“Get ready to be dropped into an empty world with nothing but trees and rocks.
Chase animals with dumber AI than RuneScape spiders.
Try and survive against a fearsome final boss: The stamina bar.

Valheim takes every boring survival game mechanic and stuffs it into a world with no incentive to explore and filled with enemy AI so basic it will make minecraft feel refreshing. Stop comparing this to Terraria. In Terraria you can walk in a direction for 5 minutes and discover more things than you will playing 1 hour of Valheim. If updates are going to take years to roll out then this game is as good as shovel ware.”


...or so I believed. I'll admit I was harsh on Valheim, it's still early in development and I anticipated the gameplay loop to be closer to other games it's often compared to like Terraria. However, since then I've developed an appreciation for Valheim. Its dull patient gameplay and progression isn't fun nor does it oblige skill, but it is satisfying to survive in a world that wasn't built for you to thrive in.

The two main problems with Valheim come down to variety and tedium. Each stage of Valheim's progression essentially takes an arduously dull task and prolongs it to give the illusion of accomplishment. Hunt 30 boars, mine 50 copper, travel 10km in a boat going against the wind. No part of it is mechanically difficult or cognitively provoking. A mile wide but an inch deep. However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a sense of accomplishment each time I unlocked a new building or crafted a new tool. It's just a shame how short lived that wondrous feeling is when you realise it's merely another vessel for another repetitively dull task. Hopefully as the development progresses and the gaps are filled, Valheim will be a genuinely engaging experience. As of now all I can suggest is to add more content. A game like this can't expand on its mechanical depth, it has to rely solely on it's capacity to be explored. Which means: unique weapons, rare drops, rare landmarks, and more enemy variety. Good luck to the devs they have it in for them.

[i]“Get ready to be dropped into an empty world with nothing but trees and rocks. Chase animals with dumber AI than RuneScape spiders. Try and survive against a fearsome final boss: The stamina bar. Valheim takes every boring survival game mechanic and stuffs it into a world with no incentive to explore and filled with enemy AI so basic it will make minecraft feel refreshing. Stop comparing this to Terraria. In Terraria you can walk in a direction for 5 minutes and discover more things than you will playing 1 hour of Valheim. If updates are going to take years to roll out then this game is as good as shovel ware.”[/i] ...or so I believed. I'll admit I was harsh on Valheim, it's still early in development and I anticipated the gameplay loop to be closer to other games it's often compared to like Terraria. However, since then I've developed an appreciation for Valheim. Its dull patient gameplay and progression isn't fun nor does it oblige skill, but it is satisfying to survive in a world that wasn't built for you to thrive in. The two main problems with Valheim come down to variety and tedium. Each stage of Valheim's progression essentially takes an arduously dull task and prolongs it to give the illusion of accomplishment. Hunt 30 boars, mine 50 copper, travel 10km in a boat going against the wind. No part of it is mechanically difficult or cognitively provoking. A mile wide but an inch deep. However, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a sense of accomplishment each time I unlocked a new building or crafted a new tool. It's just a shame how short lived that wondrous feeling is when you realise it's merely another vessel for another repetitively dull task. Hopefully as the development progresses and the gaps are filled, Valheim will be a genuinely engaging experience. As of now all I can suggest is to add more content. A game like this can't expand on its mechanical depth, it has to rely solely on it's capacity to be explored. Which means: unique weapons, rare drops, rare landmarks, and more enemy variety. Good luck to the devs they have it in for them.