Hey Gamers
A couple of days ago I picked up Valheim on Steam.It is an open world survival rpg based on Norse/Viking mythology.
The game has proved to be very popular so far selling more than 1 million copies in the first week.It was released on Feb 2nd and currently cost £15.99 or around $20 US
So far I am loving the game ,so let's dive into it.
This video covers the first hour of gameplay,from crafting your first tools,workbench,basics structure combat and food.
We start with character creation ,I called my character Conan for this.Character creation is fairly basic ,you can pick male or female,set your skin tone and chose from around a dozen hair and beard styles.
As the game loads up we get this little intro...
Each new world is randomly generated so everyone's play experience is going to be slightly different.You can take your character and gear on to any server you want and play in a world populated by up to 10 people.I have yet to try the multiplayer game but I can imagine this game is a lot more fun in multiplayer.
In the beginning as the game world loads we are carried into it by a giant raven...
The raven drops us into the middle of a Megalithic stone circle and explains to us our purpose in Valheim.
Each of the stones in the circle represents a boss which is summoned by collecting trophies from the animal associated with it.These trophies are taken to an alter associated with the boss to summon it.Once defeated you bring the trophy from slaying the boss back to this circle.These bosses are known as The Forsaken and the goal is to slay them all to ascend to Valhalla.This is our purpose in Valheim.
The Raven Hugin acts as our guide and provides basic tutorials
By examining the first ritual stone the location of the alter to summon the first boss Eikthyr appears on the map.The animal associated with him is Deer,we're gonna need 2 Deer trophies to summon him.
Zooming out on the world map show us how huge the play area is,apparently it can take a few hours to go from one side of the world to the other!
Deer are not the easiest animals to kill at first,they run away when spooked.The best way to kill them is either buy sneaking up on them or by using a bow.So lets get crafting,but not before taking a few minutes to marvel at the sunset and the World tree.....
Like most rpgs this game has various skills which are leveled up with use.We need to gather some wood from nearby trees to make a basic club to use as a weapon and a hammer so we can start building.In the beginning we have to punch the trees to obtain wood.Doing so increases our unarmed skill...
Everytime you find a new resource you get new recipes associated with it.Obtaining our first pieces of wood gives us our first crafting recipes...
Pressing Tab brings up our crafting menu.The basic wooden club is our first weapon,it does alot more damage than our bare hands....
The next resource we need is stone so we can make a basic stone axe.The axe allows us to chop down large trees to obtain alot more wood.
When the tree falls make sure you stay out of its way,falling trees do alot of damage.The psychics engine in the game is really good.The logs from trees will roll if not on a flat surface and will float in the water.
After obtaining a good supply of wood its time to start building...
First we need to craft a hammer,once the hammer is in our inventory when we click the right mouse button we get our building plans menu.The first thing we need to build is a work bench.
Before we can use the workbench we need to build a wall around it and put a roof over it to protect it from the elements.If we don't do this we get a message saying the workstation is to exposed.
With our workbench protected from the elements we obtain some new crafting recipes...
I chose to build my workstation close to a lake.The reason for this is that we can easily find a lot of flint and stone near the water's edge.The view of the lakeside is also pretty impressive...
We need flint to make a flint knife,this item makes hunting boars and deer easier.The flint knife has a 10x modifier to stealth attacks meaning we can instantly kill animals with a sneaky backstab.We need alot of animal skins to make basic clothes anda bow so the knife is a handy tool.
Another useful item to craft is a hoe which allows us to terraform the land creating even surfaces for building on...
The next thing we need to build is a campfire and cooking rack so we can cook the meat we obtained while hunting...I picked a nice spot by the lake to build the fire...
When meat is placed on the cooking rack it will sizzle and change color when it's cooked.If you leave it to long it will burn giving you nothing but useless ash.
Food is an important part of the game,if you look in the bottom left hand corner you will see a red health bar and our hitpoint number.
Eating food increases our maximum hit points and stamina.We start with 25 hit points eating some raspberries and cooked meat increases this to 68 hitpoints.We are going to need that increase to take on the first boss.
Before ending this play session I set out to find more animal skins .These are the next most important resources I need to create basic clothes and a bow.
After some time hunting boars I had only collected enough hides to make rugged pants.These cost 5 animal hides to make.I need 10 hides to craft a bow and another 5 for a rugged shirt.
Conan decides to call it a night and return to his camp...The warm glow of the campfire is beckoning him as night draws in and the forest grows darker and colder...
Feeling hungry its time to cook some more meat and wait for the sunrise over the lake.
With the moonlight dancing on the lake,our basic survival needs met and tools crafted Conan contemplates the dawn of a new day in Valheim
I will continue this in part 2 where we will build our first house and take on the first boss Eikthyr.