Valheim 2022: How's the survival hit going after 14 months of early access? Valheim started out in Early Access with big ambitions and has since been expanded by several

Valheim 2022: How's the survival hit going after 14 months of early access?

Valheim started out in Early Access with big ambitions and has since been expanded with several updates. Time to take stock after 14 months!

Over eight million copies sold, over half a million players on Steam at the same time – this is Wallgame. This indie game has been a hit since its Early Access release in February 2021. But with the growth of success, as you know, the expectations of fans from the game also grow.

Time to take stock: What happened in the last 14 months in Early Access? What updates have already been released, what will appear in the future? And what is the mood in society? These are the questions we address in this article.

Valheim's first year of Early Access

In June 2018, the game Valheim, originally developed under the name Fejd (translated from Swedish as a dispute / enmity), moved to alpha version status. However, for the general public, the Scandinavian survival adventure became available only from February 2, 2021, when the early access phase started on Steam.

Success Impressive: In addition to the Game Awards 2021 nominations for Best Indie Debut and Best Multiplayer Game, Valheim even received PC Gamer's Game of the Year award, which wasn't a given given the many game releases of the past year, such as Forza Horizon 5, It Takes Two or Resident Evil: Village.

Player numbers skyrocketed on Steam, peaking on February 18, 2021 when 502,387 Vikings simultaneously swept through the harsh gaming world, making the game the 8th most played game on Steam of all time.

The game was also a real guarantee of success on Twitch and similar sites, especially in the early days when it was necessary to win over new viewers: Over 200,000 streamers roamed Valheim and gave the game a huge amount of attention.

The big buzz after the launch of EarlyAccess subsided, but the number of Valgame players has since kept at a decent level.

Walheim no longer reaches the great numbers of the beginning, but is much more important for the continuity of the game than a short hype, an obvious sequence. About 25,000 players still play this game every day. The cumulative result of nearly 300,000 reviews is overwhelmingly positive.

There were also several updates: In addition to numerous minor fixes that were mostly bug fixes, larger content packs have also been released:

HearthHome: In addition to the new parts of the building, the food system has been significantly revised. In addition, the combat system has undergone some fundamental changes, especially the block system has suffered. Those who had already tamed the lox could now use it as a rider. The pack has been updated with new areas and creatures.

mountain update: Most recently, on March 1, 2022, another large patch was released, which can be considered as a kind of harbinger of the upcoming large update (more about this below). This time, mountain regions were significantly redesigned, where you will find completely new dungeons. In ice caves, of course, new types of enemies live. As a reward, you will receive new resources that you will need to create new sets of armor and weapons.

What new content is planned to be released in 2022?

The development of Walheim is still in full swing. The developers regularly go to Steam, publishing developers' posts, and inform the community about the planned content for the future. Therefore, there is already an approximate roadmap for 2022, in which fans are offered the following:

Foggy lands: In the next large update, Valheim will receive a completely new biom, namely the same foggy lands. This zone is already in the game, but it is still stingy for maintenance, there is almost nothing to do here. The terrain in the Non -Nelelands is much more crossed and, therefore, more insidious, but this is the only place where you can get new resources and equalize the new world boss with the ground. It is likely that there will be many other smaller and large innovations. The exact release date has not yet been set.

Cult of the Wolves: This renewal is devoted to one of the most important elements of Valgame, namely the construction of the world. It is assumed that the patch will create an even greater variety of gaming zones. In addition, the combat system will be processed. The cult of wolves, who gave the name to the game, will appear as part of new side tasks.

Ships and sea: You probably already guessed that it would be about sea transportation. In the end, a real wiking feels comfortable in unsafe waters. You must be able to decorate your boats. There is no more detailed information.
This is not all: in addition to the aforementioned large updates, the developers have other functions on the agenda, but there is no schedule of their implementation yet. Among them are interaction in multiplayer, various phases of the moon, sandbox mode, more unique locations in the game world and much more.

This mood in society

So, over the past 14 months, many events have occurred in Valheim, and the number of players at the moment seems good. But what is the mood of players besides all these sober facts? We asked everyone and found thick hair in the viking soup.

Slow development causes discontent: The problem of many players with the Walgame roadmap is that a year ago it was already similar. Numerous functions were planned even then, and therefore in the community there was a feeling that further development was a slow pace. The update of Hearth Home was also perceived as too small in volume, and even mods can only be limited to the lack of content.

As a result, dissatisfaction with the lack of new content is growing. In Steam reviews, this criticism is most often mentioned, often by players with hundreds of hours of playing, which now turned away from Valgame.

The main tenor is amazing the same: At the beginning of Valheim, this is an explosion, a lot of fun and strong attraction thanks to the many unknown contents that have to be discovered. But after a certain moment, motivation fades into the background, because the developers simply do not have time to provide new content quickly enough.

Therefore, 2022 will become fateful for Valheim. Will the creators be able to prevent an impending mood change using fresh content? Or has a survival hit have already experienced his flowering? The game is at a crossroads, but what turn it will take, it will be possible to find out only in a year.