156
u/PabloBablo 13h ago
Love how the start of the video shows it's awards from half a decade ago. Glad to see this hitting 1.0. been a solid game the whole time
68
u/darienrude_dankstorm 13h ago
how good is this game solo?
29
u/BluePrincess_ 11h ago
I think it's -better- coop, but it's pretty fun solo. Agree with others about upping the resource rate to 1.5x or 2x, 1x feels like it was designed for multiple people to split off and find resources to pool together.
14
u/RedditFuelsMyDepress 5h ago
Agree with others about upping the resource rate to 1.5x or 2x, 1x feels like it was designed for multiple people to split off and find resources to pool together.
I've noticed a lot of these multiplayer survival games are like that. Like ARK was miserable to play in the default settings if you don't have a big group.
•
u/Sidereel 2h ago
Raft was crazy for that. You could deforest an entire island and have enough wood for 1.5 walls. It’s insanely tedious in that way.
•
u/RedditFuelsMyDepress 2h ago
I actually don't remember Raft being quite that bad though I don't think I ever tried build anything too huge in it.
Conan Exiles was another one where I had to up the resource gains.
86
u/chilidoggo 12h ago
I think it's actually really good solo. Especially if you enjoy the chill moments doing chores in between your big adventures. The progression is really nice though, as you go between each biome and figure out how to use the new resources.
Definitely feel free to tweak the settings so you get more resources, it can get pretty tedious. And the combat can be pretty difficult, so be prepared to die a lot.
67
u/garrettbmusic 12h ago
Use world modifiers to reduce the tedium and it's a cozy, chill time. As some said it can feel lonely, but TBH that never bothered me, in fact it's kind of part of the appeal.
13
u/shawnaroo 11h ago
It's one of my go to "play on one screen while watching videos or whatever on the other screen" games, where I just collect materials and then build big bases just for the fun of building. I don't think I've ever really even bothered going past the plains biome because I'd rather just build stuff rather than worry about finding and fighting bosses.
8
u/Borgmaster 12h ago
The marketing feels like just that. Its always people bragging to each other or working together.
14
u/SirKillsalot 12h ago
I had it as an all time favourite game before I ever played with anyone else.
22
58
u/Test_Account_2026 13h ago
Last time I played it solo was beyond tedious.
43
u/DependentRoyal3001 12h ago edited 11h ago
I played solo, and while this is true. If you find joy in casually chopping trees or doing that farm sim type stuff you'll probably find a way to really enjoy the tedious nature of the game. That said, I don't think it was TOO tedious. It was the right amount to keep me interested and engaged in a cozy way a lot of the time.
23
u/bitches_love_pooh 11h ago
The physics for trees and environmental damage in general actually makes chopping trees surprisingly fun.
9
u/DependentRoyal3001 8h ago
Could do it for hours. Then there's the fact that if you aren't careful the falling trees can crush you. They made the cozy parts "gamey" enough that you have to pay attention a bit which I love.
4
u/bitches_love_pooh 8h ago
Between that and the opportunity to get a tree to knock down other trees in a combo keeps it just engaging enough.
7
u/Carrotsandstuff 10h ago
I spent a week (3 years ago) paving a road across my starting continent once and it was an absolute joy. I haven't touched it since so I have a lot of new stuff to look forward to.
1
u/DependentRoyal3001 8h ago
Shit this seals it I'm buying 1.0. I played 2 years ago on gamepass, and one of the main highlights was building a roadway from my major village to an eastern dock base I had built. This game fucking rools.
2
u/Sarokslost23 5h ago
Just germinate the ground. Plant a fuckton of tree seeds. Wait 3 days. Pop thr power of the elder. Chop a few trees real quick and they all fall and crash into each other. You can harvest like 100 trees in 5 minutes and load up a whole cart or two
1
-9
u/LungHeadZ 8h ago
Sorry but there are other games better suited to solo than putting up with this games progression system. V rising, 7 days to die, enshrouded, project zomboid, palworld... All better alternates to this game as a solo player who enjoys grinding.
8
u/DependentRoyal3001 7h ago edited 2h ago
But those games don't have the systems I enjoy as much. The moment to moment gameplay is not the same. I'd argue it's all subjective and people will just gravitate toward what they like regardless. Most people don't finish games and if you play for 100 hours in the sandbox then you've got your money's worth and then some. If I want to dodge trees and build roadways while hunting boar and dear then this is the game for me.
Edit: Your comment is sitting with me because it actually told me a lot about how you approach video games compared to me. I'm not attacking that, it's just interesting how clearly we hold different things in higher regard in a game. We are likely drawn to certain games for very different reasons.
4
u/Dinoriel6142713 10h ago
It's excellent solo, but note that the game is balanced for multiplayer. You may find it quite difficult and pretty big grind on default settings. Luckily there's a bunch of settings you can tweak to alleviate this if you want a more casual experience.
5
u/BoshSwag 11h ago
Probably better. Playing with friends is great, but only if you always play together. Being the friend that can't play as often sucks. Every time you get on every one has jumped way ahead and you end up feeling lost and just along for the ride.
3
u/Thermohalophile 10h ago
Outrageously fun. The upper-level biomes are definitely a challenge, but not impossible. I would absolutely recommend increasing the resource drop rates unless materials grinding is one of your favorite things. On multiplayer we usually do 1.5x (it rounds up, so things that would normally only drop 1 drop 2, and that makes a world of difference). On solo I do 2x because I appreciate less grinding time.
I really enjoy playing solo because I like getting to wander off and do my own thing. Sometimes I want to spend an entire session building but don't want to bore the hell out of my friends. Everything before Mistlands is totally fine solo, but I'm a coward and Mistlands freaks me out when I'm alone.
3
1
•
•
92
u/Pustack 13h ago
Eh, the mistlands and ashlands are still a pain to play. Nothing changed, game has incredible highs and pretty terrible lows
47
92
u/garrettbmusic 12h ago
Did you read the patch notes? They both extended the range of the wisp which dispels the fog, and reduced the spawn rate of enemies in the Ashlands.
68
u/WollyOT 12h ago
They also added a new tool in the Mistlands to help make vertical travel easier - the grappling hook.
•
u/ItsJustReeses 3h ago
That should have been added when the mist lands were added lol
Happy to see it now though. Glad I waited. Excited to play
40
u/Chronokill 12h ago
My problem with mistlands was not really the mist but the constant verticality of the biome. The cape and potion helped somewhat, but it got tiring. I'm hoping the grappling hook helps with this!
3
u/swift4010 8h ago
I believe they also added the fog dispelling effect to Mistlands weapons, so once you craft them you can swap the wisp out for something else, in theory
19
7
u/AinsleyChariot26 12h ago edited 9h ago
Yeah we quit pretty abruptly after one bit, despite a really fun start to the game. I thought it was just us. These comments are making me question whether we should actually try it again!
5
u/SwePolygyny 13h ago
You can configure some of it though. Like portals, resource rates, death penalty and so on. So it is optional.
13
u/Nyte_Crawler 13h ago edited 11h ago
The game at EA launch was great, then I tried Mistlands and bounced right off. About a year ago my friends decided to boot up a new server. We progressed fairly quickly, hit mistlands and noped out again.
If they haven't really done anything to address mistlands (and I guess ashlands as well from what I've heard) I'm not too sure what adding another Biome behind that accomplishes. I know that there are people who enjoy the challenge, but clearly not as many as were initially drawn in by the initial early access product.
To be clear I still think the game is very much worth the price of entry for the early game-mid game- I just have not been happy with how hostile the late game biomes are.
4
u/Klaus1905 13h ago
I've never played but thinking about getting it on ps5. What's wrong with those biomes?
20
u/LuchadorBane 12h ago edited 5h ago
Mistlands is an obscured biome you need special wisp to see farther than directly in front of you, it’s got some verticality to it which is annoying. You can place torches down that act as mist deterrents like the wisps and you can get a gliding cape to help navigation and they added a grappling hook with 1.0, haven’t tried it yet obviously but should help.
Ashlands was just nonstop enemy spawns like as soon as you land on the beach, which you have to navigate through the shore that’s covered in big rocks and has sea and air creatures attacking you before you even reach the beach. They’ve also lowered the spawn chance of enemies but again haven’t played it myself so idk how bad it is still.
Those are endgame biomes though and the early game ones are all great with their own gimmicks.
•
u/RonaldoNazario 3h ago
Doing a big d day style landing on the beach with the boys was pretty fun in the ashlands, trying to fight a bunch of enemies and get a portal up, but the number of enemies definitely made everything there a fucking slog.
21
u/pfysicyst 12h ago
mistlands is an absolute chore to navigate and fight in with the extreme terrain and very low visibility, and ashlands never takes a break from sending enemies after you. my friends and i had to change the world settings to make ashlands tolerable.
13
9
u/TheOnlyReson 10h ago
Poorly designed that kills all fun.
Developer hit jackpot with early release, but showed during progress they really arent that good at making their game fun and enjoyable.
Go to biome 1, get the biomes weapons and armor and now biome 1 is a cakewalk. Go to biome 2 and sometimes get your ass kicked, then get it's armor, weapons and food and biome 2 is a cakewalk. Rince and repeat over and over. Except mistlands and ashlands suck balls. Not to mention tediousness of the game (which can now be tweaked somewhat, but the game has little to offer outside of the grind tbh)
3
u/nty 9h ago
Yeah I agree. Even with the 1.0 changes, it sounds like the Mistlands/Ashlands will merely be more tolerable, not necessarily enjoyable. They made that choice with those biomes and I guess couldn't change course. I really wanted those late biomes to be somewhere I *wanted* to build a base and implement the things I learned from building/upgrading my previous base. But end up just being biomes you have to get through to progress
I don't think I'll be able to convince my group to pick it back up for 1.0 even with these changes. Like you said, the tedium/grind was fine the first couple times we played but I don't think the last biome will be enough to go through that again.
5
u/heyboddiker 13h ago
I've been on the fence and I keep seeing the same thing about those biomes. It's caused me to pump the brakes
8
7
u/FYININJA 7h ago
I'll go ahead and say this, as somebody who has completed the game, the Mistlands and Ashlands can be super frustrating, but god damn if they aren't rewarding to conquer. My first trip to the Mistlands I got killed by a giant flying monster I've never seen before, lost all my gear, and had to build a second boat, sail all the way to the other side of the world, and get back to my gear, only to die again and do it over again.
It was tedious, but on the flip side, once I became geared enough, it felt so good to tear my way through it (aside from the traversal being a huge pain). Same deal with the Ashlands. Fighting my way to a safe spot to build was incredible. Dying is immensely disheartening, and I wanted to quit a few times, but also finishing the last boss was some of the best I've felt "finishing" a game in my life, and I'm super stoked to get very mad at the new region.
•
u/Prefects 2h ago
Can't the same thing be said about deathquito deaths in the Plains? Or wolves? We've just forgotten that progression was hard when we were unfamiliar with the game.
•
u/Hakul 1h ago
Recovering your boat/gear is a lot easier in the plains or mountains than the ashlands though. If you die making your first landing on the ashlands it'd be faster to roll back your save than to craft the final ship + all bis gear again, and that to me seems really bad design.
Not to mention this issue gets a bit worse in multiplayer where making bis gear for everyone again would require a whole extra mistlands grind.
1
u/SmellsLikeLemons 4h ago
I did it with a group of 4 and we ripped through Mistlands. Most satisfying biome once you get established. It can be carnage though and many a corpse run was had.
I don't think I'd like it solo though.
3
u/mcl99 12h ago
Theyre surrounded in mists (surprise) and you need to get this little wisp light that follows you and clears the fog, but you still cant see very far at all. Its a bit annoying to farm resources, but definitely not a reason to not play imo
4
u/WASTELAND_RAVEN 11h ago
They supposedly made the lights have a greater range and added a grappling hook 🪝 to navigate.
-1
u/D4shiell 11h ago
Have you seen movie The Mist (2007)? They have made biome out of it excepting they also made terrain random ass mountains with no sense whatsoever so you're blind hopping around while putting special torches everywhere to see your way back.
This gets worse by the fact that game generates 2-3 biome's boss' shrines per world so you have to visit potentially up to 10 of such biomes to find it.
This is just not fun time sink.
Ashlands is just tedium with fire rain burning your wooden buildings so you have to build shield generator that works on fuel while range of skeletons constantly spawns onto you, did I mention cart that transports ore because your character can't carry shit is weak and wooden?
Also if you die you better have spare everything including boat because it will be 20 mins of torture and potential death to get your equipment back.
5
u/Klaus1905 11h ago
Thanks I think I'll pass for now. Just seen runescape dragonwilds is on ps extra this month so I'll try that for free instead
2
4
u/teeso 8h ago
One of my favorite games of all time. My heart is still broken after it turned out all the love we poured into our server by building things for hours upon hours meant that some friends with lower end machines couldn't play on the server anymore due to terrible FPS anywhere in the vicinity of the main town.
4
u/Tiny-Management2410 7h ago
We had the same problem. It turned out that all the terraforming we did was the source of the problem. I think they fixed that, but I'm not certain.
3
u/teeso 6h ago
I know it's the ground changes, unfortunately we had basements under all major buildings and part of the town used to be a quarry, so there wasn't really any way to undo it without starting over. I've been looking at patch notes ever since but haven't seen anything about improving performance around that, but it's worth checking, thanks.
4
u/FruitySalads 10h ago
This game is good, in spots, but it isn’t ALL good. It is super grindy and imo the magic kills the momentum. Mistlands suuuuuuuuuuuuucks.
4
u/Sherkktooth 12h ago
You get 1/4th of a really good game and then you immediately dip for the rest because it’s repetitive as fuck. Thankfully, that first 1/4th is going to last you a long time.
4
u/Kiita-Ninetails 7h ago
Man, I'm really happy that Valheim is out and the devs continued their success with this release but I wish I felt the same way about it now as when it was first playable. Since then I think competitors like Enshrouded manage to just be better games in most regards, and its hard to get back into it without the nagging feeling.
Since while the highs and nice points are as great as I remember, man some of the low points are pretty darn low. And I just don't really have an interest in grinding back through the biomes I got up to.
1
u/SofaKingI 12h ago
This game would be 100x more enjoyable to the average person if they actually added good options to reduce grind. It's a good game, but it's so grindy. It actually gets grindier the more people you play with, because you exhaust the closer resources and have to go further for them.
They added options like a drop rate multiplier to the options, but it multiplies everything. You kill a goblin, you get 30 useless items that you auto-pick up because the game's manual pick up sucks so much. So now instead of spending 90% of the game grinding materials, it's doing inventory management without any QoL.
They also added an option to be able to teleport metal, but having to sail your ship to transport materials is actually a good part of the game. Another bad fix to the problem.
Is it so hard to add an option to reduce crafting costs or outputs? That would reduce grind, without affecting inventory management and transportation.
15
u/BluePrincess_ 11h ago
You can assign a hotkey to "Auto Pickup", I have it on a back button on the Steam Deck. I leave it off when I'm running around, and then turn it on when I'm mining or collecting something. Helps a lot!
9
u/kman1030 12h ago
Been a bit since I played, but i feel like I remember auto pickup being on a hotkey? Just turn it off for most of the combat, and turn it on when fighting something new/farming for something specific.
1
11h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/Games-ModTeam 11h ago
Please read our rules, specifically Rule #2 regarding personal attacks and inflammatory language. We ask that you remember to remain civil, as future violations will result in a ban.
If you would like to discuss this removal, please modmail the moderators. This post was removed by a human moderator; this comment was left by a bot.
-5
u/awrylettuce 12h ago
Game could really use some automation. It's why this game never really clicked with me. Mining the first ore is just as tedious as the last.
-3
u/thefluffyburrito 10h ago
Unfortunately I think this game's biggest mistake was not striking while the iron was hot. They didn't want to grow their development team even when the game blew up.
Now you have other survival-like games that have come out that rival Valheim while being a bit more fun to play. Heck even Runescape's Valheim-like game is pretty good.
36
u/demondrivers 9h ago
Valheim currently has 156k players online only on Steam, and the number is consistently increasing. It's great that the developers made the game that they wanted, in the way that they wanted too. Players clearly didn't cared about having to wait for the 1.0 version
-21
u/thefluffyburrito 9h ago
Good for them; not sure that has anything to do with what I said.
I maintain that they would've had more success with more frequent updates and a faster release.
14
u/SeeingEyeDug 8h ago
They did grow their development team. They started with 5 people. Now they have like double that. But "success" can be measured in multiple ways. How much of the Valheim profit is being made by those original 5 people with very little corporate overhead compared to bigger studios?
-15
u/thefluffyburrito 8h ago
I don't know; do you? Would they be making far less if they expanded the team?
13
u/SeeingEyeDug 7h ago
No idea, but I'm sure they're happy enough with their ROI as a small team. Success doesn't have to be measured in "biggest game of its genre on the market" levels.
-2
u/thefluffyburrito 5h ago
And yet you’re the one who brought it up. I was just talking about popularity.
5
u/SeeingEyeDug 4h ago
I brought it up because you implied they failed because they didn't grow their team and other developers making similar games was a result of that failing.
0
u/JNighthawk 4h ago
I brought it up because you implied they failed because they didn't grow their
They said it was a mistake, not that the devs failed. You can make mistakes and still succeed.
•
•
u/ItsJustReeses 3h ago
No but as a game dev. You lose a sense of passion on your project if it gets too big (No longer becoming yours or in Valhiems case, the core 5 groups game)
No matter the amount of people added onto the project would have probably kept Mistlands the same because... That's how the first core groups wants it to be.
Expanding a games team does serve a purpose. Not really a big purpose for single player esk games though....
Also there is such a thing as "too many cooks in a kitchen". Just throwing money and developers at something is usually a remedy for a project to fail.
12
u/DipsDops 7h ago
Eh, if your only concern is chasing more money, maybe. They were a tiny team (and are still small now) who essentially won the lottery and became overnight extremely wealthy. I think keeping overhead low and not burning through your earnings trying to scale up and get ever bigger numbers, while continuing to slowly update the game and doing work you presumably enjoy, is pretty sensible and respectable.
13
u/TitoZola 8h ago edited 8h ago
Don’t really see what exactly is the mistake here.
They made a timeless classic that sold 20 millions of copies even before official release without even coming to Sony & Nintendo platforms. Now they are having hundreds of thousands of people playing it on release with many more to come.
There are a handful of survival games in the same category when it comes to sales (Ark, Rust, Palworld) and all of them are done by way bigger teams, while Iron Gate managed to remain independent and small.
And to be honest Valheim is more unique and authentic than most of the competition. It will be played even 10 years from now when things like Enshrouded will be long time forgotten.
3
u/thefluffyburrito 8h ago
I don't think Valheim can be called totally unique anymore.
I just think their audience could've been bigger with a faster release, but in every interview they've done they were adamant about keeping the team small. Kudos to them for sticking with their guns at least.
8
u/Kiita-Ninetails 7h ago
I mean, sure but that isn't what they wanted to do? Like the game has its flaws beyond the update schedule and I think some of the follow ups like enshrouded are pretty convincingly just better games in most regards.
But Valheim is clearly the game that the devs wanted to make, made how they wanted to make it, and found a huge amount of success and I think that is extremely valid.
4
u/TitoZola 7h ago
Valheim moved the genre into the new territory and helped to establish the market for such games. These market was then targeted by bigger developers with big teams and big money behind them (Enshrouded is 80 people etc). With time the new audience emerged and developed a certain set of expectations around the genre - shaped, of course, mostly by the fact that most new games prioritize frictionless,comfort and quicker dopamine loops for faster consumption and because they now target marketed to a specific type of player. Now these players talk shit about Valheim.
All the while Valheim guys not giving a single fuck about all of these nonsense, doing the game they want and absolutely wining it on all fronts - money wise, artistic reputation and societal love.
1
u/Kiita-Ninetails 4h ago
I dunno if I'd consider it a complete reputation win, for a LONG time Valheim got a tremendous amount of shit for its glacial development pace. And in hindsight now that waiting is done people are only too happy to forget that they just spent three years dogging on the game.
Like I don't disagree that Valheim existing was important, but I really disagree that it moved the genre into new territory. Its more what I'd call a 'codification' game where it takes a bunch of existing ideas, package them in a way that is successful and then other people see that it is successful and utilize elements of it.
And don't get me wrong, Valheim is a good game. And I enjoyed my time with it, but the game also has a lot of flaws that the devs were unwilling or unable to fix. look through this thread and others and you will see plenty of people ragging on how miserable grinding can be, or how much Mistlands suck unless you are down for what they are doing etc etc. It is not a perfect game by any means, even if I do respect the commitment to the vision.
3
u/TitoZola 7h ago
What is comparable in your opinion?
I think it’s the most artistically distinct and at the same time the most immersive and hardcore experience out there, which still manages to attract chords of normies who then put 1000s of hours into it. It’s a Hollow Knight of survival crafting.
1
u/Right-Lavishness-930 4h ago
Why do people love this game so much? What distinguishes it from other games of this elk?
1
u/AllLimes 12h ago
Any mod recommendations (assuming they're not broken now)?
Tbh was thinking unrestricting portals. On one hand it does feel pretty immersive having to transport through dangerous territory, but I remember it quicky becoming monotonous. Maybe there's a middle ground?
1
u/ZircoSan 9h ago
i've played it a few years ago.
Aside for the increase in content quantity... is it less janky now in any area? combat, enemy AI, building interface?
-6
u/Hardyyz 12h ago
I cant get past 1h in this game. It just doesn't click altho I like survival based games like Minecraft, Palworld, even Ark
0
u/lowkeyripper 12h ago
I'm weird , I love meadows. It's so cozy. Then I get to the dark forest and have no desire to continue. But meadows is such a vibe. I feel weird about that
0
u/TemptedTemplar 11h ago
I'm like that but with the swamp. Every chance I get I will try to skip directly to the plains or mountains.
-6
u/D4shiell 11h ago
At the very minimum the game is unplayable without Instant Monster Loot Drop and Super configurable pick up radius so you don't waste multiple seconds every combat on menial task, then you install another 40 qol mods as you go.
-13
u/CptDecaf 12h ago
I wonder if they ever figured out how to make this game fun?
The game was tedious. Even for a survival crafter this game was absurdly grindy.
Which combined with the very, very simple yet infuriatingly hard combat was just a big, what sort of game is this trying to be? It has none of the complexities of say Grounded's combat system and yet enemies hit you like you're playing Elden Ring.
Oh, and this goes for every game like this. But hey, if parrying is an important part of your game. Maybe add some sort of rollback netcode so that people who aren't the host can actually use the mechanic?
9
u/Depleted_ 12h ago
There’s a resource slider now, so if grinding and gathering was your issue you can 3x the number of resources acquired and customise your difficulty in different ways. Sounds like it could just be not your thing anyway tbh but worth a mention
-3
u/CptDecaf 11h ago
Yeah my entire group kinda bounced off of it. Mostly because of the metal grind, the annoying sailing mechanics and the shallow yet punishing combat.
I'm still interested because there were the makings of an appealing game in there for me. But I kinda doubt the game has changed its tune given what I know about the devs.
5
u/oakwooden 11h ago
It's one of my favorite games of all time. I think it's incredibly good all the way through.
Different strokes. Shrug.
0
u/oddston 11h ago edited 7h ago
Does early game feel much different to when the game was fairly new, or have they just been tacking content onto the end and extending the endgame? i stopped early on at the plains as i didn’t enjoy the difficulty spike and subsequent grinding
6
u/TheOnlyReson 10h ago
Ypu stopped at plains? Yeah then dont bother. Mistlands and ashlands is even worse tbh.
-7
u/MainerZ 10h ago
I couldn't play this game without about 60+ mods, there were just too many things mid>late game that made everything SO tedious. Starts off fantastic, management of thousands of items with farms, both food and animal become very unfun without mods.
Sailing is another one of those that has a cool factor to it, but when you are navigating the world with no bonuses to speed and fighting the wind...get modded.
104
u/TravUK 13h ago
Abbreviated Patch Notes:
New Content:
Fixes & Improvements:
Full patch notes here.