4Game

My girlfriend was who first told me about Valheim. I didn't know anything about it, but bought it because she did, and I figured we could play together. I don't enjoy that many modern games, so I was really surprised how well the mechanics resonated with me. I generally enjoy fantasy settings, and the mythological Viking setting was at once similar to the Tolkienesque high fantasy I was accustomed to, and different — the world has its own unique "flavor" to it.

The survival elements are what really grabbed me initially, though. I love going from nothing and just trying to survive, to consolidating resources in a base to prepare for the next frontier. Everything felt rewarding, from discovering new resources to scavenge, to crafting, to vanquishing new enemies, discovering new lands, and building — especially creating my first base. I felt really proud of my first base, and my girlfriend helped make it cozy. It was a little wonky, but it was ours.

What really makes it an enduring experience, though, is how the gameplay is a confluence of different genres, and seamlessly integrates them into one experience: when I'm constructing buildings and hanging around in them, it sort of feels like The Sims; when I'm cultivating a garden, fishing, cooking, or raising animals, it feels like Harvest Moon; when I'm exploring, it's like when I first explored the vast maps of DayZ (I know a lot of people play DayZ for PvP, but for me, it was the exploration I found riveting); and when I'm fighting monsters, it hearkens back to various different fantasy RPGs… only with less spamming hotkeys for skills, and more active blocking, dodging, jumping, swinging or shooting.

This also organically imbues so much of the various facets of gameplay with meaning. Encountering new creatures in new biomes means new opportunities in the other aspects of the game, and those in turn produce new items, equipment or foods which facilitate further exploration and combat. Fishing isn't some minigame with a contrived reward, like a heart container in The Legend of Zelda; you will be able to use those fish to create some really useful food. I could easily see me enjoying just being a farmer and stocking up on food just to help fellow players on a server.

But what's perhaps most exciting is that, since the worlds are procedurally generated, and there are so many possibilities with constructing buildings, there's tons of replay value. Starting from scratch on a new seed is almost like playing for the first time, again. Seeing what the new world is going to look like is exciting, and it's still rewarding to build up from nothing again. It's also exciting just thinking about what sort of new bases you can build — even a new starting base with just the elementary materials.

The devs are still working on lots more content, and I'm really hoping the game remains supported for years to come. I'll be sad when they finish the final biome and declare the last major update to the game. I have a feeling the devs will want to move on to something else in a totally different genre after this.

So, what is it you guys love about this game?