![]() Survival titles are somewhat inherently intimidating by genre, and Valheim is surprisingly welcoming for a game where Vikings battle werewolves in the snow. There’s something to be said that you aren’t tasked with trying to cobble together thirty different types of resources just to get things going, wood and stone is enough. And Valheim has optional secrets to discover as well that exist outside the biome hierarchy that can greatly enhance your options and progress, like the merchant and a certain sea creature I won’t spoil. You don’t need to worry about making fifty other items to craft a single item or complex multifaceted crafting schools, it’s just get up and go and start making progress in your world.Ĭonquering the Meadow is a breeze, the Black Forest offers a significant bump up in exploration and challenges, and things get considerably more intense in the Swamp, Plains, and Mountains. The key here really is that the game is understandable from the get go, with a helpful crow giving players tutorial steps. The boss battles create server-gathering events for you and your friends, and if you’re playing with a particularly inquisitive or adventurous group there are creative ways to sequence break the natural order of progression. Farm the zone for resources, make new gear and recipes, kill the boss, rinse and repeat with tools to tackle the next zone via the boss drops. Essentially, each biome is a tier and ruled by a boss. Valheim’s structure is immediately discernible and understandable even for players far removed from the survival genre. Yes, theoretically someone could come into your game and smash your house down if you open your world up to the public, so try to play with people you know! This (almost) eliminates the griefer vibe that can permeate some other survival games. ![]() ![]() Of additional note, the barebones PvP is entirely opt in and pretty much just for fun, making the multiplayer aspect of Valheim completely co-op. While I think the multiplayer is vastly superior and teamwork makes the dream work, the solo game is an enjoyable, albeit incredibly different, activity in which you’re sure to enjoy every discovery yourself. If you choose to go the multiplayer route, I highly recommend forking out the cash for a dedicated server so you and your friends can come and go as you please instead of having to wait for a friend to set up the world every time you want to play. In fact, you can resummon big bosses and they have multiple spawn locations per world, so if you did want to play independently but still have a support group on a server, that's an option as well. If your crew is anything like mine, players will naturally fill the archetypal buckets of builder, explorer, fighter, and more, making for a fun time whenever you log in. Meeting up with your friends and bonding over a raft ride in a storm or just heading out to mine some copper together is a blast. But after around a week of diving into Valheim, the co-op multiplayer is the best way to play. Some players shy away from this style of play, as not logging into the game for even a single day can have profound effects on what tier the server is at (We’ve all started Terraria worlds, left for a day, and come back to our friends zipping around in the sky with laser guns as we hold up our little baby wooden pickaxe…). Multiplayer is more traditional survival as players work together to craft multiple bases and take on the challenges of building, gearing, exploring and boss-slaying together. After all, there’s no one to help you out should you get killed and need to perform a dreaded corpse run to get your gear. Pacing as a solo player is much slower, and becomes a sort of survival meditation as you plan each day and overprepare for every step outside your door. Alone, the game is more of a Zen garden of sorts, allowing you to take each day at your own pace, enjoying every little piece of cooked grub and being the sole owner of every exploration, every triumph, and every discovery. ![]() While the single-player experience is fundamentally the same game, it plays much differently. You can explore the world of Valheim by yourself or with 9 other friends, on dedicated servers or just by joining your friend’s world. ![]()
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