though the sea is not a place to let your guard down.
Once you have explored a bit and want more of a permanent home Valheim offers great building and crafting to go along with the awesome combat. “Raise your own Viking mead halls, houses, castles, and more with our powerful construction interface.” Just from the small amount I have been able to build (my friends want to explore a lot) I have already fallen in love. You can build beautiful villages or just keep it to simple shacks. Either way building will be a big part of the game.
The reason you will have to build at least a little at some point is to unlock the ability to jump into crafting. Crafting is how you will find yourself progressing in Valheim. You can forge and craft increasingly powerful weapons and armor to help you on your quest to slay the mythical beast. The devs of Valheim also have said that a creative mode for the building will eventually be in the game!
As of posting this over 1 million people have already purchased the game and it only came out 10 days ago. Me and a group of my friends have been playing way to many hours of Valheim hence why this article didn’t come out until now. If you’re into hard combat that is still fun and exploration Valheim very well could be the game for you. The devs have also been very clear with where they want the game to go.
I can’t recommend this game enough. While there are obviously still some bugs in the game, Valheim is already great and there is so much opportunity for it to get better. Pick up the game and start exploring!
In Other News
As much as we love Valheim we at GameScoutr do cover a lot of other topics. We love gaming as a whole and do our best to bring the best news stories to readers like you. We will be doing plenty of articles on Valheim and will do our best to offer guides, tips, and tricks to help you on your way to conquer the world.