The new survival game Valheim has made a strong start on Steam. Thousands of players are already playing, and MeinMMO author and survival expert Benedict Grothaus has taken a look at it. He is enthusiastic about Valheim and explains why it is so well received.
What is Valheim? The new survival game launched on February 2 on PC in early access on Steam. You play as a Viking who fights for the favor of the Norse gods in the titular world Valheim after your death.
In doing so, you must ensure your survival, gather resources, explore the world, and search for and kill powerful monsters and even bosses. Essentially, Valheim is something like Minecraft meets Dark Souls.
The graphics of the new game are somewhat unconventional and not necessarily up-to-date. Pixels and polygons greet you and remind you of games from 10 to 20 years ago. Nevertheless, the game captivated me for many hours right from the first weekend.
I played for this long: On the first weekend after release, I played Valheim for over 25 hours. About 20 of those hours were spent on solo play with exploration and getting to know the world. I played another 5 hours in co-op with three other players.
After Valheim had an enormously strong start on Steam, I now see why it is so well received and can confidently say: it is just right for survival fans.
The Basics – How Survival Should Start
This is the start in Valheim: After being dropped off in Valheim by a Valkyrie, Odins ravens Hugin and Munin appear and explain the game – or at least the basics.
Through them, you learn fundamental mechanics such as gathering food and resources, building structures, exploring, and combat. At the beginning, it is crucial to listen to them and read carefully what they have to say.
The start itself is quite similar to any survival game:
- you search for food
- you gather wood and stones for the first tools and the first house
- with simple weapons, you hunt your first prey and craft armor and advanced items
- you explore your surroundings and gradually venture further away from home
An important point in Valheim is that you only learn what you discover yourself. New recipes are only available when you collect new resources. With the first stones and wood, you learn about building components, and with the first metals, better weapons. Therefore, you must keep exploring in Valheim.
How hard is survival? In terms of the pure survival aspect of Valheim, it is somewhat different from classic survival games. You don’t need food and water to survive. Meat and the like only grant you buffs. You cannot starve, but you do increase your maximum health and stamina for a limited time when you eat.
Instead, the constant battle against the world is the real threat to life. Mythical beings repeatedly attack you, and you must hold your ground against trolls, skeletons, and tree beings to progress. Valheim also offers conditions that make survival harder, such as:
- moisture and cold that slow your regeneration
- exhaustion and freezing that slowly kill you
- smoke poisoning when you light a fire in enclosed spaces
As such, it becomes more important to pay attention to where and when you are out and about than to what provisions you have in your pockets. But that is also the right solution, considering the importance of exploration.
Exploration is not optional
This is how progress works: In Valheim, you only progress when you discover new things. Whether it’s a new type of wood, a new metal, or a rare item from a dungeon or a boss.
When you pick up new items, you often learn recipes through that item that you can craft. However, many new resources can only be found in areas you still need to discover.
How do I progress in the game? Valheim offers different biomes with different resources and challenges. If you want to progress in the game, you must visit all of them and face increasingly tougher enemies. So far, there are:
- Meadows – where you usually start
- Dark Forests – slightly harder regions
- Swamps – significantly harder regions
- widespread plains
- mountains that are full of snow where you quickly freeze
- oceans that can only be sailed by ship
In development are also foglands, ashlands, and the northern highlands. Some existing biomes can only be reached or truly utilized if you have previously mastered challenges in other areas.
Dungeons and Bosses – Strong PvE
Each biome has a boss associated with it. The bosses drop special items that either allow you to learn new crafting recipes or unlock certain objects and areas.
This way, you can usually mine new items that you previously lacked the ability or tool for. Only by doing so will you become stronger. Theoretically, you could also explore the world naked, but you won’t survive long that way.
Additionally, there are scattered in the world dungeons like troll caves or burial chambers that you can loot for further resources. Valheim continuously pushes you to explore every area and dare to proceed.
All of this intertwines into the story that begins with the start of Valheim: You are to prove yourself worthy as Odin’s warrior in the fight against his enemies. And you are only worthy if you can hold your ground against all the bosses in Valheim. However, we have not yet seen the end of the story.
Valheim with Others – Co-op and Multiplayer
Here’s how Valheim plays in co-op: You don’t have to explore the dangerous world of Valheim alone. In co-op on a local or rented server, you can play with others at any time.
You can either keep your character or create a new one. The process is the same in co-op as it is in solo play. You typically start in the meadows and begin your journey from there, searching for resources and fighting bosses.
Is it better with other players? The major advantage of co-op is that you can share a building spot and accommodation, requiring less space. Additionally, fights become easier when you tackle enemies as a group.
Moreover, the powerful buffs from the bosses apply to every player in the vicinity. They actually have a cooldown of 20 minutes – with multiple players, you can simply chain them together.
In itself, Valheim in co-op is neither better nor worse than solo. It is simply different. If you like building, exploring, and fighting with your friends, you should play together. If you prefer to discover the world at your own pace or follow the story and progress, you’re well served alone too.
Is there PvP? Valheim features “consensual PvP”. This means you can turn PvP on and off in your inventory at any time. Players can only kill each other if both have PvP activated.
This way, you can not be “griefed” easily by other players – that is, have your fun spoiled. This aspect distinctly sets Valheim apart from many other survival games like Rust, where toxic behavior is commonplace.
Conclusion: Valheim is good, but not finished yet
Keep in mind during this test that I have only played for about 25 hours, and many players overall have only seen the first bosses and a small part of the world so far. We cannot yet say how strong the “endgame” will be and what all there is to do.
Valheim is still in development, and many systems are not yet refined, are being upgraded, or expanded. Whether this will improve or worsen it remains to be seen.
So far, Valheim is, however, a top-notch survival game that can impress despite or perhaps because of its rather simple graphics. Even weaker systems can handle it, making it accessible to a broad player base.
Valheim shows that gameplay is more important than optics. After all, it is now being played by over 130,000 players simultaneously, making it one of the biggest games on Steam, even though it comes from a small indie studio.
It is a demanding survival game that connects classic elements like survival and building with an innovative progress system and exciting combat. At the same time, griefers have little to no chance, which spares Valheim some weaknesses of other major survival titles. Anyone who enjoys the genre should take a look at it.
