Skål! Valheim has taken the gaming world by raid!
In just over a month, Iron Gate Studios has amassed five million players to join their early access crafting survival experience. Iron Gate Studios have truly created something special for all lovers of this crafting survival genre. Whether you’re playing solo or with a group of friends on a dedicated server, Valheim offers an amazing experience for players to explore.
Set in a fictional Nordic realm upheld by Yggdrasil, Valheim takes players on an authentic Viking experience to explore, craft weapons and armor, build strongholds, and lay waste to any enemy that dares to stand in the way. Valheim throws players right into the fray by being dropped off at an altar by none other than Odin’s raven Hugin, with little to no direction of what to do next. Tasking players right from the start with a sense of adventure and exploration to find out how to even play the game. Valheim, in all its essence, is a true crafting survival game. With it being an early access title, the game has so much room to grow, and we are very excited to see where it’s headed.
In the meantime, if you have plundered yourself full and are looking for another great game, similar to Valheim, we have compiled a list of other suitable games for your adventuring hearts to delve into.
Breathedge
Going from the Nordic realms straight to the final frontier in this ironic survival crafting game called Breathedge. This game takes players on a disastrous space adventure as you, the Man, attempt to discover the reason behind the sudden spaceship crash. All other passengers of the ship have perished. Don’t worry though, you will have your immortal chicken friend to keep you company as you make your way through the floating debris of the wreckage. You’ll be tasked to craft tools with your trusty electrical tape and create a new space station you can call your very own. All while trying to solve the mystery, or conspiracy, behind the spaceship crash. If Valheim is something you liked, be sure to check out Breathedge for another great survival experience.
The Forest
Going back to the ground, and into a dense forest, The Forest is a great horror survival game that will keep your ears perked, listening for the next screech from the darkness behind the trees. The storyline surrounds a mystery which starts with an aerial crash, this time a plane crash. You find yourself waking amongst the wreckage with no one, including your son, to be found. The game quickly puts the player into the thick of survival, searching through the forest for consumption and survival-based materials. Although hunger and thirst aren’t the only things the player will be combatting while building a fortress amidst the tress. The Forest is inhabited with cannibal-like people with even bigger almost mutant creatures that you will have to fight to survive. The Forest is one of those games that is a thrill to explore and uncover secrets out on your own. Definitely give The Forest a playthrough.
Grounded
Have you heard of the movie “Hunny, I Shrunk the Kids”? Well, now you can play it in Grounded! This survival game takes place in a backyard and you, the player, have been shrunk down to the size of an ant! Grounded offers an interesting perspective shift when you find yourself weaving through a forest of grass and leaves, fending off giant spiders, and trying to get a horde of ants out of a soda can. Grounded comes with a mysterious campaign that you can follow as you freely explore the backyard to progress, uncovering secrets and immersing yourself in a reactive world.
A classic survival game to the core, Grounded tasks players with consumption management and base building to survive and craft weapons and gear. The team at Obsidian Entertainment released a content update in November of 2020 that introduced a Koi Pond with new enemies, new weapons and gear, and a chance to explore, well, the Koi Pond! While this game is still in early access, the developers are making progress and continually updating the game. With the most recent update introducing flying creatures like bees! The world (backyard) of Grounded is vast and beautiful and a great game to grab with some friends or to venture alone.
Green Hell
If you’re a try-hard survival game player and you haven’t tried Green Hell, then you’re truly missing out. Green Hell is one of the most intricate and difficult survival game experiences out there today. The game takes place in the Amazon rain forest where literally anything and everything can bring about your demise. From native plant species and fire ants, to indigenous peoples and, of course, jaguars. You will not only have to manage your food consumption to a detail of carbs, protein, liquid, and fats, but also manage your insanity meter. If your insanity meter starts to get too low, you will begin to hear voices of disdain and hallucinations of danger.
Green Hell comes with two modes to play: survival or story mode. Each offers the same difficulty of survival though the survival mode is more of a sandbox type game mode. Letting the player freely craft a base and learn how to survive with personally set, open-ended goals. While the story mode offers the players to follow a linear campaign that tasks the player with quest-like objectives, dialogue options, and craft/move style gameplay. Without giving too much away from the story, it is definitely an interesting narrative that will keep you on your seat. Earlier this year, developer Creepy Jar released a story update called “The Spirit of Amazonia – Part 1” that offers a prologue to the main story of Green Hell. For players who love that narrative driven gameplay, Green Hell is a must have in your Steam library.
Terraria
Shifting our sights now to a classic in the open-world survival crafting genre, Terraria has had the hearts of many since 2011. Compared to others on this list, Terraria offers a 2D side scrolling experience in a beautiful pixel-art style. Terraria blends the classic action games and the freedom of sandbox crafting creativity to allow players to explore and create to their heart’s desire. You can dive deep into the mines of the terra, collecting resources and items to evolve your base and weapons. Or even explore the skies and find bases hidden in the clouds. Similar to Valheim, Terraria has bosses to summon with items you find in the world. Some of which, like The Eye of Cthulhu, task the player to create stadiums or clear caverns, creating a strategy to bring about the demise of the wretched summoned foe.
Developers Re-Logic released a massive update to the game back in mid-late 2020, that offered a ton of new content to the game. If you haven’t checked out Terraria since then, or ever, now is the time to dive in an experience this gem of the genre.
We hope that you enjoyed our list of suggestions to play if you like Valheim. Have you tried any of the games on the list? Are there any others that you would suggest? Let us know in the comments below! For other games of this genre, be sure to check out the other installment in the series on Subnautica!
