Valheim

A fantasy sandbox with survival elements. You can play alone or with others, exploring the world and gathering resources, finding and raiding tombs, building bases, and creating increasingly powerful weapons and armor, defeating various enemies, monsters, and bosses. The setting of early Scandinavian medieval times became a strong point of the project.

According to Scandinavian mythology, mortal and divine beings inhabit nine worlds. Humans live in Midgard, while gods like Odin reside in Asgard. Valheim is a wild tenth realm that even the gods fear.

The main character is a Viking, wounded in one of the battles but not worthy of a place in Valhalla. He would rot in Helheim, but by Odin's command, Valkyries transport dying warriors to Valheim. There, they must earn their place in Valhalla through hard work and victory over terrifying monsters, Odin's enemies. And Valheim itself must be transformed into a hospitable place.

Unlike Minecraft, Valheim has a narrative divided into a main storyline and additional quests. The player receives instructions and specific goals, and upon completing them, the story progresses. Periodically, a raven named Huginn visits the player and delivers messages from Odin.

You cannot get stuck on survival or building and ignore the plot. Only after defeating a certain boss or completing a quest do new gameplay opportunities and areas of the world open up.

At the time of its early access release, Valheim did not have a large and lengthy storyline; it was added closer to the full version's release.

Following Viking mythology, Valheim appears as a flat, round, water world with many islands. Around its perimeter is the edge of the earth in the form of an endless waterfall. At the beginning of each new game, a unique map is created through procedural generation, full of scattered islands of various shapes and sizes in the ocean.

The islands are divided into biomes — forests and meadows, swamps, fields, mountains, northern lands, etc., totaling 10. Each biome offers a unique combination of nature, climate, resources, enemies, and useful loot.

There are places with poisonous air or severe frost. Visiting them requires preparation and crafting protective items. The ocean acts as an independent biome, filled with dangerous aquatic creatures. The world is so vast that fully exploring it will take several hundred hours.

At the time of early access, Valheim had almost no unique content; all points of interest (altars, runes, dungeons, fortresses, etc.) were procedurally generated. The bestiary consisted of both well-known animals (wolves, deer, boars) and fantasy monsters — trolls, goblins, skeletons, walking trees, trolls, dragons, giant sea krakens, and others.

The improved physics of Valheim takes into account the weight of objects, the strength of structures, collision angles, and air movement. Cut down trees can crush the player, while also destroying their base, or they might break a couple of other trees. A house built without the necessary supports will collapse. A fire lit in a house without a chimney will quickly fill the inside with smoke, and the character will start to suffocate.

Like in other games of the genre, in Valheim the hero finds themselves in an inhospitable world with bare hands. At first, they ensure their survival in the most primitive way — gathering berries, running with a club, and living in a hut.

Later, the player explores the world, finds new resources, starts hunting animals, and can craft a bow, arrows, an axe, and armor. Over time, stone and bone tools give way to bronze, and then to items made of iron and precious metals.

Most items are crafted using a workbench, the most important element of gameplay — only within its radius can full buildings be constructed, and enemy spawns cease. In addition to the workbench, there are other workshops for crafting; for example, metal can be extracted through a smelter, and weapons and armor can be made at a forge.

Crafting workshops can also be upgraded, opening new crafting possibilities. However, creating advanced weapons and tools is not possible without rare materials, which must be obtained from tough enemies and bosses.

The character themselves can also level up. Progression in Valheim is done a la Skyrim: the more often the player performs an action, such as running or fighting with a spear, the higher the level of that action, meaning they can run longer and faster or deal more damage with the spear. Even running around a hut or hitting a rock counts as practice.

Valheim differs by allowing players to be hungry all the time without leading to death. Food increases health and stamina, the two main character attributes, as well as boosts healing speed and activates health regeneration. But one cannot eat the same thing all the time; variety is needed.

Valheim offers not only single-player but also cooperative game modes. The difficulty increases with the number of players. Surviving alone is easy, in cooperation with a friend the difficulty will be medium, and with three or more participants — it will become high. Up to 10 players can be on one server.

All cooperative participants have the same tasks and quests but can distribute them: one tames and breeds animals, another digs in the garden, the third fishes, the fourth mines ore, and the fifth transports it back to the base.

While the sun is shining, one must hunt, gather resources, craft necessary items, and strengthen the base. With the onset of night, one must defend — wild animals and enemies become more aggressive, there will be more of them, and their behavior will change. For example, wolves will start to form huge packs, and defeating them alone will prove challenging.

Without a fortified base, no player or team of players can manage. It is a safe place to store all collected resources, crafted tools, weapons, and armor. Building is an important aspect of Valheim; even in early access, players could construct outposts and full-fledged fortresses throughout the tenth world.

There is also a "Player versus Player" mode in Valheim, which can be enabled when setting up the server. However, balance and mechanics were only refined in the full version of the game, as player confrontations are a secondary task compared to other game features.