Valheim

A Viking-themed open-world survival and building game with 94% positive reviews overall; praised for building, atmosphere, and online co-op, while negative reviews focus on balance, lack of guidance, and the single-player experience.

What players love

• High freedom in building and terrain modification; some players spend long stretches just building houses

  It's criminal that a team of 5 people can build such an amazing game like this and sell it for $20. I continue to be amazed at the thought that went into this game and all the little details. From the changing weather, t…

  Recommended · 129 h played · 2021-02-19

• Strong sense of discovery, atmosphere, and music

  In a span of 2 months, I have put 230 hours into Valheim, solo. I would highly recommend this game to anyone reading this review; to play alone or with up to 9 friends. I have not encountered a single bug and, while this…

  Recommended · 470 h played · 2021-12-20

• Multiplayer co-op shines through division of labor and shared exploration

  Imagine if Rust and Runescape had a baby (without the PVP) You wouldn't think its early access, we had ZERO bugs, there was about 6 of us, and we haven't had this much fun in a game together in YEARS, the depth of the cr…

  Recommended · 278 h played · 2021-02-05

• High content density in a small package; many reviews consider it good value

  Has more game play, less bugs, and is polished better than most AAA games while still being in early access. I would pay $40 for this game, keep up the good work devs! My life is consumed by this game. I don't remember t…

  Recommended · 54 h played · 2021-02-05

• Relatively friendly to older players and newcomers; players can set their own pace

  i'm a 63 year old gamer. Been playing since 1977 when the Atari 2600 came out with "Pong" as the big thing. I have primarily enjoyed open-world exploration games, like Oblivion, Skyrim, and Fallout4, which I have played …

  Recommended · 12614 h played · 2021-03-24

What players complain about

• Stats and difficulty balance are called unreasonable

  跟兄弟联机玩给三分，单人我一分也不想给 大狗粪游戏，垃圾的数值 脑残的机制 难度曲线都没做好，你这困难和普通差的是2.0倍吧 普通游戏都是1.3左右 以及致敬我们最不爱闭门造车 最不爱吸取同行经验 最不爱现代化的铁门工作室，一定要在2026做出堪比2006的游戏机制 吃饭关乎艾达之能（法力值） 没有艾达放不出技能，艾达还会随饭的效果减少 就不能跟魔法等级走 饭提供恢复速率吗，法杖解锁的也太晚 起码第二个boss解锁个火球杖给大家用用，我…

  Not recommended · 148 h played · 2026-11-01

• Death penalties and corpse runs are exhausting

  No option to remove exp death penalty.

  Not recommended · 422 h played · 2026-11-04

• Combat feels poor, especially against flying mage-type enemies

  谁设计的巨人巫师，其他怪再怎么离谱至少攻击的时候是在地面上的，还能反击，这个怪能飞在天上杀你一万次，能追着你杀到天涯海角

  Not recommended · 180 h played · 2026-11-04

• Insufficient guidance and basic conveniences; lacks a crafting list and item management tools

  优化太差，细节不够好，引导不够好，生存爽感不如其他沙盒，战斗交互不如其他魂类游戏，总结起来就是各方面都不突出，没得特点而且很敢。不用mod更是玩不下去，单人直接劝退

  Not recommended · 11 h played · 2026-11-03

• Single-player is described as tedious and grueling

  DISCLAIMER : My experience is based solely on playing the game alone, your experience may vary if you're playing with friends, or online in general. One of the worst survival crafting games i every played, and i play alo…

  Not recommended · 11 h played · 2026-11-04

• Late-game content and pacing are disappointing

  9/10 start 0/10 end

  Not recommended · 104 h played · 2026-11-04

• There is a severe bug where combat state cannot be ended

  本来还挺好玩的，但是有恶意bug。我在打第二个boss，我在离boss比较远的地方修了房子，认领了复活点。我被boss杀死后，每次复活，依然处于和boss战斗的状态，boss一直追杀我没法结束boss战斗。你怎么可能指望一个手无寸铁的人和boss pk？这个bug严重影响我对这个游戏的评价，前面积累的很多好感都没了。在这个bug修复之前我没法继续游戏。

  Not recommended · 24 h played · 2026-11-02

Why it might be taking off

These are hypotheses drawn from reviews and data, not confirmed facts.

• Medium confidenceThe tag combination of open-world survival building plus online co-op may attract players looking for a long-term cooperative building project
• Low confidenceThe $29.99 buy-to-play price point may make price-sensitive players more hesitant before purchasing
• Medium confidenceThe curve goes from 218 positive and 64 negative on October 6 to 70 positive and 10 negative on November 4, with review volume declining overall, possibly reflecting a natural cooldown after launch
• Medium confidenceThe loneliness of single-player may be a factor pushing some players toward co-op or mods
• Medium confidenceDissatisfaction with late-game content and pacing may be a source of some negative reviews
• Low confidenceThe lack of conveniences and guidance may cause some new players to lose patience early on

The sample is not exhaustive: up to 2 pages each of toprated and mostrecent per language.