4Game

Hello Reddit,
I'm an artist in RL, so gaming hasn't been a part of my life since N64..
But from the moment I logged into playing this game (originally to play with faraway friends) I loved it.
I loved the graphics, the way the weather changed, that the wind affected the environment, the sunlight, the storms, the embers, the atmospherics and music, and the ability to build anything and venture anywhere. The game was huge, and there was alot to do and see, it didn't play like most games and the freedom to do what I wanted more than a storyline really appealed to me.
This is my Valheim Experience.

In my first week of playing I couldnt turn it off. I was up a week straight immersed in this game until I was seeing 'awesome spots to build' IRL, seeing birch trees in forests, and imagining cool landscapes that would make for great exploring haha.

I didn't play at all to level up, or score milestones, nor things like finding the Gods.
I just played to discover and enjoy the world.

So somewhere early on I started screenshotting things I thought was awesome and have unintentionally documented alot of the fun I've had in-game. I went over these and thought why not share a pretty cool little story with you all. 🙂

These are bit-sized little stories of the adventures we got up to, I hope you enjoy my take on Valheim.

​

Hellhalla 1
My actual name is Loki, I named my first character in our Dedicated server world 'Hel' ironically after one of Lokis children, the Goddess of the Underworld.
So my grand guardian through alot of my story is my friend Chris (In-game 'Michael Sackson') whom lives another state away. I haven't met him in person but we have been online friends for years.
He's a pretty full-on gamer and had previously played this and got me interested in trying it.

So we log in, Hugin flys me in, and I'm surprised I cant skip the intro like most other games.
Boom, I land naked and 'Sackson' takes me to the Stonehenge in map where he and a few other players have built a basic shelter.
He throws me some basic tools and weapons and introduces me to 'Cnut', (his friend called Greek IRL).

So Cnut is hilarious.
He's a cocky IT nerd with a sharp tongue and originally you'd think he'd be the kind of guy that 'would lead you into a trap then laugh from a safe distance as he watches you run around screaming and dying'.

But no.
Cnut is the kind of guy that engineers the trap, runs you into it faking a completely different motive, then plays it off like he's helping you, then saves you because he feels bad, dies himself, then comes running back naked to help punch a troll to death while you're still running around screaming.
He's a good dude.

So, I'm new, I've got no idea whats going on or how to play the game.
And the first thing Sackson and Cnut decide to show me in their level 40 something wisdom, is a bloody human catapult slingshot.

They've somehow created a way of abusing a harpoon, a ramp, and something else off a rooftop of Cnuts waterfront outpost.

With the lifespan, tools and level to harpoon eachother, Cnut strips naked and gets Sackson to launch him off the roof. Sometimes he died, other times he got flown across the map, running back to do it again.

I wish I got screenshots of this contraption. We had a whole 6 of us sitting down watching it like it was the olympics.
One minute he was on screen, the next he's yeeted so fast you can watch his avatar on the map launching like a SpaceX Program.

There must of been something with this I didnt understand at the time because it could fling him way further than any one avatar could run or jump… and it was hilarious! (Vanilla world too )

After several levels lost, we venture around a bit.
I'm still working out how to pull out a hammer, or remember to feed myself so I dont die by pig.

As a newbie intro they both decide its a good ideas to take me to the first god in my first few hours.
They tell me to hunt a few deer heads, meanwhile I have no clue why or what impending sh*tstorm was about to occur.
30 mins go by.
I've got deer meat, berries, and Sackson gives me what I need to craft some basic bronze, bow and troll armor. I get to cooking some meat at the hub, whilst they both run off for a while.

A short while later a godlike message runs across my screen.

I get a message: "Come to Eikthir".

I'm like what the hell is an Eikthir..? Maybe its some statue, or rune tablet thing.

I run out to where they are on the map.
The skies go dark, I come over the hill and it's like a damn Xmen movie.
There's freaking lightning everywhere, the ground is shaking, the screens lit up in blinding lights..

And there's not one, but 10 Deer Gods. 10 GODS!?
I'm like tf, "didn't you guys say it's only one god!?'
Cnut just replies, 'yeah but 10 is more fun.'
These guys were all running around wreaking havoc on a 'was once' peaceful grassy meadow.
Naked Santa clause looking Cnut decides he wants to get up his melee, so he's running around butt ass naked punching these pikachu-incarnate OHS violations with legs..

https://preview.redd.it/ivjbqmytncl91.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a5b66d4184f058adc6b87e7e19d318176ede65ad

https://preview.redd.it/9pnfs4fxncl91.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b87a5f8451f550c4f70490f570e0dacfdfc59647

I'm not sure what the hells going on and am running around for my life.
Whilst Sackson is the reserved more strategic player type.
He'd go in run his stamina down and get out without losing any health.
He's always great to play with. If you're in trouble, the dude can come in take on 4 wolves, a fenrir, 2 drakes, and a golem simultaneously, while you're trying not to yeet off a cliff.
Somehow Sackson wont die and kills them all solo. Him dying is rare in itself.

https://preview.redd.it/k81chpgymcl91.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a4aee2466b2d1b1b10b3878faf82f69bd49cbbfd

https://preview.redd.it/ruof679yncl91.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8de62a3a6309ecd05422feec90f4b5f5972fc57c

So I'm still trying to figure out how to block and parry at this stage and am unsure whether to go all Sparta and charge with sword and shield or camp from the sidelines.
And cowardly try to pick the gods off while Cnut played the aggro card like a lunatic.

Sackson downs the first 3 in a shower of golden sparkles.
Cnut takes out one or two.
And I think I finished off one of Cnuts half beaten ones that starts chasing me around the meadow.

I was at the time, terrified of the lightning and probably spent 90% of my stamina just running.
And this event, this started a terrible play habit of 'one god is never enough'.

So we end up beating them miraculously without anyone dying.
There's heads everywhere as the Nordic Mind Flayer dissipates and the weather clears back to joyously sunny hippy grass hills and dandelions.
Then a pig comes out of nowhere chasing me around and I figure out how to use the block/parry.
Little late, but yay.

After the brush with death, we head back to our small village we have built by a lake edge.
There's around 8 players on this server, each have their own little huts and houses on the edge of a lake waterfront village.
It's beautiful, we have bridges, goblets, metal stations, basic docking areas, small houses of different aesthetic designs and its all well spread over the edge so it's fun to venture through each house and area.
Sackson being server leader owns the main hub hall.

We have a amphitheatre of glowing gates all leading to things I've never seen before beside the dock.

There's an outdoor cooking pagoda in the middle and I'm losing my mind over the cauldron and the new foods I can make to survive with more that 45-60HP.
The whole area is surrounded by a stone wall.. and an oddly built random trench lining beyond that.

This thing was the biggest pain in the ass.
I was too low level to jump over it, and too low to get out of it if I fell in.
The only way out was to skirt the perimetre to the mouth of the lake and hope you didn't drown swimming out.

The trench was built by another friend of Sacksons, called 'Delta' whom only loved to build.
He would come and go often building very unique cool things with long hours really turning our little village into a believable medieval trading hub.
He was a quiet dude I didn't play with much, but I still admire his builds. (except the trench)

After a tour of the area I find a small corner on the edge of the water just beyond the cursed trench, yet close enough to join onto the village hub.

A small inland pond crept in from the lake and decided to start building my own home there.
For whatever reason I figure out raising and lowering the land is the easiest way to get around the lack of large volume resources I would need.
So I set out collecting resources for several hours while the guys log off for the night.
I borrow Sacksons Stonecutter.
And I start to build a castle..

The Village Hub (photo taken later in game)

To be continued.. I'll try and get each chapter out daily for the next few days 🙂