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Brash_Endeavors

Valheim, Open World Viking Survival game (Free/Pay What You Want)

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It's in early development, you can pay what you want to support the developer (including nothing if you simply want to try it), it apparently has singleplayer & multiplayer.  I have not tried it yet but plan to soon, as some  of the let's plays look interesting  

 

It's a small indie project. There WILL be a charge later, so try itnow if you want a free early taste. Per the developer:

 

This early alpha version of Valheim is free to download but i gladly accept donations. A nonfree version of the game will hopefully be released on steam later this year. So just to make it clear, donating money is not the same as buying the game.

 

 

 

Website + download:  https://dvoidis.itch.io/valheim

 

Looks promising for those looking for a small side distraction from the great Wurm:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Brash_Endeavors
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Looks interesting Brash. I'll check it out. Thanks!

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Gosh if only wurm had this combat system :D Of course lacking the deepness of content we have in wurm which is normal, but a lot of great stuff in this game, i love stamina system, fighting is fun, i love how you need to just hold axe and click on tree to chop it, although developers announcent something like like that in wurm if I'm not mistaken. I don't like crafting a system though menu after activating hammer is not very practical for finding a what do you you want to build... Overall nice little game will definitely spend some hours on it :) I'm sure curious to see it how it will develop. Ofc lack of official server is a big no for me to stick to some game...

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Well, two and a half years later and Valheim is now on Steam Early Access, with over a million copies sold its first week and  over 20,000 player reviews giving it  the much coveted  "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating..  

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/892970/Valheim/  

 

 

Anyone here given it a try yet?  There is no longer a free demo but the game has come quite a ways since the trailer above. It can be played singleplayer or co-op, PVE or PVP.   I have been messing around with it a bit, it is different from Wurm of course, and unlike Wurm you cannot play a "no-combat" mode (since it is all about gathering resources in order to be able to tackle the next boss), but it does have a lot of crafting, survival elements, tons and tons of skills training (jumping, swimming, stealth, woodcutting, weapons), as well as exploration and discovery in different weather, biomes, etc. I imagine for pvp players it is a different experience than for singleplayer PVE. Maybe it is more like Ark in ways? Except servers are capped at 10 players ...

 

Lots of LetsPlays up on youtube now for anyone who likes to check out a game that way, first.  Based on the reviews (many of which actually claimed it was "the best game I've ever played!")  it sounds like maybe worth a try!

 

 

 

 

Edited by Brash_Endeavors
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11 minutes ago, Brash_Endeavors said:

Well, two and a half years later and Valheim is now on Steam Early Access, with over a million copies sold its first week and  over 20,000 player reviews giving it  the much coveted  "Overwhelmingly Positive" rating..  

 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/892970/Valheim/#app_reviews_hash

 

 

Anyone here given it a try yet?  There is no longer a free demo but the game has come quite a ways since the trailer above. It can be played singleplayer or co-op, PVE or PVP.   I have been messing around with it a bit, it is different from Wurm of course, and unlike Wurm you cannot play a "no-combat" mode (since it is all about gathering resources in order to be able to tackle the next boss), but it does have a lot of crafting, survival elements, tons and tons of skills training (jumping, swimming, stealth, woodcutting, weapons), as well as exploration and discovery in different weather, biomes, etc. I imagine for pvp players it is a different experience than for singleplayer PVE. Maybe it is more like Ark in ways?

 

Lots of LetsPlays up on youtube now for anyone who likes to check out a game that way, first.  Based on the reviews (many of which actually claimed it was "the best game I've ever played!")  it sounds like maybe worth a try!

 

 

 

 

ITs a lot of fun! Better with friends but still fun solo! Death is very real ingame though so keep on your heels!

 

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I know Xehtran (Fellow wurm streamer) plays it!

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I've been playing it all week. So far single player, but some family members also plan on playing it so we'll do co-op. Quite a fun game. Well worth the $20 it cost me on Steam. For an early access game, it's quite complete. 

Edited by Fineal
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Certainly one of the best $20 I've spent lately on a game. :) 

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Yes!
I picked it up to check it out first, and then my wife joined me after a day or so of poking around. We have been playing Valheim together on a private / local server game pretty much every night so far. Overall we are having a TON of fun. There are some things we like better than others, but generally speaking, this game is already much better than most other "early access" games - and definitely worth more the low $20 price. Currently, I feel like Valheim is better for my wife, but Wurm is better for me, and here's why....

 

In Wurm, the crafting & building systems are way more robust and "hardcore".- you have to make all the smaller materials needed to build an object and you have to start with crates and fences before you can start building walls, etc. In Valheim, you start with the default ability to build multi-story structures. To build a wall it only takes a stack of wood. To build a bed it's ... ummm... wood and leather scraps? Basically nothing so hard to collect that I even noticed the resource requirements at all. So far,  there has been very little resource processing - raw meat is ready to cook as-is, no chopping or dicing needed. You don't need to change logs into planks or shafts or pegs before using them. You don't need to sew scraps together to make leather strips, and you don't tan hide into leather before it can magically become a full leather tunic with one "craft" button press. It reminds me of the resource gathering and the building mechanics found in a game like Fortnight. 

 

in terms of survival mechanics - it's a mixed bag. There is a hunger/nutrition mechanic, but not a thirst meter. And as far as hunger/nutrition mechanic, you have a guaranteed baseline that only drops down if you actively take damage - you can't accidentally forget to snack & end up fasting / starving.  Instead, the eating mechanics are more like buffs that provide extra temporary hit points and regen for your health and stamina while active. As long as you don't let your food buffs wear off, you'll be running around like a nigh--invincible god. One thing that Valheim does have in survival mechanics that Wurm really needs to steal is weather and status effects. In Valheim, if you get wet, you get a slowed down a bit because you're waterlogged. At night, you get cold, and it has an impact on your stamina and stat efficiency and stuff. Plus, the freakin weather effects are insanely gorgeous - if you can, I'd say grab the game just to experience one of the trauma-inducing wild tempests with crashing waves and lightning that stops you dead in your tracks. 

 

As it is a game still in "early access" and I have been running around exploring instead of grinding progression, I haven't had much interaction with farming or domestic animal mechanics - but I know they are part of the game. They've also got an impressive looking development roadmap posted for 2021 - who knows if they'll stay on top of it or not. 

 

The part where Valheim just wrecks Wurm is the combat.

This is the number one reason my wife wont play Wurm with me, but is obsessed with Valheim. The combat is basic and simple - but it's no-targeted, action combat. Your ability set depends on the weapon equipped, and different weapons do different damage and have a variety of weapon-specific stats (of course). My knife, for example, gets a 10x damage modifier when doing a backstab. I sneak around and ambush deer with the knife's extra attack I have lovingly nicknamed "death from above." Wife is more involved in the brash confrontation combat - she's rocking a spear and shield and running right into battle with many war cries and taunting. She is also ridiculously good at bow & arrow - able to judge just the right amount to lead for moving targets & to aim above for the arc of the arrow's flight at distance, and of course, to compensate for the wind strength and direction. In direct combat, you're not just throwing out attacks - there's also active blocking, and if you time your block properly you'll parry instead and get a free stagger status effect on your enemy. Overall, the combat in Valheim is dynamic, active, and multifaceted. There's sneaking, there's chasing, there's thrown and range weapons, as well as all the melee classics. 

 

Soooo... Valheim has the potential to build like crazy on top of this really strong start. With a lot of core game mechanics in the right place, it's super easy to keep rolling out additional assets like furniture and weapons and armor and plants to farm and gather, etc. Wurm on the other hand, has incredible breadth and depth across the board, but needs to strengthen or overhaul core content mechanics - like combat. 

 

Personally, I currently love Wurm and like what I'm able to do in the Wurm universe much better than Valheim.... but the more development Valheim sees, the closer to Wurm's heels it'll be running. 

 

 

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On 2/13/2021 at 4:28 PM, Eyesgood said:

1 Million copies in one week.  Impressive.   Most Impressive.

 

Now up to three million ...

 

Top games by current player count
CURRENT PLAYERS PEAK TODAY   GAME
 
1,060,019 1,060,019   Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
513,902 585,888   Dota 2
333,290 390,550   Valheim
195,038 432,598   PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
160,455 170,717   Rust
141,572 188,214   Apex Legends
139,894 147,403   Source SDK Base 2013 Multiplayer
124,324 124,324   Team Fortress 2
103,901 139,852   Grand Theft Auto V
88,159 108,706   Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege

 

 

Should You Buy It? videos

 

It's no Wurm but it defintely earns it's $19.99.

I love the archery (an area that was the very biggest disappointment for me in Wurm).

 

 

 

 

Edited by Brash_Endeavors
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I have been playing this game for a week or so and find it fun but there is a real lack of official documentation about it so some things I have a hard time figuring out. How do you open up the skills tab to check your skill levels? How do you activate "sneak". I find deer impossible to kill as they just keep running away when getting close to them. How do people seem to easily kill them? What is the range on bows? Spears can be thrown but what is the range of them? How are those boar trophies placed? How do you delete unwanted items, say for instance torches?

 

All questions such as these and more are easily found on the Wurm website and wiki, which eliminates confusion about how to proceed and learn the game. This is what I find frustrating about Valheim. Plus yeah, your progress there is more directly tied into killing some harder and boss mobs, as per example the first deer boss to be able to create the antler mining pick, without which you can't level down ground with rock underneath to then be able to continue building structures and fencing. Then even to summon this boss you need to be able to kill some deer, which as I said always run away. Bah!

 

=Ayes=

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26 minutes ago, Ayes said:

I have been playing this game for a week or so and find it fun but there is a real lack of official documentation about it so some things I have a hard time figuring out. How do you open up the skills tab to check your skill levels? How do you activate "sneak". I find deer impossible to kill as they just keep running away when getting close to them. How do people seem to easily kill them? What is the range on bows? Spears can be thrown but what is the range of them? How are those boar trophies placed? How do you delete unwanted items, say for instance torches?

 

All questions such as these and more are easily found on the Wurm website and wiki, which eliminates confusion about how to proceed and learn the game. This is what I find frustrating about Valheim. Plus yeah, your progress there is more directly tied into killing some harder and boss mobs, as per example the first deer boss to be able to create the antler mining pick, without which you can't level down ground with rock underneath to then be able to continue building structures and fencing. Then even to summon this boss you need to be able to kill some deer, which as I said always run away. Bah!

 

=Ayes=

Left CTRL to sneak.  Come up from behind with a knife.  They will not see you and you can kill them in one hit.  Same for boars.

Hit Tab to open inventory.  Look over to your right to see some icons at the top.  click them.  One is skills.

Bows are awesome.  They have enormous range.  Run to the water and pick up flint.  Use regular arrows to kill white seagulls.  Get feathers.  Make flint arrows.  Make fire arrows.  You can kite and kill the first boss with only arrows.

Delete items, just activate your crafting mallet and target object.  Middle mouse to destroy and recover some materials.

 

But I bet you knew all these answers already.... right?

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22 hours ago, Eyesgood said:

But I bet you knew all these answers already.... right?

 

Thanks for the response Eyesgood. 😀 I did finally stumble upon that CTRL key to turn sneak on/off. Works much better now for being able to sneak within range of deer and then I throw my #2 flint spear at em to kill with 1 hit, unless they are the ones with a gold star below their name and then takes a second throw at em. Bow doesn't seem to work for me well and just wastes a lot of arrows, which unlike Wurm can't be picked up. I see where the skills tab is below character name with all those symbols. Good to finally be able to check those out too.

 

As far as destroying items I don't mean player made stuff with hammer activated but rather something like those boars heads. I don't see any way to target them to destroy and they weigh a lot in inventory and waste space in storage chests. Anyway, I am enjoying the game a bit more now I can kill deers and make leather armor and items that need leather too.

 

=Ayes=

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2 hours ago, Ayes said:

 

Thanks for the response Eyesgood. 😀 I did finally stumble upon that CTRL key to turn sneak on/off. Works much better now for being able to sneak within range of deer and then I throw my #2 flint spear at em to kill with 1 hit, unless they are the ones with a gold star below their name and then takes a second throw at em. Bow doesn't seem to work for me well and just wastes a lot of arrows, which unlike Wurm can't be picked up. I see where the skills tab is below character name with all those symbols. Good to finally be able to check those out too.

 

As far as destroying items I don't mean player made stuff with hammer activated but rather something like those boars heads. I don't see any way to target them to destroy and they weigh a lot in inventory and waste space in storage chests. Anyway, I am enjoying the game a bit more now I can kill deers and make leather armor and items that need leather too.

 

=Ayes=

 

Happy to hear you are enjoying it.  If you use a knife in sneak, it will kill even a 2 star deer in one hit.

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19 hours ago, Ayes said:

As far as destroying items I don't mean player made stuff with hammer activated but rather something like those boars heads. I don't see any way to target them to destroy and they weigh a lot in inventory and waste space in storage chests. Anyway, I am enjoying the game a bit more now I can kill deers and make leather armor and items that need leather too.

 

 

I absolutely love the bows. You do have to practice a bit in order to compensate for trajectory arc. If you practice some though they are absolutely worth the trouble (some complain they are OP). But just sneaking with a knife is also quite good.

 

The easiest way to dispose a lot of boar heads etc is to drop them in semi deepish water, apparently they despawn if you do that.

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A Troll Story To Remember.

 

So, I killed a troll by kiting him from one island to another.  However, they hate the water and he stopped in the midst like he was afraid.  I killed him, not realizing his hide and gold coins would sink.  I swam out to get them.  The water was too deep!  What do I do, I thought?  I built a raft.  I rafted over them and still could not pick them up.  I dropped down a workbench on the shore near the loot.  I then constructed a ladder diving board 4 ladders high with a platform.  Of course all this needed support, so I dropped beams down in the sand and built them up to support the diving board.  I then climbed up and leaped from the diving board into the water, which allowed me to sink low enough spamming 'E' to attempt to get the hide before I bobbed back to the surface.  After several attempts, I retrieved the 5 troll hide.  

 

Now that, folks, is how you make a game!!!!!!!

Simply amazing...

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Well, I killed the first deer boss today. Used my now #3 flint spear and #3 wood shield. I found that the shield blocking works very well, even for those lightning strikes he throws out. Otherwise I would have been dead. I made the antler pick and lowered some rock just a bit too much and I can't figure out how to raise it with the hoe. How is this done?

 

Also, I notice that I have 0 running skill. Maybe when I press Q I am still walking? So I am not sure how to run either.....

 

=Ayes= 

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Best game that has come out in awhile! Have some wurm feeling to it, its awesome, so far 14 hours behind me. Soon upgrading to bronze stuff.

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On 2/19/2021 at 8:46 PM, Ayes said:

All questions such as these and more are easily found on the Wurm website and wiki, which eliminates confusion about how to proceed and learn the game. This is what I find frustrating about Valheim.  

 

 

Actually, wurm players rather than devs built the lions share of the wurm wiki, which has had 15+ years to reach it's current state of depth and helpfulness. Valheim has only been out a few weeks, and really quite unsure how useful the wurm wiki would have been (or if it even existed) a few weeks into its "early access."  I don't know how useful it is, but there *is* a Valheim wiki here:  https://valheim.fandom.com/wiki/Valheim_Wiki.    As far as finding things on the forum -- same thing, players have been compiling that info for a decade and a half. But you still have to SEARCH, which means phrasing things just right to get the answers, and I tend to use google for my searching in both wurm and Valheim.  Googling for Valheim help is how I have gotten on so far, and with over three million mostly enthusiastic players, there is actually a LOT of info on the web!. So come back in the year 2036 and maybe Valheim's wiki and forums will be as helpful ^_^  

 

 

But still, Wurm is soooo much more complex, complicated, wogical, content laden,  etc that it's wiki is going to be used by veterans even a decade and a half into the game.

 

I have well over 15,000 hours into WO/WU and as much as I enjoy Valheim, I doubt I will ever be playing it for as long as I will be playing Wurm :D

 

Wurm is still my PASSION!

 

 

Edited by Brash_Endeavors
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On 2/22/2021 at 3:58 PM, Brash_Endeavors said:

So come back in the year 2036 and maybe Valheim's wiki and forums will be as helpful ^_^

Point taken *but* I still think that Valheim's main website is lacking in some very basic information. As for how to "run", I messed around hitting some keys and found that holding down W and Shift together enables running. Also, on raising ground with the hoe, pressing mouse2 brings up the menu for that, I found out.

 

I do miss having numerous random people in the game as Wurm does. Always nice to have them in the background doing their own thing and changing the environment, even though not in direct contact with them most times.

 

=Ayes=

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https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/892970/view/3058478454611894475

 

 
Quote

 

 
Four Million Vikings!

When Valheim first hit Steam Early Access just three weeks ago, we hoped that all the hard work our small team put into the game these past three years would get the attention it deserved.
Little did we know just how much Valheim would resonate with all four million of you.
That’s right! Three weeks into Early Access, and we’ve hit another milestone, four million brave souls embarking on the most dangerous feat in over a thousand years of Viking history - trying to make Odin proud.

Some of the latest:
  • This past weekend, we hit 500,000 concurrent players - this puts Valheim in the top 5 most played games in the history of Steam.
  • Valheim has already been played for a combined total of 10,000 years! That’s 3,649,980 more days than the 20 days it has been on Steam Early Access.
  • Still climbing the Steam’s Top 250 best reviewed games of all time, now sitting in 57th place!
  • 81,000+ Overwhelmingly Positive reviews


For the fourth (and surely not final) time - thank you!!! We couldn’t have wished for a more engaged, passionate and supportive community, and all of your amazing creations and ideas are keeping us motivated to deliver the Valheim you all deserve.
Praise Odin!
The Iron Gate Team

 

 

 

 

 

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Been playing around with this since last night after a buddy made me play it lol

 

came home and bought it myself. Super enjoyable. . Even if I feel guilty for not working on my new deed xD

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1 hour ago, Xor said:

Been playing around with this since last night after a buddy made me play it lol

came home and bought it myself. Super enjoyable.

With your forum pic/avatar it's no wonder that you are naturally inclined to enjoy this game. Matter a' fact, some of Valheim's avatars can be made to a pretty close resemblance of you. :)

 

=Ayes=

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