Valheim - a brutal exploration and survival game - now available on Early Access

[Alter Sack]

I liked Subnautica, so I thought it may be a game to my liking.

Subnautica is sadly one of kind nowadays, even it's developers failed to catch the same mood with it's expansion pack.

Played Fountain of Youth recently.

I have to say it scratched my Subnautica itch.

And it's not a grindfest like Valheim.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1967630/Survival_Fountain_of_Youth/

 

[Alienman]

Looks cool. I like the setting. Is it "realistic" ?

 

[Ironmonk]

Looks cool. I like the setting. Is it "realistic" ?

There are some shamanistic stuff... but its relatively minor.

 

[itsme]

Its one of the best survival/crafting games Ive ever played. But Im not a fan of these games. The atmosphere here is unforgettable.

The plains are easy btw. Wait till you get to the mist. Thats where the butthurt turns you into a rocket ready to fly to the moon. Ant the latest area is where you are gonna be fried once and for all although I havent been there. Mists was enough for me.

 

[Zanzoken]

I am not usually into multiplayer stuff at all but the game really shines when you have other people to play with.

I actually rented a dedicated server at the first of this year and opened it up to randoms on Discord. Made my own custom modpack with anti-cheat and all that. We made Viking themed characters and played the game in-character too (text chat only). Nothing too serious just a bit of light LARPing.

The problem is people often flake, and for those who stay it's hard to keep everyone playing at the same pace. Out of what ended up being our core group of 4 people, one guy was always like 1 or 2 levels beyond everyone else, built these enormous bases, and would help with something if asked but otherwise rarely engaged. Another guy also wanted to push the pace but was all right and would do boss fights and sometimes raid together. And the last one was a girl (or maybe a "girl" who knows lol) who was cool and the one I played with most, but she lived in a different region so the lag was always bad. Still, it was a decent experience overall.

I think if I play Valheim again I will use the world modifiers to cut way back on the tedium (casual death penalty, 3x resources, portal items) and hopefully reach the endgame.

 

[dextermorgan]

casual death penalty

Wasn't there a downside to this? I vaguely remember wanting to remove the impact on skills upon death but there being a reason not to...?

 

[Zanzoken]

casual death penalty

Wasn't there a downside to this? I vaguely remember wanting to remove the impact on skills upon death but there being a reason not to...?

According to the wiki you can't actually eliminate skill loss entirely. If you die on casual you still lose all progress you were making toward the next skill level, plus a 1% skill penalty (vs 5% on normal).

The other difference on casual is you get to respawn with any items you had equipped when you died. The other stuff in your inventory will still be dropped at your body though. Another option is setting the death penalty to "very easy" which reduces the skill penalty to 1% like casual but keeps the vanilla setting where you drop all items upon death.

 

[Zanzoken]

I started a new character and world last night just to play around a bit, and ended up making this cozy little shack near the Mountains out of an abandoned shack that I found.

The inside is just a bed, a workbench, some chests, and a fireplace. Nothing to it but such a cozy vibe. I like to build stuff that is simple and fits the classic Viking aesthetic.

 

[Ironmonk]

Its interesting that this game is a masterclass in "a good game isn't defined by high quality graphics, but by good gameplay" and we can be pretty sure that AAA studios didn't learn anything from it.

 

[Zanzoken]

Also, good art direction trumps graphical fidelity 10 out of 10 times.

I strongly prefer games that are at least a little bit stylized and try to do something visually interesting. As opposed to AAA graphics which aim for "realism" but oftentimes just end up looking plasticky and generic.