Valheim - Viking Survival Game (Early Access)

BrotherWu · 2026-09-10T11:14:27-0400

Something about this game has always clicked for me, not withstanding some of the grindy and punishing systems. I've probably started 5 or 6 times, once solo, and the rest with groups and everyone tends to pussy out around the time you're mining silver or maybe pushing into the plains. I really wanted to get a group together committed to beating 1.0 but it ain't looking good. The bros are playing other stuff. I wish they had taken some cues from Windrose QoL like large area of effect for bonfires and comfort, auto resource pulling from chests, less finicky building, etc.

Tuco For me, the premise of Valheim and allowing yourself to be immersed into it is interesting. I.e. the idea that you're in an afterlife world trying to prove yourself as a warrior. It starts out rather simple and peaceful but progresses into a brutal fight for survival, grind for resources, and preparation for your next test against a boss. The building system can be magnificent and you can spend a lot of time in relative lower pressure safety optimizing and beautifying your base but you also have to stay on your toes because the next raid is coming. Also, exploration is key and is dangerous. If you beat this game, you've accomplished something. And you're probably on the spectrum.

Tuco · 2026-09-10T11:26:14-0400

BrotherWu said:
Tuco For me, the premise of Valheim and allowing yourself to be immersed into it is interesting. I.e. the idea that you're in an afterlife world trying to prove yourself as a warrior. It starts out rather simple and peaceful but progresses into a brutal fight for survival, grind for resources, and preparation for your next test against a boss. The building system can be magnificent and you can spend a lot of time in relative lower pressure safety optimizing and beautifying your base but you also have to stay on your toes because the next raid is coming. Also, exploration is key and is dangerous. If you beat this game, you've accomplished something. And you're probably on the spectrum.

This is a common sentiment I've read about Valheim, and I'm curious, for those who agree with it, have you played a lot of similar games?

I've played so many similar games I wonder if I won't be drawn in the same way.

BrotherWu · 2026-09-10T11:52:08-0400

Tuco said:
This is a common sentiment I've read about Valheim, and I'm curious, for those who agree with it, have you played a lot of similar games?

I've played so many similar games I wonder if I won't be drawn in the same way.

Open world survival is probably my favorite genre. I have played a lot of them; those with significant time: Minecraft, 7DTD, Abiotic Factor, V Rising, Bellwright, DayZ, Icarus (underrated), Raft, Rust, Soulmask, Empyrion, Windrose.

Also, dabbled in ARK, Conan Exiles, Enshrouded (waiting for release), The Forest, SotF.

Wow. When I actually looked at my library and made that list, I was surprised at how many there were with a lot of played time. Anyway, of those I have put a lot of time into, Valheim may or may not be my favorite but, for me, it stands alone in the creativity of its premise, world immersion, and raw challenge.

Kharzette · 2026-09-10T11:58:08-0400

The big turnoff for me was the active dodge combat. I hate active dodge in all forms and it is crazy to me that an entire genre sprang forth from such a terrible mechanic.

The other turnoff were the character models, but that is easily fixed. You can import your own and I did so. Armor graphics don't really work though.

Did they ever introduce any kind of alternative to rolling around on the ground like an idiot? If so I might give 1.0 a shot for a few days.

BrotherWu · 2026-09-10T12:43:52-0400

Kharzette said:
The big turnoff for me was the active dodge combat. I hate active dodge in all forms and it is crazy to me that an entire genre sprang forth from such a terrible mechanic.

The other turnoff were the character models, but that is easily fixed. You can import your own and I did so. Armor graphics don't really work though.

Did they ever introduce any kind of alternative to rolling around on the ground like an idiot? If so I might give 1.0 a shot for a few days.

Well, you could use a bow, or a shield. You could bind roll to a mouse macro if right click and space is just too complicated. I don't see the big deal.

Character models I believe they have added some options at creation.

cyrusreij · 2026-09-10T13:33:08-0400

I really wasn't expecting anime cutscenes every first sleep after killing a boss, as someone who hasn't played in years. I guess that is an addition that was worth development time?

Kaige · 2026-09-10T13:41:08-0400

...dodge?

Get a proper shield and parry like a boss. Soulslikes don't even have a parry as delicious as Valheim does.

You can even parry Trolls. Just be careful of your stamina.

Adebisi · 2026-09-10T17:19:16-0400

Tuco said:
Bought valheim and enjoyed the first day. Made a shitty house, ate some boar meat and went to sleep. Highlight is when I learned trees have collision damage and killed me.

I'm not sure what the draw of the game is, what does Valheim bring to the survival game that Minecraft didn't do back in 2009?

I personally like the progression. The world is pretty even if kinda low res. The way you feel more powerful as you get better gear. The way you feel weak and exposed when you chance doing a naked corpse run. Learning the little tricks to killing new enemies. Feeling like you're king of the high seas until they sea serpents runs a train on your boat.

Figuring out the best layout of your base.

Re: dodge. I don't think I've ever dodged an enemy on purpose lol. The boys are right... Figuring out parry timing on each mob is essential. That *sccchinnnggg* and watching them do a stunned dance while I Crit their faces is delicious

Needless · 2026-09-10T17:23:36-0400

Thank god they added world settings to remove the portal restrictions since i last played, that is one of the worst things next to not being able to delete items

Nobody has time to treck a fuckin cart around

Ambiturner · 2026-09-10T17:41:52-0400

Kharzette said:
The big turnoff for me was the active dodge combat. I hate active dodge in all forms and it is crazy to me that an entire genre sprang forth from such a terrible mechanic.

The other turnoff were the character models, but that is easily fixed. You can import your own and I did so. Armor graphics don't really work though.

Did they ever introduce any kind of alternative to rolling around on the ground like an idiot? If so I might give 1.0 a shot for a few days.

Can't you also block, parry, or fight from ranged? Having the option to dodge while fighting is a bizarre thing to complain about

Kharzette · 2026-09-10T18:03:18-0400

Well, I'm not sure. My memory is not great. I remember these tall blue guys and people rolling around and around and around and stabbing them to win, but block just got me killed but I could be remembering wrong.

The only other thing I remember was catching a bunch of pigs.

Droigan · 2026-09-10T18:31:07-0400

Kharzette said:
Well, I'm not sure. My memory is not great. I remember these tall blue guys and people rolling around and around and around and stabbing them to win, but block just got me killed but I could be remembering wrong.

The only other thing I remember was catching a bunch of pigs.

Trolls (the blue guys) and bears all have attacks that can be blocked that cause stun, but they also have attacks that pretty much instantly breaks your block (at least at the gear level you usually fight them) and cause massive damage. In modern games they'd be the attacks that glow red to mark them as unblockable, but here you have to visually look at the attacks to know which ones to move away from.

The trolls with the trees are more dangerous, I usually range those.

Needless · 2026-09-10T18:37:10-0400

Those bears are spooky man, had one of those fuckers spawn on the first copper node i found and now he just guards it

Adebisi · 2026-09-10T18:57:25-0400

Needless said:
Thank god they added world settings to remove the portal restrictions since i last played, that is one of the worst things next to not being able to delete items

Nobody has time to treck a fuckin cart around

Obliterator!

I don't mind the portal restriction. I'd just load up a boat to the tits with iron after clearing out a swamp. Sail em back and I'm all good.

Late game Stone portals are nice tho.

Caliane · 2026-09-10T20:20:29-0400

Tuco said:
This is a common sentiment I've read about Valheim, and I'm curious, for those who agree with it, have you played a lot of similar games?

I've played so many similar games I wonder if I won't be drawn in the same way.

the game did revolutionize the genre. I've not really played in a bit now. so, not sure what exactly has been added.

beautiful despite the low poly visuals.
Voxel based. (Although limited, can only dig so far.)
lots of terraria dna. enemies stronger/change at night.
raids.
proc gen world. seeds.
bosses gate progression.
world is persistant. not like enshrouded where only your player base stays. no. if you build a road for your cart. it stays.
making travel, resource collection part of the game like this. away bases, roads, mining camps, etc become a thing. add in comfort system.
tree physics.
weathering on wood. such a great visual, that others haven't really copied.
food system has been copied by so many games now. hunger isn't just eat food. foods give +hp, +stam for x time. and various foods give various amounts. enshrouded uses the same system now for example.
comfort system as well. enshrouded also knicked this.
cozy as heck. standing on a hill, riding a boat. just lovely.

the game does not have automation or friendly npcs to join you.

meStevo · 2026-09-11T02:45:48-0400

Off to Blizzcon so don't get to play more until next week, but having fun restarting. Lots of little changes.

Think this image speaks for itself. "Ooh, I can cut both of these down at the same time"

Droigan · 2026-09-11T04:39:25-0400

As usual my starter house always have trouble with chests everywhere and roof falling apart since its too big to support itself without iron struts.

Time to remake. That storage solution... so much better.

Pyros · 2026-09-11T06:35:31-0400

Droigan said:
As usual my starter house always have trouble with chests everywhere and roof falling apart since its too big to support itself without iron struts.

Time to remake. That storage solution... so much better.

While I like watching videos of this stuff whenever I play I just never bother and just do the strict minimum for functionality.

After 120hours in Palworld my "base" was in the same spot I started(right in front of the start of the game), and it was just an open "ring" of stuff laying directly on the ground, just all the stations like that, a couple rows of chests, some farms and what not and that's it, no roof, no walls, no doors, no decoration. Granted for Valheim I think you have to put some more effort into it because it affects some stats and there's raids(there's technically raids in Palworld but they're super easy and stuff would just die instantly when they spawned) but I'll probably do it Terraria style, just big squares that fit the minimum required to qualify as a house.

My Satisfactory base was also quite a thing because the factory games are even worse when it comes to having to rebuild stuff and keep adding new stuff, but it worked well enough. Meanwhile there's videos of guys spending 6months building gigantic factories with complex train systems and stuff, meanwhile I just had transport belts running through half the world floating in the air.

Tuco · 2026-09-11T07:38:38-0400

Pyros said:
While I like watching videos of this stuff whenever I play I just never bother and just do the strict minimum for functionality.

After 120hours in Palworld my "base" was in the same spot I started(right in front of the start of the game), and it was just an open "ring" of stuff laying directly on the ground, just all the stations like that, a couple rows of chests, some farms and what not and that's it, no roof, no walls, no doors, no decoration. Granted for Valheim I think you have to put some more effort into it because it affects some stats and there's raids(there's technically raids in Palworld but they're super easy and stuff would just die instantly when they spawned) but I'll probably do it Terraria style, just big squares that fit the minimum required to qualify as a house.

My Satisfactory base was also quite a thing because the factory games are even worse when it comes to having to rebuild stuff and keep adding new stuff, but it worked well enough. Meanwhile there's videos of guys spending 6months building gigantic factories with complex train systems and stuff, meanwhile I just had transport belts running through half the world floating in the air.

I don't know about Valheim structures but there's something satisfying about remaking the homeless encampment base into something more organized, but you can just never beat the efficiency of everything just thrown around on the ground.

The way I got around that in Palworld was to basically build a mega pyramid around the homeless encampment, and then try to organize it into a grid pattern. Looks cool but is still efficient to access any stations you need.

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Valheim - Viking Survival Game (Early Access)

BrotherWu

MAGA

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!

BrotherWu

MAGA

Kharzette

Watcher of Overs

BrotherWu

MAGA

cyrusreij

Trakanon Raider

Kaige

Random Encounter

Adebisi

Clump of Cells

Needless

Toe Sucker

Ambiturner

Ssraeszha Raider

Kharzette

Watcher of Overs

Droigan

Blackwing Lair Raider

Needless

Toe Sucker

Adebisi

Clump of Cells

Caliane

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider

meStevo

I think your wife's a bigfoot gus.

Droigan

Blackwing Lair Raider

Pyros

Tuco

I got Tuco'd!