My review after completing the game twice

spoiler alert

After investing almost 300 hours in the game and completing it twice (solo and coop), I can say that Valheim is an amazing game with infinite potential but far from perfection. In this review, I will focus on aspects that I think could be improved.

Map/exploration:
Exploration is the most crucial aspect of the game, and it does not disappoint at first. The world is massive and looks beautiful, which encourages players to explore. As you progress in the game, you discover new biomes, which keeps the sense of adventure high. However, this feeling fades as you realize the merchant you discovered in the beginning of the game is the only merchant in the whole world. You also notice all the biomes are just copy paste but on different island. You can visit 3 islands or 30 islands it makes no difference, there's nothing new to see and that is really really disappointing, this big world suddenly feels empty. You then lose this feeling of exploration because the player is not rewarded. There is little to no new content to discover once you have explored all the biomes. Even the chests you find along the way become useless as they always contain the same items. The Wishbone, a belt that detects secret locations, also fails to add excitement to exploration as the rewards are repetitive and weak. To improve this, the game needs to add more rare items found only through finding secret chests and create more content to reward players for exploring the world.
Suggestions:
• Add more shops with different items available.
• Add villages in each biome with mini-games to win unique items or places to stay the night for coins.
• Add unique mini-stations or mini-islands around the map with different shapes and monsters that unlock new weapons or upgrade existing weapons.
• Add more monsters in the ocean, such as sirens, kraken, big monster fish…

Equipments:
Armor choices are limited, with only heavy or light armor sets available for each biome and usually the light armor option is terrible. This makes everyone in a multiplayer game look the same after a while. More options on weapons but the issue persists. Adding more level of categories of heavy to light armors, more weapon options, and secret weapons hidden across the map, will add excitement to the game and make exploration more rewarding.
Suggestions:
• Add more items with unique utilities, such as swimming boots or better fishing rods.
• Add necklaces/accessories that give permanent boost to stats that can be found across the map. (exploration reward)
• Create different categories of belts to increase weight limits.
• Option to add weapon add-ons with new effects like frost, poison, or increased skill XP from some shop or village

Items:
The game lacks content in the items category. Many items become useless very quickly(e.g. If we don’t use arrows, what’s the purpose of Obsidian after crafting the tool shelf – none), and some never serve any purpose. The cart needs reworking, as it is currently not worth using. Creating new items like different belts (adding level of belts) to increase the number of slots available, better fishing rods, or items to increase weight limits will add more content to the game.
Monsters:
The game has a low number of unique monsters per biome, making it disappointing as players see all the monsters within a few minutes of exploration. Adding more unique monsters and creatures to the game, such as more day vs. night monsters (need a lot more night monsters), would make exploration more exciting.

Farming:
While farming is generally okay, there is certainly room for improvement. One issue is that picking up and planting seeds can be quite tedious, and there should be an option for single-target or area-of-effect planting. Additionally, the current rate of only one new seed per bio feels insufficient. Many types of food also quickly become obsolete, such as the turnip, which is hard to find and only yields three seeds. By the time you collect enough to make it worthwhile, you may have already moved on to better options. Adding more complex food recipes that require a variety of ingredients could help keep farming relevant throughout the game.

Fishing:
At present, fishing feels like an underdeveloped feature, though this may change in the full release. To improve the fishing experience, each type of fish should provide a unique type of food, rather than all simply yielding raw fish. Additionally, players should be able to obtain different levels of fishing rods from new shops, villages, or treasure. A wider variety of cooking options for fish, along with an emphasis on fishing skill, would also add depth to this activity. Higher fishing skill level unlock better fish? Honestly, so much content can be added here

Crafting/Building/Ore:
There are a few changes that could improve the crafting and building systems. One is to make the Blast Furnace backward compatible. Additionally, players should be able to upgrade their smelters and charcoal kilns to increase their maximum size or efficiency. This would make some items more useful, as they would be required for the upgrades.

Skills:
The balance of skills currently feels off, with some seeming relatively useless while others take a lot of effort to level up. For example, even if you use shields throughout the game, you may still not reach a high level in that skill. Some skills, like fist-fighting and swimming are completely useless. There is still work to be done to make all skills feel equally valuable.

Magic:
Magic is introduced quite late in the game, and even then it requires Eitr food to use. This can be a significant trade-off, as it sacrifices health or stamina. Additionally, the magic armor has low defense. By the time players have collected everything needed to use magic, they may already be at the end of the game. To address this, magic should be introduced earlier, with weaker spells initially that become stronger with each new biome. This would also necessitate earlier access to magic armor, providing additional equipment options for players.

Updates:
The frequency of game updates appears to be quite slow, and this raises concerns about whether the game will be able to fully realize its potential. More content needs to be added to keep players engaged and interested in the game, and updates need to be released more frequently to achieve this. This is especially important for a game that is still in early access and has a lot of room for growth and improvement. Players want to see new features, items, and challenges that will keep the game fresh and exciting, and a lack of updates may lead to a decline in player interest over time. Therefore, it is crucial for the developers to prioritize regular updates to ensure the continued success of the game.

In conclusion, Valheim has great potential, however it needs a lot more content in terms of map exploration, equipment, items, and monsters to make the game even better.