The article reviews the latest Valheim update, 'Call to Arms,' highlighting significant improvements in combat, new enemies like bears, expanded biomes such as Mistlands and Ashlands, and overall game enhancements that deepen the survival experience, while noting some ongoing frustrations with biome transitions and building mechanics.
In 2024, open-world survival crafting games like Palworld are dominating the gaming scene, offering players unique experiences and player freedom. Games like Enshrouded, Nightingale, and Pacific Drive are redefining the genre by easing off traditional survival mechanics, focusing on exploration, crafting, and co-op modes. The success of Valheim has inspired a wave of new releases, with developers finding ways to make the genre more accessible and appealing to a wider audience. These games provide nonlinear narratives, multiple gameplay loops, and a sense of discovery, offering players a variety of experiences and potential for future gaming trends.
Enshrouded, an RPG inspired by Valheim, has quickly gained popularity on Steam, surpassing one million players in just four days. Developed by Keen Games, the game offers players the ability to choose between melee, long-range combat, magic-wielding, and healing, as well as destructible environments. The developers expressed gratitude for the overwhelming reception and announced their commitment to further developing the game with the support of the players.
Enshrouded, a new early access survival game, combines the open world and folklore of Valheim with Dark Souls-style combat, garnering significant attention during Steam Next Fest and ranking high on Steam's wishlist charts. Despite some multiplayer issues affecting co-op play, the game has received positive early impressions and is positioned to have a lasting impact in the survival game genre, offering a grittier alternative for players seeking a new experience.
Valheim's latest update (version 0.217.19) introduces the ability to use world modifiers on dedicated servers, along with various fixes and improvements. The update includes new buildable structures, smoother snap points for building, balance adjustments to enemy health, and additional console commands for admins. Players can now set world modifiers and presets using parameters in the startup bat file or console as an admin. The patch notes also mention the addition of a blue standing brazier and updates to Haldor's music.
Valheim's latest public test update, version 0.217.12, brings changes to enemy scaling, bug fixes, and improvements to gameplay. Enemies in dungeons no longer scale in size and speed on harder difficulties, sprinting while auto-run is enabled is now possible, and the ability to zoom in the build menu has been removed. The update also includes fixes for various issues and changes to farming materials. Players can opt into the public test branch to try out the changes, but the developers caution that it may be unstable and encourage players to provide feedback.
Former Riot Games executives have unveiled their new game, Project: Islands, which aims to compete with popular co-op survival games like Minecraft and Valheim. The game, still in pre-alpha, offers a 16-player shared world where players can build, explore, craft, battle monsters, and awaken their island spirit. The focus is on social co-op gameplay, allowing players to contribute to shared goals in various ways. The game's name may change before launch.
Enshrouded is an upcoming survival action RPG that combines voxel worlds like Minecraft with Valheim-inspired visuals. Set in the corrupted world of Embervale, players take on the role of the Flameborn and must dispel the deadly fog while rebuilding the world. The game offers a friendly survival experience with open skill development, destructible environments, and a fixed layout world. Players can explore various locations, uncover lore items, and engage in combat with dangerous monsters. Enshrouded will be released on Steam Early Access later this year and on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S in 2024.
Valheim's latest update adds new difficulty modes, a new merchant named Hildir, and a barbershop to adorn your viking character with new hairstyles and beard styles. The update also includes three new mini bosses, new classic and open dungeons, and various fixes and quality-of-life changes. Players can access the public test branch by typing "yesimadebackups" into the text box in the game's Properties.
Valheim has added difficulty options to cater to players seeking a more challenging or easier experience. The Hildir's Request update also introduces a new merchant who sells cosmetic upgrades, including Viking fashion and fireworks. The game remains available on PC and Xbox, including Game Pass.
Valheim's Update 0.217.4 for the Public Test Region introduces Hildir's Quest, a new NPC, and new rewards. The patch also includes new hair and beard styles, items, and visual improvements. The update also brings fixes and improvements, quality of life changes, and miscellaneous improvements, including new console commands.
Valheim's Hildir's Request update has been released on the public test branch, featuring a new NPC, multiple new locations and dungeons, new mini-bosses, crafting and quality-of-life improvements, and server difficulty modifiers. The update also includes new hair and beard styles, visible when wearing helmets, and manual snapping for building. The full patch notes include new items, clothing, music tracks, and fixes and improvements. Players can access the public test version on Steam or Xbox Insider Hub app.
Valheim's new Beta update introduces World Modifiers that allow players to customize various difficulty options, including no-cost building, passive enemies, amount of raids, death penalty, and combat difficulty. The update also includes new content such as a new NPC, locations, crafting extensions, hair and beard styles, and items, as well as various visual improvements and a quick-stack button.
Valheim's upcoming difficulty settings, called world modifiers, will allow players to adjust combat difficulty, resource availability, death penalty, and raid rates. The most exciting addition is the ability to turn off monster raids completely or increase their frequency. Other toggles include disabling the map, portals, and build costs, as well as making enemies passive. The settings will be adjustable at any time and available on existing worlds. No release date has been announced yet.
Sony has added a new selection of games to PlayStation Plus for Extra and Premium subscribers, including Ghostwire: Tokyo and Rage 2. Ghostwire: Tokyo, previously a PS5 exclusive, is coming to Xbox soon, which may not be good news for Sony. Valheim will be coming to Xbox and Game Pass, but not PS4 or PS5, due to exclusivity.