Recent reviews by Ninjabutter

I can't recommend this game highly enough. I'm probably biased since I'm super into the cyberpunk aesthetic, and that's absolutely what this game nailed; the style and art design, not just visual but also the music, is absolutely top notch. I've been raving so much about how great this game looks that three of my friends are now playing it as well, and all of them have agreed it looks and feels phenomenal. The world-building is crazy. Every level of the city looks and feels different, but all of them are wonderful. If you like the style you see in CyberPunk, Blade Runner, or Aliens, you'll love how this feels. You can also change the appearance of your armor items, allowing you to customize not just your body but also your style, without sacrificing looks for efficiency, because what's the point in being a psychotic murderer in a dystopian hive city if you're not looking absolutely hot at the same time?

Gameplay wise, it's also very solid. Some build options are flat-out better than others across the board but even a suboptimal build will still get through most or all of the content; it'll just take longer. I took my first character through the whole game with a completely made-up build, using whatever guns seemed fun at the time, and almost entirely ignoring augmentations and modules (two huge pieces of your combat potential) and I still pulled it off, even playing solo. The guns are fun, the energy weapon effects look stellar, the explosions are satisfying, and the physics are top notch.

So far as negative pieces go, there are really only three that stand out. First is the multiplayer aspect; this game feels like it was made for single-player and co-op mode was added as a bonus option. There is NO in-game communication whatsoever, my friends and I have to talk through other apps while playing. The co-op character system is confusing and led to me accidentally overwriting a level 20 single-player character with a brand new one while first attempting it. There's also an issue where if you make a new game, invite a buddy to play, they make a new character as well when they join, then the character on their end doesn't save that game progress. None of the quests, etc. count as being done if they load the character for a solo game on their own machine. It has to be the same person hosting each time and only the host can also play the same character solo.

Second is the glitches. I will say I'm playing this game on a 7 year old rig and yet everything still defaulted to Ultra settings and looked great with minimal lag. However, load times can be punishing (some were upwards of 10 minutes to load into the initial game map, but others were 30 seconds or less), I had a few CTDs later in the game, some maps would load with impassable barriers, and sometimes I get random glitches like loading into a vendor screen, having no options to click, and being unable to close out of it. Online research shows these are not unique to just me, but the dev team is clearly very busy with content and I'm optimistic about them being patched out. They've put out 7 patches already and the game is less than a year old at this time.

The last issue, which will vary in importance for each person, is the game is completely linear. You play through the main storyline piece by piece without variation. Now, that doesn't mean it plays identically every time, because there are also over 20 side missions in various places that you can do in any order you want. But it does mean you can't get three friends and hop into a game to play the final mission just for fun. You can only do main quest missions in the order you reach them, and you cannot skip ahead (or repeat them) at the time of this writing. That said, you can always go run around in areas you've already been; there just might not be a quest there anymore, and you'll simply running through it and fighting whatever enemies happen to spawn.

Some other random notes that you may or may not care about:
✜ Melee weapons exist for only for the bad guys. All player weapons are in ranged form.
✜ There are so many NPCs it's insane. This might be the only game I've ever seen that has an actually realistic number of people walking around.
✜ Vendor items can change based on either break points (like quests being completed) or also on a flat timer. Your armor dealer's stock might change without you ever leaving the city if you spend enough time there.
✜ Money exists in the game but rapidly becomes pointless. It only really feels limited until level 10 or so.
✜ There are multiple versions of fast travel but they're limited in function and can't deliver you just anywhere. You will spend a LOT of time running from place to place, and while character speed isn't slow, there's no dedicated sprint function either.
✜ Both weapons and armor are very detailed; there are four different damage types, and gear not only protects variously against each of them but sometimes also offers stat or skill bonuses. There is often no "best" option for a slot, it may come down more to personal preference or your particular build.
✜ The voice acting is absolutely superb.

At the time of this writing, I have 67 hours in Valheim. I've only owned it for 5 days, and I work full time.

This game is, simply put, phenomenal. I've been hard into video games for a very long time, having previously run a website that catered to competitive gaming and been involved in the competitive scene myself for several years. I also absolutely love single-payer games, particular RPGs. Valheim is probably the most fun game I've played in the last 10 years, without exaggeration. The fact it's from such a small company, and with such a low price point, is mind-boggling but just another bonus. I'll list my stand-out pros (and cons) below, using Norse thurisaz runes for bullet points because why not?

Pros:

ᚦ Absolutely open world, using "design negative space" to fall into industry jargon. What this basically means is, instead of creating a world with rules dictating what you're allowed to do, Valheim basically lets you do anything that the game code doesn't explicitly prevent. Want to troll-proof your home settlement by digging a 50 foot pit around it and then using a pick to divert a river across two miles of open plains to turn it into a moat? The game will let you. Want to build a spiraling structure that reaches high enough to install a treehouse in the upper branches of Yggdrasil? The game will let you, I've seen videos.

ᚦ Combat is fun, fast-paced, and dangerous. Stamina is more important than raw HP, with blocking, parrying, and positioning all determining whether you live or wind up as draugr food. There are tons of weapon and armor options, all of which have to be crafted as you learn recipes and discover raw materials. The enemy AI is also far better than many other RPGs I've played, with enemies that fight intelligently, will run away if they're at a disadvantage (or pursue you if they see a weakness), and have realistic strengths and weaknesses. The enemy in Valheim won't watch their buddy get taken out by an arrow from a concealed position, only to shrug and say "Must have been the wind." They'll actively try to hunt you down, and even if they can't find you, they'll remain alerted and likely won't stand still or return to their original position.

ᚦ It doesn't hold your hand. Some people might call this a con, but old-school RPG players will probably love it. To put it in TES terms, this is Morrowind, not Skyrim. There are no compass points or objective markers. The rare times you're directly given information, it's in text form and often vague. You're free to do anything and go anywhere, whenever you want, no matter how ill-advised that may be. If you want to start a new game, immediately build a raft, and sail into the swamps where decaying reanimated skeletons will instantly murder you, that's on you.

ᚦ The ambience is INSANE. The environmental / weather effects, the thunderstorms and snowfall, the sea swells that hurl you around when you're sailing on your (surprisingly true-to-history) longship, it's all amazing. Sitting in my hut and roasting venison while listening to the storm rage against the walls of my house is so soothing.

ᚦ The dev team are actively in community involvement and directly post in the Steam discussion forums. There's also a thriving Reddit page for it.

Cons:

ᚦ The game is very linear in terms of difficulty. As I mentioned above, if you want to go straight into a realm far beyond your skill / equipment level, the game will let you, possibly while raising an eyebrow and recording on its phone. You will probably die within moments. This isn't MUCH of a con, because these areas are fairly clearly indicated, but if you want to be able to start a new character and run straight into the mountains, or the plains, rather than grinding your way through the forest first, then you may find that limiting.

ᚦ There are some pretty glaring combat balance issues (at the time of this writing, spears are next to useless and somehow have a shorter attack range than other one-handed weapons) but the game is still in early access and item balance may well change as things progress.

Seriously, that's basically it for the "cons" list. I can't think of anything else I dislike about this game other than that I have to work during the day and not play it for 18 hours straight.

At the end of the day, this game easily competes with AAA titles (and surpasses a great many of them) for a $20 price tag. I was on the fence at first, mostly fearing that I wouldn't have as much fun since I didn't have a set group of friends to play with (99% of my play is solo), but after committing to it, I have absolutely zero regrets and couldn't recommend it more highly.