This game should never have been an “Early Access” release. It came out a complete game and has been supported as such.

Valheim came out and was an instant hit – and deservedly so.

It was a refreshing, amazing experience from day 1.

But this has not been an Early Access release.

Early Access releases should be constantly updated as they’re still in active development.

The players of early access titles are there to help shape the game, test the updates, give feedback on the changes, ready for it to be properly released.

That’s not what’s happened here. The game has essentially come out in its complete form and the support it’s received afterwards is exactly what you’d expect from that – some bug fixing, balance tweaks, a few minor content patches.

Valheim is fantastic game and 99% of people will get more than their moneys worth out of it – I certainly have. But I have to say that I’m disappointed in how it’s “Early Access” has been handled.

The first two years should be transformative. You should be able to look back at day 1 and see how far it’s come, but that is certainly not the case here.

This is not a game in pre-release active development. It’s a released game awaiting its first major DLC.