Valheim 2023 Review - Still Worthy Of The Pre-Release HYPE?

Valheim in 2023 is a superb sandbox survival game, and the review today goes into great depth analyzing building , survival and combat mechanics. Valheim really is a brilliant game... BUT...

There is also some truly horrific design choices from the developers, and one in particular that brings the game to a crashing halt. And as much as the fanfare for Vaheim is, I can't help but call out its frailties in the review.

However, as early access titles go, there is still time to fix this so hopefully it's something that can be continues to be worked upon.

#valheim #valheimbuilding #survivalgames #earlyaccess #pcgames

Intro: 00:00
What is it? 00:31
Giving You Purpose: 01:07
Building Mechanics: 01:53
Survival Mechanics: 03:20
Onto The Issue: 04:34
The Killer Issue: 06:50
Graphics: 08:30
Sound: 10:21
Score: 11:39

[cockneygamer]

And just like that, this review already needs an update!

- before it’s official release, Valheim players can test modifiers, which includes changing many of the aspects through out the game at a click of the button.
- I’m not sure if this fixes the teleport issue I mention for mining materials, but this is a great direction for the game.
- I of course haven’t tried it yet, and I’d need to see what it has to offer, but potentially it pushes the score up by 1 if the issues I mention are resolved.

Well done developers!

[Mikistly]

Dont go exploring/corpse running without food, always set up portals on safe biome/minibases when exploring, have ALWAYS the wellrested buff on you, use meads, use upgraded boats when available and finally use the Cart to pull/move/accumulate resources before moving them to your bases/boats. All this, the game teached me with pure violence not words needed. By the way the portals "issue" is a gamedesigned intentional flaw to make you do well planned trips with precious cargo so you dont run out of "adventures" and also to make you build more bases/outposts apart from your mainbase.

[zatzu]

I might be the only one who likes the weight limit and no teleport ore thingy. They give me purpose to actually use the cart and ship. It gives realism and mundaness to the game which is relaxing imo.

Mountains. You can roll your cart down the mountain for easier transport (I run with my cart but I see others letting it fall).
Swamp was the most annoying coz of the terrain, until I realized (in my 2nd mining session) that I could've teraform a pathway to make the ground flatter for the cart.

I even made a path from the dock to smithing area, and it is super satisfying to bring home a ship/cart full of ores after day's hardwork :D In conclusion, I really love the cart.

BUT You can still do mod if it really bothers you. CHEERS!

[Elgallo]

I don’t know how valheim does it but it’s gameplay loop and grind is not boring at all. Grinding in ark feels so boring and just makes me want to play other games but here idk if it’s the music or what it’s just so relaxing and I’ve never felt it with other games before

[Penzig]

I found the chore of bringing ore back to home base a genuinely enjoyable challenge. Even from the swamp. Simply love myself a good planning session! :D
For iron!:
1. Find large swamp biome near your main base / island
2. Find a safe spot for an outpost/base nearby that biome, and nearby water (meadows preferably)
3. Build outpost and put up portal back home
4. Mark and open sunken crypts in an area, while also clearing Draugr spawners
5. Build some chests/storage, along with a workbench and some roof and a bonfire - on top of a sunken crypt.
6. (Bring 20 wood and 10 bronze nails and store it there for later. Its for a cart.)
7. Use the hoe to create a path from that crypt back to the outpost and where you boat is.
8. Bring 2 antler pick axes, and start clearing crypts for iron - storing it all on that one crypt.

You can now mine as many crypts in the area as you want, using the workbench on top of the crypt to repair the antlers pickaxes (no need to go home!), store everything on top of the one crypt until you are done, and you can move all that iron back to your outpost/portal/boat with a cart. A total of 18 stacks (18x30 iron) can fit in the cart, which is enough to perhaps last you the entire game - if you have that many crypts nearby.

If you are sailing with the medium boat with 4 slot storage, it is possible to build a ramp and some wood floor over the boat, pull the cart up on there, delete the floor and have the cart land in the boat. Then sail the boat home with 18 slots filled in your cart. Alternatively; since you dont use stamina while sailing your boat, you can get a bit clever here: Get that cart close to the boat, get in the boat, and pick up all that iron on your character while standing in the boat. Sit down and sail home while 'encumbered', and unload back home. Make sure to set sail during a sunny day, as to best avoid sea serpents 8-)

Its a chore - sure - but my god it feels good to set out to gather iron like this - and safely arrive back home with 540 iron ore.

[chrisinhotwater]

Great review thanks, As someone that has 1200+ hours in games I would like to say that your review spot on. The only thing you may have over looked is the current portal system and how it adds to the game. I am not sure if this is the reason but with portals I believe the Devs hit it just right. I have played with mods that allow any item to portal, Mods that allow play with 150+ people at a time and inventory mods. But with some items that must be transported manually this forces the player to find paths and find shipping routs across the map. If you change this it takes away the exploration aspect of the game. I personally found that using mods that allow easy access to portal All items dulls the game. This is just my 2 cent. Thanks

[cockneygamer]

Thank you for the patience on the video Cockney Gang, but alas, Reggie wanted to make sure he did his time with it to give a fair review. Overall, a superb game, but the first half was definitely better than the second half. Fingers crossed they will make some quality of life changes here.

[ArdeeZ]

7:07 I think one way to allow ore transportation using portal without destroying player experience is by having a very rare one item use to allow to teleportation with ore once per item. That'll allow ease of user to transport while having them some exploration time to obtain that item; maybe a rare drop from a rare hard mob or even like a rare event scattered around the map.

[elgrifolorian]

The world I play on is closing in on 2k days. Still gathering mats and expanding my base and haven't fought the last boss yet. I can play this game forever.

[jondoh]

I enjoy the teleporter limitation. It gives a reason to build a new base. I like seeing the progression of different bases I can build. The thing that really bothers me is how bloody hard you have to work to get actual flat dirt you can build on without it showing through the floor.

[mylesodonovan]

I've played Valheim for over 1000 hours. Love the game. The criticisms are entirely fair but we are days away from an update that will allow world settings such as teleporting metals and easier opponents.

[nelsonhemstreet]

Some other ways to deal with the metal teleport issue

1. Don't play the vanilla game. Get a mod from Nexus or Thunderstore that will allow you to teleport metals.
My suggestion is called Advanced Portals (I think) and allows you to teleport copper and tin with a portal that uses iron to craft, and allows teleporting iron with aa portal that requires silver, and finally one that allows teleporting anything but requires some Mistlands materials.
Or there is one that allows teleporting anything from the start.

2. Wait for the next update. I have heard that there will be settings you can adjust that basically incorporates the Advanced Portal mod.

[mackenziemcnolty]

@cockneygamer They actually added an update (available for public test now) - that includes world modifiers. You can alter the portal settings to portal through mined resources.

[deezmemes]

How did I miss this channel? Nice one, my son! Have a sub.

[Atomic_Chef]

I started playing this after my unemployed friends burned through it in two weeks. I love the game but the sheer logistics of going it alone are too much for me. Maybe I’ll return when I find another group to play with! Great review! I agree with most of the critiques, I think a lot of their design decisions were made with big multiplayer groups in mind and so it ends up being more punishing for small player counts.

[splintercelloo]

So glad to hear you explain the same feeling I had when I played honest for probably 150+ hours before "cheating"
For me it started in the late plains/early mistlands when I wanted a faster way to recover my corpse.
From there it was down hill. Exactly as you described.

[jokulsnow]

Thought on the portal debate. Though I like the in game system, it's clear not everyone does. So a compromise might be to make portals rare. I think Modder's tears instead of cores would do it. Portals made with tears could portal anything but because tears are a pain to get people wouldn't leave portals everywhere.
Sail to a swamp, portal iron back, then pack up the portal and sail home or to the next location. It's too easy, in my opinion, to just leave portals everywhere. Limited portal resources would make for a more strategic approach.

[calebsmith]

Absolute L take on hauling precious metals back home. That's the entire premise of exploration and sailing. You can always adjust the portal sliders to allow anything through.

Edit: that's probably why this has so many views and so little likes. The point of hauling your spoils across the map is intentional. Its to add challenge and longevity and a sense of accomplishment. And like I said, even before the difficulty sliders were added there was always the option to use the "teleport anything" mod.

[ScarryHarry]

I don't think the ores and other items being unteleportabe is a killer issue...if anything, there are world settings now to where you can change that if you want. That said, it gives more purpose for the boat and cart - and you have to actually plan looting trips and the feeling of coming back home with a literal boatload of iron is always awesome. But sure, you can realize sometimes that it certainly sinks time, and it you end up replaying new worlds a lot and wanting to build more, it can be tedious. To each their own, it was how they intended it to be played. It was always supposed to be challenging, but even though they didn't have to, they made world and difficulty settings to cater to the huge base of different players there are

[Chunk_Borris]

You can’t teleport metals sure so make outposts, make a portal system to got to your workshops in the different biomes I actually love that mechanic