Lazy Swedish devs that go on vacation for 11 months out of the year. They promised to finish the game to 1.0 ~1 year from early access, then just kept pushing the goal post further and further. Its been almost 5 years... I will never buy another game from them.

After 200+ hours of chopping trees, sailing into the unknown, and getting absolutely demolished by a two-star Fuling, this is the survival game that finally gets it right.

CORE GAMEPLAY LOOP (10/10)
The progression is pure dopamine. You start punching trees and deer, you end up building longships and storming crypts in full iron armor. But here's the genius - every biome reset the power curve. You feel godlike in the Meadows, then the Black Forest humbles you. Then you master it, feel unstoppable... and the Swamp reminds you that you're still just a Viking with a stick.
That cycle of confidence → terror → mastery never gets old. Five biomes in, I'm still getting my ass kicked in new and creative ways.

BUILDING SYSTEM (10/10)
This is THE best building system in any survival game. Period. The structural integrity mechanics force you to think like an actual architect. You can't just spam pillars - beams need support, roofs need angles, and when your mead hall collapses mid-construction because you miscalculated? You LEARN.
I've spent entire sessions just building. Not for survival purposes - just because designing a Viking fortress overlooking the ocean while the sunset hits is genuinely therapeutic. The photo mode sees heavy use.

EXPLORATION & SAILING (9/10)
The sailing system is immersive. You're actually managing wind direction, adjusting sails, navigating storms. That first time you build a Karve and set out across the ocean with zero map info? Peak gaming moment. You're genuinely exploring, not following waypoints.
Discovering a new biome, marking it on your map, sailing home to prep - this game captures the feeling of actual discovery better than any "open world" AAA slop.

COMBAT (7/10)
Solid but not revolutionary. Blocking, parrying, stamina management - it works. Boss fights are memorable (♥♥♥♥ you, Bonemass). But combat isn't why you're here. It's the obstacle between you and that copper vein you NEED for your bronze age breakthrough.
Taming and breeding animals is surprisingly addictive though. My boar farm generates more pride than it should.

CO-OP EXPERIENCE (10/10)
This game is BUILT for co-op. Solo is great, but with 2-4 friends? God-tier experience. Assigning roles (builder, gatherer, explorer), coordinating base expansions, prepping for boss fights together - it creates genuine teamwork moments.
Watching your friend get launched by a troll while you're safely shooting arrows from behind a rock? Comedy gold.

PROGRESSION PACING (8/10)
Mostly excellent. Each tier of gear feels earned. The grind never feels excessive - you're always working toward something tangible. Only weak point: the Plains can feel like a difficulty spike that requires serious prep. But that's also part of the appeal - nothing is handed to you.

TECHNICAL & UPDATES (8/10)
Runs smooth even on potato PCs. Some terrain generation jank. Occasional desync in multiplayer but nothing game-breaking.
The devs are slow but deliberate with updates. Mistlands update added MASSIVE depth. They're not rushing content - they're crafting it. Respect.

ATMOSPHERE (10/10)
The art style is deceptively simple but creates this haunting, beautiful world. The music is phenomenal - ambient tracks that make chopping wood feel epic. The sound design of wind howling through your base during a storm while you're safe by the fire? Immaculate vibes.

THE VERDICT
Valheim doesn't innovate by adding complexity - it innovates by perfecting simplicity. Every system serves the core fantasy: you're a Viking building a legacy in a hostile world. No battle passes, no microtransactions, no FOMO mechanics. Just you, your tools, and an entire realm to conquer.
I've lost entire weekends to this game. Planned to play for an hour, looked up, it's 4 AM and I've built an entire port town.

Buy it. Especially if you have friends. This is the survival game that respects your time while somehow stealing all of it.

This is a long time in the making.

Regarding Valheim's gameplay, story and general multiplayer elements, all you need to know is this: Vanilla is awesome, and the game is very good.


Again and again, the dev has sadly not been able to deal with one feedback that most communities also try to give, but sadly due to technical constraints (especially in this case UNITY), we have to deal with problems regarding your good ol' modding scene.

To be direct, many multiplayer servers *will* use mods, and you'll most likely want to make your own server with your friends rather than compete with other players. If you want some cool mods like those from Therzie's or Azumatt's, you'll however end up with a similar issue that i have: Performance Impact.

Unity is fairly known to not be very good for modding, with issues regarding loading times and mod optimization permeating the modding scene and causing issues over time, even for games like Rimworld, which to this day, hasnt been able to figure out how to make a new patch and not break games (please make a resource library devs, this should be a standard now.)

Now why do i feel like i need to point this out? Well, because like many of you from countries which do not belong to the 1st world, while my pc parts are around mid-range, with an I5, SSD's, 16GB of RAM and some 4 GBVRAM, all of these parts are from old gen, and newer parts are expensive to buy, *extremely so*.

However, i can easily mod games for the most part, Witcher 3, Terraria, Minecraft and Darkest Dungeon just being two good examples of a good modding scene with few issues, being good examples of a performant modding scene.

I cannot say this for Valheim however. Go to any Discord and you'll see complaints about performance, and "♥♥♥♥♥♥ mods", however i preface saying this: ♥♥♥♥♥♥ Mods exist, but their impact is nowhere near as horribly felt as it is on Valheim.

This game needs proper dynamic LOD's and renderization, as well as better resources for modders. When this game launches on 1.0 (which should be close), are to we to believe that only THEN Irongate will look at the modding scene and finally provide the resources that should've been there ever since Mistlands fiasco of optimization?

This game has gone over multiple updates of optimization, but at the end of the day, it's been optimizing itself, and does not seem to care about longevity outside of that, damning the modding scene to be made of only those with access to expensive tech that most people simply wont have.

I really enjoy valheim, truly do, but these issues are problems already present at the end of what seems to be their Early Access, with no solution in sight, no resources to be offered, no plans to help older gen machines, and frankly i cant even say i blame the devs, Unity is not the best engine for this, Rimworld suffers many of the same issues.

However, this is something that must be said to those who come here expecting to use mods from the likes of Nexus or Thunderstore. Be advised: This game, despite what other devs or modders will say, is NOT mod friendly, it favours higher end machines for a game that does NOT look a higher end one, and needs to be addressed eventually.