Valheim
" Brutal action-adventure RPG with immersive Viking world and cooperative play, but grind-heavy progression "
Valheim Review
Valheim is a Viking-themed survival and exploration game that has captivated a large player base with its unique blend of crafting, building, and challenging combat. Many players praise its immersive atmosphere, rewarding progression, and creative building mechanics. The game's art style, while low-poly, is often described as beautiful and fitting the Nordic theme, complemented by a fitting soundtrack.
However, the game is not without its issues. The slow pace, grind-heavy progression, and difficulty spikes in later biomes frustrate some players. Combat mechanics receive mixed reviews, with complaints about hit detection and stamina management. The game remains in early access years after release, leading to concerns about infrequent updates and unfinished content. Despite these drawbacks, Valheim offers a rich cooperative experience and a compelling world to explore, especially for fans of survival and Viking lore.
Highlights
Players consistently praise Valheim's engaging gameplay mechanics, including its flexible building system and rewarding boss fights. The game's artistic style and atmospheric graphics create a unique and immersive Nordic world that many find charming despite its simplicity. The exploration and progression through diverse biomes add depth and excitement. Additionally, the soundtrack and sound design enhance the overall experience, making the survival and crafting elements more enjoyable, especially in multiplayer co-op settings.
Criticisms
Common criticisms focus on the game's grind-heavy and slow progression, which some find tedious and artificially lengthened. The combat system is often described as archaic and frustrating, with poor hit detection and stamina mechanics. Several players note issues with optimization and bugs, including FPS drops near large bases and problematic enemy AI. The lack of intuitive UI and inventory management frustrates many, as does the limited character storage space. Additionally, the game's dark and gloomy lighting in certain biomes negatively impacts visibility and enjoyment. Lastly, the long early access period with infrequent updates raises concerns about the game's future.
Pros
- • Engaging and rewarding boss fights provide a strong sense of accomplishment.
- • Flexible and satisfying building system encourages creativity and personalization.
- • Immersive Nordic atmosphere with fitting art style and soundtrack.
- • Procedurally generated worlds ensure unique exploration every playthrough.
- • Cooperative multiplayer enhances fun and strategic gameplay.
- • Progression system offers meaningful upgrades and new challenges.
- • Combat mechanics are challenging and encourage strategic stamina management.
Cons
- • Progression can feel grind-heavy and artificially prolonged by tedious resource gathering.
- • Combat system has poor hit detection and frustrating stamina mechanics.
- • Optimization issues cause FPS drops near large bases or complex structures.
- • Inventory management is clunky with limited character storage space.
- • Certain biomes are excessively dark, reducing visibility and enjoyment.
- • Enemy AI and pathfinding can be inconsistent and annoying.
- • Long early access with infrequent updates frustrates players expecting more content.
Rating Criteria
About This Game
Valheim is a brutal exploration and survival game for 1-10 players set in a procedurally-generated world inspired by Norse mythology. Craft powerful weapons, construct longhouses, and slay mighty foes to prove yourself to Odin!
EXPLORE THE TENTH WORLD
Explore a world shrouded in mystery. Discover distinct environments with unique enemies to battle, resources to gather and secrets to uncover! Be a viking, sail the open seas in search of lands unknown, and fight bloodthirsty monsters.
BUILD MIGHTY HALLS
Raise viking longhouses and build bases that offer reprieve from the dangers ahead. Customise buildings, both inside and out, with a detailed building system. Progress through building tiers to upgrade, expand and defend your base.
GATHER, CRAFT AND SURVIVE
Struggle to survive as you gather materials and craft weapons, armor, tools, ships, and defenses. Decorate your hearths and sharpen your blades, grow crops and vegetables, prepare food, brew meads and potions, and progress as you defeat more difficult bosses and discover new recipes and blueprints.
KEY FEATURES:
- Massive procedurally-generated world where every biome is immersive and distinct, with unique enemies, resources and crafting recipes to discover.
- Play alone or with up to 10 players on player-hosted dedicated servers and experience unlimited world creation and enemies that scale in difficulty.
- Staminabased combat that rewards preparation and skill. Utilize weapon types with unique attacks, different blocking styles, ranged combat, dodges and parries to fight your enemies.
- Rewarding food system where you cannot starve and are not punished for not eating, instead you gain health, stamina and regeneration buffs depending on what foods you consume.
- Intuitive crafting where recipes are discovered as you explore the world, and pick up new resources and ingredients.
- Flexible building system that takes structural integrity and ventilation into account. Build a small shelter or an entire village, make outposts or claim abandoned buildings as your own. Then customize to your liking.
- Sail boats and ships to reach distant lands and explore the sea that offers riches to claim and monsters to fight.
- Epic boss fights that will test even the best prepared vikings and offer rewards that help you on your journey.
Community-translated languages:
In addition to the officially supported languages, Valheim has several community-translated languages. As the name would suggest these are all translated by fans and members of the community, and is an ongoing process. We can't guarantee the quality nor completeness of any specific translation effort.
A brutal exploration and survival game for 1-10 players, set in a procedurally-generated purgatory inspired by viking culture. Battle, build, and conquer your way to a saga worthy of Odin’s patronage!