Valheim ▶ Trailer
Valheim screenshot 1Valheim screenshot 2
ActionAdventureIndieRPGOpen World Survival CraftSurvivalOnline Co-OpOpen WorldMultiplayer

54,334 playing#21 on Steam by players#21 on Steam

Peak in the last 24 hours: 81,331

Peak in the last 7 days: 106,664

Valheim Steam store

Game description

A collaborative exploration and survival game for 1-10 players, set in a procedurally generated afterlife inspired by Viking culture. Battle, build, and conquer your way to a saga worthy of Odin’s patronage!

Basic info

DeveloperIron Gate AB
PublisherCoffee Stain Publishing
PlatformsWindows · macOS · Linux
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateSep 9, 2026
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10 or later
Processor2.6 GHz Quad Core or similar
Memory8 GB
GraphicsGeForce GTX 950 or Radeon HD 7970
Storage1 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 414 reviews from the past 1 year

84.2/ 100
Top 40%

Steam rating: Very Positive (93%)

Metacritic: 89 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 12, 2026)

At its core Valheim is simply fun to play, say 109 reviews, and it holds 84.2 from 563,561 Steam reviews.

👍 Strengths

Multiplayer ranks 98th of 642 and comes up in 45% of analyzed reviews; 60 reviews enjoy playing together, the most upvoted calling time with a partner a comfort and a source of cherished memories. 45 praise the atmosphere, the most upvoted saying it carries the game. Story & World ranks 157th of 1096, and players praise the freedom to build and a progression they call one of the best structured in the genre.

👎 Where it falls short

The complaints are about how much it asks. 60 reviews find it punishing, with deaths that feel unfair, and 39 find resource grinding tedious before the game opens up. 23 feel development is glacially slow, and others say it turns into a repetitive loop after the first twenty hours or describe the inventory as a real pain.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“at its core Valheim is a fun game to play” · 109 reviews
“playing with partner provides comfort and cherished memories” · 60 reviews
“atmosphere carries it hard, world has cohesion most survival games never achieve” · 45 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 75% of reviews · Top 30% of the games we've analyzed

Freedom +3.64 · Room to explore, build, and play your own way
Positive “freedom to build lots of shelters, creative building focus” · 36 reviews

Progression 39% · Difficulty 43% · Onboarding 12% · Strategy 14% · Controls & feel 13%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 40% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

World +3.70 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “atmosphere carries it hard, world has cohesion most survival games never achieve” · 45 reviews

Story 2% · Characters 0%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 44% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +3.24 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “10042 hours played with diverse biomes, bosses, building and crafting” · 13 reviews
Negative “контент развивается ледяным темпом, только две зоны за пять лет” · 1 review

Variety 25% · Replayability 9%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 31% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +3.35 · Graphics, art style, and animation

Audio 14%

Playing with others, the community and servers
Mentioned in 45% of reviews · Top 20% of the games we've analyzed

Playing together +3.43 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals
Positive “playing with partner provides comfort and cherished memories” · 60 reviews
Negative “multiplayer requires server code and pass making it inconvenient” · 12 reviews

Community 3% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 14% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.20 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “single 1 star fuling can one shot you, difficulty is extreme, needs better balancing” · 14 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 5% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 23% of reviews · Top 50% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support -0.09 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Negative “glacial development pace, two biomes in five years” · 23 reviews

Stability 3% · Performance 9%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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