Decided to take word of mouth from friends and dove into Valheim.
Gotta say, it's probably the most polished, content filled, bug free, early access game I've played, since probably Starbound.
I really love the game's style and soundtrack. It has a BotW style vibe with it's environment visuals, and the soundtrack really reminds me of the game just as much. Then there's the boss fights, which sound like something out of a mix between DMC and Asura's Wrath.
This is just the first Boss fight to get you started:
The three parts of the game I'm really loving atm would have to be the fact that you use your tools/weapons, you gain exp using them, making you use less stamina/getting better at using them. The other two are smoke inhalation and tree physics.
So say I build a campfire to cook my food in my little hut, if I don't build an actual chimney in my home, the smoke will billow across the ceiling and cause my character to choke, losing health.
When cutting down a tree, it can be something typical to most, but if you're not careful, the tree could end up landing on you, crushing you to death, or simply rolling down a hill and then crushing you as you run away, or even having a tree fall into another one, causing a domino effect of knocking down more trees in the surrounding area, greatly increasing your chances of getting flattened by one of them. It actually makes woodcutting more fun, imo.
I know there's been many a crafting game over the past decade, but most of them are geared towards either building or PVP, but this feels more designed for exploration, some building/crafting and more PVE experiences/co-op with friends. It actually feels more fun than Ark/Conan were to me. I played Ark on and off for a few years, but it always felt clunky, boring after a while and confusing half the time, and Conan, just felt empty half the time and not much came your way, but Valheim seems to have the right amount of player agency and threats to keep you going.
Like for one example: I woke up from sleeping in-game, walked out my door, and I was told one of the gods was sending the general wildlife to basically come kick my ass. I shrugged it off and thought it was just some empty threat, but then, outta nowhere, wild boars and geckos came sprawling from every corner of the woodlands, straight towards me and my base, trying to fuck me up.
After that brawl was over, I then decided I was gonna fortify my camp, so that I can safely snipe anyone who comes close to my base from high up top. Ark/Conan never had me doing anything like that in years.
Mankind, in its arrogance and self-delusion, must believe they are the mirrors to God in both their image and their power. If something shatters that mirror, then it must be totally destroyed.
