Valheim, anyone else played this yet?

Check it on Steam, open world survival-craft style game with a Nord Mythology backdrop. Also the art style reminds me of what PS1 games looked like in my head when I was 10 years old playing those games. Been having a good time checking it out with some friends.

No not yet, it's been on the top of steam charts for a while now with a lot of positive reviews, so I've been curious to see what it's all about. Since it's in early access, I've been hesitant to pick it up. Guess I'll have to wait for an Unfinished to pop up some day :)

Seems like a Rust/Ark hybrid from the little bit of the Lobos stream I watched. Surprised people are so into it right now. I thought the Rust train ran out of steam. Still over that kind of game, personally.

edit: I bought it and am in love with it. Nothing too profound, but everything just feels right.

I caught the tailend of Day9 playing a bit of it. It seems competent, but i'm a bit mystified by it's popularity. At times the graphics are quite nice, when you're out in the open watching the sky and the horizon. Seeing the world tree in the sky is something that makes you wonder if you'll ever manage to get up there. Moving your sail into the wind lines could even give you some Windwaker-vibes for a bit. But in caves or grassy forest area's it can look quite grimy as well. The graphics do help to keep gamesize quite low and makes it playable on pretty much any gamePC.

It seems like the main draw is that this is a Rust/Ark-like that focuses on the PVE aspect and doesn't let you get griefed by other players if you don't want to. That said, from what i saw and heard, there's a lack of variety in enemies and you deal with most of them in the same way. The main conclusion Day9 arrived at after hours of playing it: A general lack of variety in the procedural generation. After the first few hours of excitement, you've kind of seen it all you keep hoping to find something novel.

What gives this a leg up on Minecraft, Astroneer, Dragon Quest Builders, No Mans Sky, The Forest or The Long Dark, i'm not quite sure. Maybe it's just that it's one of those that's already competent enough to check out in an early stage + a general interest in Viking stuff after AC: Valhalla , God of War & MTG: Kaldheim

I'm pretty addicted to it at the moment. On paper there isn't much to differentiate it from other multiplayer survival games but it does some things to make the game a lot more friendly. Food doesn't spoil. Repairing stuff is all free. A crow shows up frequently to drop hints about what you could do next. You get better at things by doing them like morrowind. Just a lot of little smart decisions that add up to a real fun time

I'm running a community server on a small community site and have been having a blast. The game is chill and the fact that PvP is opt-in makes it so much better than similar games in the genre. Have only beaten the first boss, but most of my time has been spent making roads and collecting resources for others.

@development: I think it just hit perfect timing with the extensive content drought we've had going. Got introduced to it myself a bit before release (through Satisfactory) and it seemed interesting, but I just can't get over how crappy it looks at times. It's just so inconsistent in how well it pulls off the style they're going for.

I'm surprised people are surprised by its reception. Take a proven concept (multiplayer survival), remove a lot of the annoyances (griefing, things going bad, not losing resources when dismantling), and voila.

I've definitely looked at some videos of it and will probably pick it up at some point. It seems less punishing and more solo-friendly than some of it's genre counterparts, which is appealing.

But being someone who will be playing it alone I don't really have any friend-group pressure to get to it right away so I might just wait for it to be further along.

@giefcookie: This is where I'm at with it.

I'm really curious if this is worth playing if you're not going to be playing with other people. But I don't really have much interest in jumping into a WIP situation right now, so I guess I'll see what the answer is for solo players when this gets an official launch.

I have zero interest in this kind of game, so no. Good for them it's so popular already.

I'm curious to play it I'm not really a multiplayer survival player but I'll always give one with a decent singleplayer a go like the forest or subnautica.

Been waiting for Giant Bomb or someone else to put out a good video for it (open to recommendations for any good videos that well sell my friends and I on the game).

I am so addicted to this game it's not even funny. Something about the building clicks with me, my friends and I got a server going and we've been non-stop for awhile now. Only have beaten the 2nd boss.

It's almost criminal GB hasn't done a video on this game. It's already my GOTY and we only in the second month.

Don't usually enjoy these types of games, to be honest, but there's something about this one. Been playing for twenty something hours solo and having a great time. The pace the game opens up is really nice and the atmosphere/immersion is spot on. Haven't encountered any bugs so far and it already has more content than a lot of full priced, fully released games. Early access done right; it can only keep getting better from here.

Started it last night, played for over three straight hours and I felt like 30 minutes had passed, what an addictive game.

@enchantedecho: Abby did a stream the other day. That's the thing I saw that has had me considering breaking my "no early access" position.

I've always been a glutton for a relaxing, atmospheric game where I can just go out and chop down trees with an axe or mine rocks with a pick. This game knocks it out of the park in this regard. Chopping down trees is legit fun since they can actually pose a danger to you if they fall on you. You can also chop a bunch of trees down towards each other to try to set it up like dominoes, or use falling trees to further break down trees that you've already felled.

Combine this with the slightly clunky, yet diverse building system that allows you to create a ton of different looking structures with minimal different building blocks and you've got quite a nice game. It strikes a nice balance of giving you resources when you harvest so that you definitely need to go out and collect, but once you've spent a little time doing that, you can build a lot of stuff with those resources. And since you get EVERYTHING back (my favorite aspect of the building), it allows for you to be really creative and try new things without worrying about losing your stuff.

This is all on top of an expansive, randomly generated world with biomes that feel distinct and nice level gating with the boss system. The combat is quite basic, but serves its purpose really well. I'm in love with this game.

Just a heads up, Dan did a twitch stream of this and the VOD is on his YouTube channel. He seemed to love the game after 3 hours.

I have only put in a few hours myself but would love to see GB cover this; maybe not on the level of their Minecraft series, but this seems like an easy, fun and entertaining game to produce content with during quarantine.

Hey Duders, just started playing and enjoying the game so far. This is my first survival game and I'd love to play with some people (none of my friends are interested), if anyone has some room on their server and wants to make a new friend PM me and let me know. Thanks!

Any value to this thing solo? I'm never going to play with others realistically

@captain_insano: I've been playing it solo and having a blast. Highly recommended.

I've played it for about 15 hours solo and enjoy it quite a bit. But progress through the game is slow and I haven't made my mind up about it yet

Played for around 17 hours, this is my first "survival/crafting" game. Been enjoying it so far. Not sure for how long i will stick with it. What keeps me from these games are the whole building aspect as i have no imagination what so ever when it comes to putting those skills to use.

But so far i have just been enjoying progressing to newer tool tiers and build options, and just seeing the world. But i would imagine that getting old sooner rather then later.

@captain_insano: Been, er, solely playing solo and having a great time. The more I’ve played the more I’ve come to realise this is more of an adventure/exploration game than survival. The survival mechanics are there, but they’re not as punishing compared to other survival games so they don’t get in the way as much. Add streamlined crafting and a robust building system into the mix and you have a winner. In my opinion, it’s the best adventure/exploration game since BotW and after 25 hours I feel I’ve barely scratched the surface.

Finally had some time to put some hours into this game, and I'm still not seeing the reason for the hype. Not a bad game by any means, but it's basically a small studios version of Conan Exiles. More simplistic visuals, scaled down features and a bit more casual friendly. It has the same exact under-developed combat, same building system and a LOT of the same building and resource mechanics. The only really unique thing I've seen is the sailing, but other than that Conan Exiles is more or less a better game in every way from what I've seen so far.

From watching the stream today it seems like building is really rough or else the crew was just showing it off poorly cause things just did not snap into place like they do in modern builders.

Parts only snap when oriented correctly. A roof section will only snap when pointed in the same direction as the prior roof section/wall. It takes a little getting used to but it becomes intuitive after a few hours.

Been playing a lot for a few days now. I started off sour and disoriented with the chunky graphics and cryptic gameplay. But something kept me there, and as I continued with Valheim, more and more nuance came to the surface to keep me playing.

I'm curious about the graphics, mostly because they seem to come from the mind of a "programmer". The forest canopy occludes volumetric light differently depending on its density. In a thunderstorm, rain pelts, tree tops bend sharply in the wind. And if you happen to be by a large body of water, huge ocean swells rise and fall, carrying with them any buoyant items caught up in their maw. It all points to someone who sees the grandeur of physical phenomena and wants to render that through simulation code rather than shader packs. It's part of the reason the game stands out and is so divisive.

The reasonably deep combat system is entertaining for what it is. I found environmental interactions like hunting, travelling and building occupied me more. I read comments above mentioning the building system and, I'll admit, it was very obtuse at the outset. However, little vistas would keep showing up as I traveled through Valheim's procedurally generated worlds, and I'd get inspired to build a small waystation at a wooded river-crossing by a small bridge. Construction in the game takes into account the physical and load bearing aspects of a build material, and that acts as a grounding stylistic restraint. Other restraints like ventilation and workbench/star improvements also provide a perimeter and specify a roof. I swear I've not built the same building twice.

Anyways, I'm excited to see where it goes from here. Is this Minecraft 2.0? Or Minecraft "Young Adult"? We'll have to see what they do with millions of sales in recoupment. There was a point where I was hunting this deer in the forest, and I was crouched downwind on the low side of a hill. I could tell I was downwind cause of the particle effect pollen drifting past me. And I thought to myself, "Am I getting a bonus to my stealth rolls because that digital deer can't smell me?"

...I really want that to be true, even if it isn't.

It's neat, It's refreshing, curious to see where it goes from here.

I’ve been playing a lot of it. I love it as a “build a life in these woods” kind of game. Built a sick ass cabin and have a great workshop there, a small garden, and nearby woods where I can mine, hunt, and chop down trees.

I think it can be a little weird for somebody playing like me to settle down and take advantage of the building mechanics to then be asked to cross the country on foot to find some material that’s only over there. I also think there are some truly confounding choices in the crafting tree like how you have to have a work bench to build structures but you can’t use that work bench until it is inside one of those structures. That’s fucking crazy.

But the good thing about labeling it early access is that all those goofy decisions can be hand waved and fixed later.

I have really enjoyed my time with it, so I’m excited to see it develop.

Yep. The building system/mechanics is probably the high point for me. The lack of having Minecraft-degree of control over the terrain encourages you to build structures which accommodate the terrain topology, rather than just carving a single level foundation into every hillside.

The other thing I discovered today is that wood panels actually degrade over time from being exposed to the elements, so using thatch roofs is more than just an artificial requirement for workbenches and passive buffs. It encourages you to have roofs overhang exterior decks/flooring, and after you've added the structural supports for that overhang.. voila! you've made a veranda. For an early access game to have this amount of variability with relatively few building components is really promising for the future.