I have done several playthroughs of this game both co-op and solo (PRE 1.0 RELEASE). Several of these playthroughs concluded at the Mountains and one concluded at the Plains. Note I did not finish this game as I simply did not wish to work a 9 to 5 through the Valheim corporation for the rest of my life.
[b][u]FOOD SYSTEM (6/10)[/u][/b]: I admit, the way food works makes Valheim unique, and in my opinion is one of the sole mechanics that stand out to me whenever I think about this game. That being said, unique does not necessarily mean exemplary. The food system allows you to eat three different foods for various amounts of health regeneration, health, and stamina. Once consumed, these foods buff the player for a set amount of time. Furthermore, the idea of bukeperries to quickly switch out foods is rather ingenious, and quite useful when preparing for a major battle. My issue with this is the fact these foods do not provide the entirety of the buff for the duration they are active, but rather the health and stamina provided to you tick down as the foods active time diminishes. Additionally, it feels like these food timers are ticking down so rapidly you need to down your entire stock of food just so you can have enough stamina to farm more food. This ladies and gentlemen perfectly symbolizes capitalist America! My biggest issue is when you die and have to get your loot. Since food is the main mechanic of the game, if you had all your food on you, each corpse run gets progressively harder as you move farther through the game. It essentially resets you to new player stats just until you get your stuff back which SUCKS!
[b][u]COMBAT (6/10)[/u][/b]: Nothing that revolutionary here, standard dodge roll + parry formula that has been slapped into countless games nowadays. I do not find this formula bad, but it needs something to diversify itself from other games to make it extraordinary. Valheim simply does nothing to add to a combat style I have seen countless times across countless titles, which is why it receives a mediocre score for a lack of originality. One thing that rather irks me is the fact you have to be blocking to dodge roll, which is not the end of the world, but at the same time makes combat feel a tad less fluid. I do appreciate the idea of recuperating stamina for successful dodge rolls. Another issue with the parry system is that you can only parry stronger attacks if you have enough health, which requires one to shovel health foods down their throat. This limits stamina and slows down combat quite a bit. Yes I know what you're thinking, pop stamina food and "git gud". However stamina food denies the parrying of stronger attacks and requires the incorporation of dodge rolling, which is rewarded far less than simply parrying in several ways (stamina preservation, adrenaline gain, staggering enemies). It is this observation that leads one to realize the game is meant to be played a specific way, and other ways of playing the game are simply less rewarding. In my opinion, the ability to parry should be independent of ones health.
[b][u]FARMING/GRINDING (1/10)[/u][/b]: Tell your boss that promotion will have to wait and that you put in PTO for the next month! Farming in particular is one the most grueling tasks you will undergo in any game you ever play!
[b][u]BOSSES (3/10)[/u][/b]: I will start by saying I watched videos of the three bosses I have not fought, and have found my conclusion has not changed. First off, bosses only offer a mandatory item required to progress throughout the game. They DO NOT provide unique loot/gear that the player can farm for. Admittedly this also can be a good thing as the player does not need to waste their time gathering boss summon materials and waste food/meads to repeat boss encounters. I will be brusque and state the boss designs are boring ([spoiler]Yagluth[/spoiler] is an exception to this). There is really nothing that interesting about the bosses other than knowing which damage type they are weak to and what damage type can they put out. From there each boss has a 3 move cycle that is quite rhythmic once you notice it. It's this lack of move variety that simply trivializes fights into a game of "avoid move do damage". When done right, this formula produces an elegant dance between the player and the boss, a duet between two powerful beings! It should feel like a race for survival where your success is based on your proficiency in the games combat system and understanding the bosses repertoire while managing stamina. In this game, it is just a matter of spam health foods, spam meads, and prepare to parry/dodge/weave the same set of moves for GUARANTEED damage windows. Again my problem isn't necessarily the fact the boss uses their moves more than once, my problem is the monotonous cycling of identical + predictable move sets. To further support this argument, I have not seen any enemy/boss use a combo that exceeds two moves. To me boss fights feel like a game of pong against a computer, where the ball is moving nice and slow so you have time to make a sandwich before you prepare your next parry/riposte sequence. A dishonorable mention to the lackluster boss fight themes which make the fight all the more monotonous. Recalling the metaphor of the boss fight being a dance between two skilled opponents, a ballet performance is rather awkward with the local SoundCloud rapper performing as an alternative to classical music that is more appropriate for the performance.
[b][u]MUSIC (6/10)[/u][/b]: The soundtracks are okay, but none that really stood out to me as "begging to go on a playlist". The biome music just felt like background noise from a TV left on in another room, and most boss themes were forgettable and made boss fights feel less epic. Overall not much to say here, just an overabundance of mediocracy.
[b][u]TRAVELING (5/10)[/u][/b]: Sailing is not so bad, until you realize its all you will be doing as metals can't be teleported. My solution for you, make a second world full of chests and transport your metals like this.
[b][u]BUILDING (9/10)[/u][/b]: The building system in this game is really nice. It incorporates the idea of structural integrity which requires the player to make all builds "obey the laws of physics". Admittedly you can do some cheesy things to make structures more sound but I find this quite comical, especially when playing with friends. The player starts with wooden structures and is then able to advance to stone so they may construct more impervious fortresses. My only issue is the leveling of ground can be a tad clunky which leaves landscapes looking rather unsightly.
[b][u]DIFFICULTY (3/10)[/u][/b]: Difficulty is simply a matter of enemies having massive health pools and doing high damage as you progress. Move sets for enemies/bosses never gets more complex, but rather the consequence for mistakes simply becomes larger. Don't die at sea or your 300 hour run is toast (no I didn't have this happen but I think it is way too punishing)! Overall, this game is too easy yet WAYYYY too punishing.
[b][u]SKILLS (5/10)[/u][/b]: My rationale behind the half score deduction is simple, I think the allotment of skills, what they affect, and how they are improved is sufficient. However I have a major issue when these skills are diminished each time the player is felled. Yes the "no skill drain" and "corpse run" buffs help prevent this problem from cascading, but this should simply not be an issue in the first place. It feels far too punishing to have the skills you farmed countless hours for wiped away in mere moments. Honorable mention to the fact you lose more levels the higher you have leveled yourself. In my opinion, an appropriate fix to this would be the removal of skill drain all together with the consequence of requiring a longer time to farm to max level.
[b][u]OVERALL SCORE: (4.9/10) [/u][/b]
VERDICT: Full Time Employment
