alheim is a game I played at an interesting time in my life. After my work holiday new PC was setup, this was meant to be a return to form. But well life got in the new way. Work got interesting, requiring me to travel and do long weeks for a few months. And a I have a new girl in my life. So I haven't had much time for games the last few months. So I find it all the more impressive that Valheim an early access title (that feels more like a Beta by comparison to most), is the game that reeled me right back in when my mind was as far from games as it could be.
First and foremost Valheim is a game of adventure and mystery to be experienced with friends. The gameplay loop looks something like this. Choose a direction and stride out into the brave new world, collect resources, hunt, gather, chop and mine. Level up your character. Build a base. Discover new resources. Collect. Research technology. Explore. Repeat. Sounds pretty vanilla on paper, but it's the devil in the details that separate Valheim from other games. Immediately it's apparent that this is a hardcore experience. If you die your items are dropped and you must go find them so you must be on the eight ball and I always loved that tension in my games ever since RuneScape and Diablo 2. Combat takes skill, bows have large drop off and require a lot of skill to land. Some of my friends even refused to use them at all. Enemies need to be parried or dodged, followed with a heavy or light attack and can be staggered. A system reminiscent of Dark Souls in its most basic form. Collecting different minerals allows you to build new armour and weapons: From Leather to Troll to Padded as a bowman or Bronze to Iron to Wolf armour as a warrior. Personally I invested in my archery skills which in the same vein as Skyrim (or real life), the more you focus on a skill the better your character becomes at using it. The feeling researching new armours etc gives you is great, progressing through the bronze and iron ages. On top of new armours you discover new technology for axes and pickaxes to gather resources, and research quicker. Create new more powerful arrows for hunting and legendary weapons. Smelters and other utility items for crafting new items and more efficiently. This progressive loop is addictive and pushes you to explore and improve with your friends. As if this wasn't enough already you can build your own keep, village or fortress - and like Minecraft this is limited to your imagination in many ways. Workbenches give way to boats, crafting stations or portals; that let you bypass large dangerous distances safely.
The lands are full of creatures such as Greydwarfs (think grey goblins), Trolls, Ghosts, Skeletons and Draugr, Acidic blobs and Leeches, Wolves, Drakes and the worst of all the Deathsquito. Agile and deadly, striking an unexpected fear in the hearts of vikings in the same way the Cazador did to wastelanders in the Mojave Desert. As you can probably tell they all have their unique personality, and figuring out enemy weaknesses are fun (e.g. use bows on Trolls and maces on skeletons). Returning to an area after you've leveled your character only to obliterate those pesky mobs that once ganked you is so so satisfying. There are a lot of cool nods to Norse mythology here. Not only does your character fir the bill of a badass viking with your painted banded shield, but you'll see statues to the gods and occasionally Odin's ravens or a mysterious hooded figure in the trees which I can only assume is the Allfather himself. And that brings us to our quest. To slay the titans that blight the lands with the monsterlings and purify the realm of Valheim. You'll want to do this with friends and the journey it takes you on to discover the lands and build your viking society is like no other.
