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DiscussionPC Gamer names Valheim GOTY (pcgamer.com)

submitted by ShakesTech

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[–][deleted] 1162 points1163 points  (48 children)

Yea I probably had more fun playing this with a friend than playing any game in a longtime.

[–]4Coffins 313 points314 points  (24 children)

Same. Can’t believe how nostalgic the meadows music is already. I’ve never been so lost in a game before. I just started playing with my 5 year old too and it’s been insanely fun.

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    [–] BuilderHomitu 68 points69 points  (0 children)

    I played Valheim with some of my old vanilla WoW - WotLK crew. There were 8 of us in total. This was actually the very first time we've all played the same exact game together since that era of WoW. Unanimously, every single one of us agree that this has been the most fun we've had playing an online multiplayer game since those old days. A whopping 13 years later. Such a pleasant surprise.

    [–]Twad_feu 29 points30 points  (2 children)

    They nailed so much in the themes, their choices for the repair/food/combat/progression gameplay, navigation, music.. everything really. Set up a server for our friend group and its a lot of fun.

    The building system is the perfect mix of simple yet powerful. None of that mess of having to deal with a dozen buttons for angle/orientation/xyz block placement that so many other games (from the depth, empyrion, space engineer etc) get lost in; they are powerful and complex but hard to learn and super annoying to use.
    Building stuff in Valheim is what i do when i want to relax. Finding a destroyed village and repairing/rebuild the whole lot, as if it was expecting a dozen people to move in later.

    Its one of my most played games of all and its not even done yet.

    [–] BuilderHomitu 6 points7 points  (0 children)

    I can usually look at a game and think of at least a handful of things I would change about the game. It's systems, music, graphics, mechanics, whatever. But with Valheim, I really struggle to come up with anything. There are improvements that many of us would like to see, future additions to be added, but no major changes of current systems. Just about everything feels as it should be.

    [–]SmoothWD40 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    I would love NPCs in valheim, terraria style

    [–]Crazy_crockpot 18 points19 points  (0 children)

    Even just casual solo is incredibly entertaining.

    [–]GenericNick31415 4 points5 points  (0 children)

    So true! Sailing down a creek with my buddy on a fully loaded boat, enveloped in mist not knowing if we'll hit a rock or if a troll will attack was one of the most suspense filled moments that I had in a game to date!

    [–] BuilderBreezyWrigley 5 points6 points  (0 children)

    i knew after about 2 hours of playing alone that this was going to be one of those 'once in a decade' type games like minecraft was when it first entered the stage of development where multiplayer survival was working back in like, 2010-2011.

    [–]Praesumo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

    Still think there needs to be standards for "GOTY". I think all forms of Early Access and "Beta" should be disqualified until it's considered "full release". This "game" still probably won't be out for 2 years.

    [–]lazz13213 1 point2 points  (2 children)

    All my friends are too dense to enjoy it

    [–]MrTheCar 0 points1 point  (3 children)

    I'd have so much fun playing with friends if I had any to play with!

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      [–]Caramster 271 points272 points  (28 children)

      Closing in on 800 hours and still want to continue playing. Well deserved and truly an achievement of a pre-release game to win GOTY.

      [–]WelcomeToTheHiccups 70 points71 points  (27 children)

      How haven’t you run out of things to do? I played for 200 hours or so when the game first came out and there’s nothing else to do…

      [–] BuilderHomitu 90 points91 points  (2 children)

      I'm on 658 hours personally. It's almost been the exclusive game I've played all year long since it came out. My time has roughly been divided up as follows:

      • Original shared server with friends (8 of us) - 150 hours. This was the learning phase of the game. Tons to explore and discover. Lots of fun playing with friends. Lots of chaos, tons of deaths. I became "the builder" of the group, so while others were off adventuring, which I would occasionally join in on, I mostly stayed back and built up bases (until FPS became an issue for everyone.) Easily spent 100 of those 150 hours building. Eventually everyone stopped playing, and I was basically playing alone. So I...
      • Tried my first solo playthrough - 300 hours. An easy 220 of this was spent building in creative mode. Building was unleashed for me. After spending a few hundred hours being held back by farming resources and manually doing everything, just free building in creative mode felt glorious. I mostly worked on a sprawling Black Forest base that bled into nearby swamp, plains and mountains. I wanted to keep it spread out to keep FPS reasonable. I did very little terraforming too (this was pre-terraforming changes they made), so that was a fun challenge to make the base organically blend in with the shape of the land. That said, this was still my first solo playthrough, so I wanted to genuinely progress through the game and slay the 5 bosses without "cheating." So I completely separated my "progression resources" from my "free building resources." I forced myself to earn every bar of copper and iron needed to advance my character's power. Overall, it was a super fun playthrough.
      • Hearth & Home dropped and my friend group was down to play again, so another shared server for another 180 hours ensued! We're experienced at the game now, so it was fun to see how efficiently we could plow through the environments as a group. There was still lots of dying though. You can never let your guard down in Valheim. Once again, an easy 150 hours of this was spent building by me. This time, after hundreds of hours of free building, it felt like a good change of pace to return to manually managing resources and manually building scaffolding to climb up around high spaces. My building has gotten a lot better, so it was fun to build some cool impressive things that my friends could enjoy. Once again, everyone else eventually stopped logging on. We're on Yag, but haven't killed him. I have a whole Lox pen built right inside Yag's altar ready to go, with every Lox named after our old WoW characters. It was gonna be one final raid boss fight! But people kind of faded away with RL stuff just before.
      • So now I'm doing a solo permadeath run, while checking out some mods I've never used before, notably EpicLoot. Once again, it's been a super refreshing change of pace! I've not focused on building anything so far. I'm mid iron age. I'm living in the jankiest shacks you could imagine. It feels refreshing, oddly. I feel like a poor viking on the run. Nowhere feels safe. That's been my last 25 hours or so.

      Idk, I'm honestly nowhere near tired of this game yet. There are still so many things I want to build!

      [–]Caramster 49 points50 points  (9 children)

      Mods. With mods I've stepped away from the forced boss chain. Bosses now are optional. The Trader hand out bounties on mobs and that drives the exploration. With Epic Loot mobs drop items and with Recycle I can deconstruct those items for raw materials. No more grinding crypts for Iron which I hated with a passion.

      It's more a sandbox game now when you're not tied to the story. The amount of content haven't changed, only the playstyle and sooner och later I'll end up bored with it. Then I switch and design building blueprints with PlanBuild, often copying famous YouTubers and when I get the feeling for Valheim again, I use those blueprints when I start a new character on a new world.

      I play solo.

      [–]WelcomeToTheHiccups 14 points15 points  (6 children)

      Ty for the response, I didn’t know there were mods. Checking it out again for sure.

      [–]Caramster 24 points25 points  (0 children)

      https://www.nexusmods.com/valheim

      Last time I read up on mods there was a mod that allow you to play with NPC companions. Maybe something I'll try later.

      [–] BuilderHomitu 3 points4 points  (3 children)

      I highly recommend Thunderstore Mod Manager. It makes downloading new mods super easy. You can search for and download mods right from within the desktop app. They will install automatically. From there, you can enable or disable any of them before launching the game; so no need to worry about constantly manually removing mods you tried and don't want. It also provides an interface within the mod for configuring each mod, instead of the normal manual technique of going into the config .txt file and typing in 1's and 0's to set values for different variables.

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          [–]TheShadepunk 32 points33 points  (7 children)

          the fact that the game has 200 hours of content with only 5/9 bosses and biomes intact is nothing short of incredible

          [–]WelcomeToTheHiccups 8 points9 points  (6 children)

          Whole heartedly agree, by far my favourite game but like I said, nothing else for me to do. How does someone get 800 hours or enjoyment?

          [–]manofsands 17 points18 points  (1 child)

          I've got 936 hoors in. I play with friends on a server, but I prefer solo. After beating it the first time, I enjoy going slow and taking my time with building, fortifying and farming. If you wanna add some excitement on a playthrough, do a self imposed Hard Core mode. You play less loose knowing one death, which can come so easily in this game, makes you lose all you've built. Fights become more exciting, you're more wary chopping down trees, you plan more going against bosses, you may sleep instead of sail at night.

          [–]Wh1teCr0w 13 points14 points  (0 children)

          I've got 936 hoors in.

          Frank Reynolds is that you?

          [–]Designed_To 5 points6 points  (0 children)

          New map, start from scratch, and also playing with friends can slow things down a lot in a good way

          [–] HoarderProfessor_Retro 3 points4 points  (0 children)

          Multiple Playthrus (I've done it four times; once with friends, once solo, then two times with some people I met on /r/ValheimLFG), each with big building projects, trying new weapons each playthru, sometimes just wandering around exploring. One of my favorite things to do in the game is throw on Troll Armor, grab a flint spear (can be melee or ranged and repaired at a basic station) and carry nothing else, just roaming the meadows and forests for basic ingredients (thistle, meat, etc.), eating what I find and enjoying how pretty it all is.

          [–] Buildercarpenteer 2 points3 points  (0 children)

          Building.

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            [–]Zizoud 4 points5 points  (0 children)

            Building, building and more building

            [–]fuLc 2 points3 points  (0 children)

            I have 240 hours .. i still havent found the trader!!

            [–]ColdHaven 1 point2 points  (0 children)

            Taking my time and enjoying the game is how that happens. I’m at a little over 200 hours and just now venturing into the Black Forest. Could’ve done it a lot sooner but I wanted to savor the experience and learn everything on my own.

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              [–]ShakesTech[S] 508 points509 points  (20 children)

              Congrats Valheim team! Well deserved. I've spent so many hours in this splendid game. They really found a balance of low key peaceful building at your own pace with omg run away moments fighting and exploring.

              [–]Creatret 32 points33 points  (19 children)

              It's as good as it gets. Can't think of a single thing I'd change.

              [–]karadan100 45 points46 points  (12 children)

              More sea creatures.

              [–]iareslice 7 points8 points  (10 children)

              I was 200 hours in when I first saw a Kraken.

              [–] Sailorroboham 5 points6 points  (9 children)

              Kraken's arent in the game.

              [–]iareslice 1 point2 points  (8 children)

              What is the giant shell thing called?

              [–] HoarderProfessor_Retro 22 points23 points  (7 children)

              Leviathans

              [–]iareslice 2 points3 points  (6 children)

              Thanks, I forgot, I'm now 300 hours in and I've only seen 2

              [–] Sailorroboham 7 points8 points  (5 children)

              They dont move around and are at set points on your map. Take a few different sailing routes and you will find more!!!

              [–]Rustshitposter 2 points3 points  (4 children)

              So when they submerge is that only temporary? They will re-surface later in the same location?

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                [–]omnistonk 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                a lot more stuff/extension of the main quest would be nice.

                [–]yung_avocado 0 points1 point  (2 children)

                I can think of quite a few things I want (other than obvious bug fixes): npcs, randomly spawning villages, fame/infamy, economy, town-building/management, expanded rune/magic system

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                  [–] BuilderLifelnTechnicolor 160 points161 points  (31 children)

                  Man this makes me wanna play Valheim.

                  Soon TM

                  [–]ForgetfulFrolicker 32 points33 points  (23 children)

                  I’d love to play it but from what I understand it’s way more fun with other people.

                  [–]foshed_yt 75 points76 points  (10 children)

                  I tried playing Valheim both with friends and alone, and I preferred the alone experience. With friends, everything felt more rushed and haphazard, but alone I could be meticulous in my planning, which I liked a lot. I think if you play Valheim with people who have a similar approach to the game as you, you’ll have a great time.

                  For reference, I love to play Minecraft with friends, and I love to play Terraria alone.

                  [–]yeahUSA 19 points20 points  (0 children)

                  The great thing about the game is that I think that solo and multiplayer feel absolutly great.

                  We were a group of 8ish people and after a while everyone found something that they enjoyed most.

                  A friend and I were really into building and we build most of our village. Building a temple (our portal room) was so much fun.

                  [–][deleted] 11 points12 points  (5 children)

                  it can be a bit frustrating either having to wear hand-me-downs, or spend 4 times as long gathering resources so everyone can get a set.

                  [–] Explorerentropyspiralshape 2 points3 points  (3 children)

                  ive been thinking about this since i’m playing almost exclusively solo, and how the game might change if i played with others.

                  i know the difficulty on enemies scales with the amount of people nearby,

                  but if there was 4 people playing shouldn’t each task take 1/4 the time (if you split the workload correctly) so it should be just as easy to get resources, you just go through them 4x as fast.

                  [–][deleted] 8 points9 points  (2 children)

                  the monsters get stronger, so its harder to solo things like the swamp dungeons for iron, even if everyone splits up into a dungeon each.

                  while it does reduce the workload, and you can carry more stuff back to base, it doesn't make it take 1/4th of the time.

                  [–]theshrike 3 points4 points  (1 child)

                  They actually scale depending on how close people are.

                  If your friends are one island over, the stuff doesn't scale up. If they're nearby, it does.

                  [–][deleted] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                  if you're all just off on different islands, you're not really playing multiplayer. we usually set off with a bunch of us crammed into a boat and then plundered the biome, sometimes splitting up.

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                    [–] BuilderBreezyWrigley 8 points9 points  (0 children)

                    i am kind of a control freak when it comes to building stuff in games like this, so it's a bit tough. basically, my friend group has settled into pretty defined roles though, so it works. I mostly plan and build while the other guys kinda just disappear for days at a time on scouting missions, and then we all convene and make a plan to go on an expedition to wherever they've scouted, set up an outpost, and then mine/kill the boss/whatever.

                    prepping for a new expedition into the next biome in this game is some of the best multiplayer gaming experiences I've had maybe ever.

                    [–]SkylabOne 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                    Me and my friends all have our own chores in Valheim. Some like building more and others are more into adventuring. We play simultaneously when travelling to new places or fighting bosses, but mostly just do our own thing.

                    [–] Lumberjackbeatool 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                    Agreed. I've done two play throughs with friends and both times I log on the first day the server is online and they've already built a village hall and are wearing full troll armor. Okay, way to pace yourselves guys.

                    [–]The_Twerkinator 14 points15 points  (1 child)

                    it's really fun solo, too. The feeling of isolation makes exploration more enjoyable to me and can make progress feel even more rewarding

                    But playing with friends can be its own chaotic fun. I think it suits both types of playstyles pretty well

                    [–]haptiqblack 7 points8 points  (0 children)

                    To me the pinnacle is having a dedicated server where you and your friends can hop in and out. It’s pretty fun to be able to make plans on work towards goals independently then hop on together for the big stuff. Me and my brother had a blast playing that way!

                    [–]zehydra 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                    I played it solo a bit before i recommended it to my friends. It's true it's a lot more fun with friends but it's definitely still enjoyable solo.

                    [–]Flaccidkek 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                    It’s definitely fun to play with friends but I ended up having to create my own world for a solo play through because everyone eats all the food and uses all our resources and no one wants to farm for more.

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                      [–]Joverby 8 points9 points  (0 children)

                      Yeah. When we get some substantial updates I'll be back . I'll be honest and say I was disappointed with the first update but I just reset my expectations and will pick it up back up in a couple years

                      [–]USA_A-OK 3 points4 points  (2 children)

                      It's one of those games for me and my mates where if you don't keep up the momentum of regularly playing, it's tough to get the motivation to go back in

                      [–] BuilderLifelnTechnicolor 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                      For me it's easy to pick up whenever, but if I don't play for at least 3 hours in one sitting it doesn't satiate my Valheim fix. I have tried to log in briefly to collect honey and do my rounds to all the surtling farms, but I end up wanting to play more.

                      So it's just the matter of having free time and juggling between the things I want to do with it.

                      [–]USA_A-OK 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                      Yeah, I think it's just the time it really demands that makes it tough to get motivated to play if I've taken some time off from it.

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                        [–]Killer_Sloth 186 points187 points  (17 children)

                        Anyone else find it hilarious that this unfinished indie game with an aesthetic from 2005 beat out massive AAA studio $60 games? Well deserved too, Valheim was absolutely one of my favorite games this year

                        [–]gothvan 84 points85 points  (9 children)

                        The graphics might look from 2005 because of the pixels but the aesthetics is amazing I think. Especially the lighting!

                        [–]Killer_Sloth 23 points24 points  (5 children)

                        Haha yeah I like it too, wasn't meant as an insult. Just that its funny that it doesn't even try to have "realistic" graphics and can still win goty, as opposed to most other modern games where dozens of GB are devoted to just textures!

                        [–]ADHDengineer 25 points26 points  (2 children)

                        Well the game engine isn’t antiquated. It’s just stylized to look old. Time and time again games have proven gameplay is more important than graphics.

                        [–]Killer_Sloth 7 points8 points  (1 child)

                        Yes that's exactly my point

                        [–]SonOfMcGee 11 points12 points  (0 children)

                        Yes, your choice of the word “aesthetic” was a good one.
                        There’s a fair amount going on under the hood of this game that is very un-2005. Water and especially smoke fluid dynamics are pretty advanced.
                        But the artistic intent is to be very… I guess you could say “pixel-forward”?

                        [–]Gupegegam 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                        Art direction>graphics

                        [–]Aedeus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                        It's definitely the perfect example for not weighing graphics as heavily as the industry tends to.

                        [–] BuilderMaz2277 2 points3 points  (1 child)

                        It's a really bizarre juxtaposition, because the individual graphical style is highly pixelated, but in the context of just running around the biomes, through the forests and such it looks really, really good. The way it all blends together between the lighting, the weather and the sound makes the game look beautiful.

                        [–]rvf 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                        Yeah, I love how the landscape looks like a watercolor painting from a distance.

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                          [–]FoxHoundUnit89 7 points8 points  (2 children)

                          Hilarious and sad. These big-budget assholes act as if throwing money at the game makes it better automatically, and then people (read: paypiggies) want to try to justify them hiking the price up even more to $70 for a AAA pile of shit that you need months of patches to make decent, by which time it's discounted anyway.

                          [–]ValenRaith 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                          I used to work QA for a couple of companies years ago. The thing is at least with the publishers I worked for, neither QA nor the Developers set when a game comes out, it's typically suits in marketing. It's more important that the game comes out around a holiday or platform launch then it is that the game fully works.

                          [–]midnitte 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                          Between cost ($60-70, plus microtransactions) and state (broken, missing promised or typical features [here's looking at you, Halo Co-op]), it's not surprising.

                          Indie games have really shined this year, and AAA games have really let us down.

                          [–]drsimonz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                          Makes perfect sense if you think about it though. Video games were originally a niche medium because almost no one knew how to make them. Now it's a massive industry rivalling Hollywood, so of course there are a lot of companies just trying to turn a profit. The standard approach is to spend massive amounts of money on marketing. Hype up a product enough and it doesn't matter whether it's actually good. You can't tell if a game is fun from a trailer, but you can tell if it looks nice, which is why AAA games are so unnecessarily cinematic. They're literally min-maxing the entire game to look good in advertisements. So they spend all their resources on graphics, while keeping gameplay extremely conservative. Meanwhile, indie devs are able to make games on their own dime and have basically no constraints, so they can follow their dreams. The barrier to entry keeps getting lowered by tech improvements, so I predict that going forward, virtually all truly fun games will be made by indie devs and small studios.

                          [–]no0bified -1 points0 points  (0 children)

                          I really love this game, but giving early access games GOTY-awards is weird. What about the year when the game actually is released? Can it win again?

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                            [–][deleted] 48 points49 points  (9 children)

                            For $20, I've never had so much fun in 200 hrs of gaming

                            [–]final_boss 43 points44 points  (2 children)

                            When I heard the music after I started sailing, I teared up because I was expecting a sea full of monsters and terror.. What I got was a really calming and encouraging sense of accomplishment with enough excitement to keep exploring. I haven't had that feeling in years. I knew it was still gonna be dangerous but I didn't feel like I was in mortal danger all the time. The game let's you live, not just survive.

                            [–]batman1177 11 points12 points  (0 children)

                            I think you hit the nail on the head. It's not just a survival game. You get to thrive once you master the elements. The game doesn't end after you defeat the final boss. It's so much more rewarding. It's literally living in valhala.

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                              [–]Grammar___Ally 22 points23 points  (4 children)

                              Nice. Has an Early Access game ever done this before?

                              [–]meatshyld 9 points10 points  (3 children)

                              https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Game_of_the_Year_awards

                              Not an all inclusive list but you can see the caliber of games that usually gets this award. Was surprised a list of PC Gamer GOTY wasn't on the wiki but I am sure it is out there.

                              [–]Aedeus 12 points13 points  (2 children)

                              Valheim (among others) should be the standard to which early access games are held imo.

                              [–]Double-Slowpoke 3 points4 points  (1 child)

                              I know everyone loved Valheim, myself included, but it still felt very much like an early-access game. I felt like I didn’t have much to do.

                              [–]meatshyld 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                              It definitely is one, and felt like one in many ways. I think that is the point many are making, including myself, that a GOTY award is going to an early access, 2 years away from being complete game, according to the last dev estimate I heard about.

                              [–][deleted] 57 points58 points  (0 children)

                              Hard to believe this was less than a year ago. Feels like I've been playing this game for so long.

                              [–]Hunkmasterfresh 18 points19 points  (0 children)

                              The fans are happyheim.

                              [–]Corpsehatch 16 points17 points  (0 children)

                              The bees are happy!

                              [–]dante_delvegas 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                              I'd love to read more about this, but I have to go get my corpse... brb

                              [–]shichiaikan 4 points5 points  (1 child)

                              I agree with basically everything said in this article, but would add one truly distinctive point that I didn't see mentioned...

                              For as simple as the graphics engine is, as low-power it is...

                              This game is insanely beautiful to look at.

                              [–]mendelevium256 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                              somehow even with the simple graphics, I would not call this game low power. It is a beautiful game with an abstract art style but it does not run well even on the best of machines.

                              [–]ScharhrotVampir 20 points21 points  (0 children)

                              I've only logged about checks steam 400ish hours at this point, and will be playing A LOT more once the PC my father-in-law got me and the wife for Christmas, not to mention when I eventually get my Steam Deck.

                              [–]siR_miLLz 10 points11 points  (1 child)

                              I bought this game for my late friend a few weeks before he passed. He was a master Ultima Online PvPer. We played the hell out of that game back in the day. And had a knack for finding out new ways to do things. I'm truly grateful I got to show him this world because it was like the second coming of Ultima for him. We built a house together that I can always remember him by. Rest in Valhalla Alex.

                              Thank you for creating one of the greatest, serenely peaceful, challenging, and downright frustratingly addictive, games that I keep finding myself playing. I can't wait to see what the future holds for Valheim. A well deserved recognition.

                              [–]treesandbutter 9 points10 points  (0 children)

                              Well deserved, I couldnt agree more.

                              [–]delvach 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                              Still can't believe they only charged $20 for so many hours of play. Doing my second fresh play-through, just as much fun!!

                              [–]spacemanR27 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                              Best game I've played in 30 yrs.

                              Most fun with friends ever.

                              [–]Tinus81 8 points9 points  (0 children)

                              Absolutely agree, wonderful game to play with friends

                              [–]sadmadstudent 6 points7 points  (0 children)

                              Valheim isn't just my game of the year, it's one of the best games ever made. Easily in my top five of all time!

                              [–]danmanx 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                              A title well deserved. This game is A+.

                              [–]DaPoopDealerYT 2 points3 points  (2 children)

                              Valheim and RE8 were the only outstanding games this year

                              [–]JujuBearSan 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                              Agree. I actually enjoyed RE’s gameplay and story but it didn’t bring me the same satisfaction for my efforts like Valheim does so my vote went to Valheim. Good for IG!

                              [–]DaPoopDealerYT 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                              In my opinion, both equally good. But, i see more quality and effort in valheim. Also, I can’t not support the underdog, hardworking, indie developers. BTW, voted Valheim

                              [–]NamelessCrayon 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                              I am not surprised either. As someone who almost fell out with gaming this year and missed the release of this game, when I saw this in my discovery queue my exact words were “fuck it, why not” and I am glad I did.

                              This game revived my love of gaming in a way I didn’t expect, it’s amazing simplicity and stunning visuals got me lost within for hours. 21 hours in and I have only recently defeated Eikthyr. What a game it is

                              [–]MayoInjection 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                              Never give up on a vision. There are probably a dozen people who told various devs of this project that making the game was a mistake.

                              [–]Amprage 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                              I installed the VR mod for Valheim about a month ago. It really takes the game to another level. If you're into VR at all, do yourself a favor and check it out. Guide here.

                              [–]jkerpz 36 points37 points  (25 children)

                              I don't know if goty going to a early access game is a good thing.... there are alot of other deserving games that came out full release.

                              [–]igby1 97 points98 points  (12 children)

                              Lots of “released” games have more bugs, less polish, less popularity and provide less value as measured by hours played than Valheim.

                              “Released” versus “early access” is often a distinction without a difference. It’s a blurry line and I think early access games should be included as candidates for GOTY awards.

                              [–][deleted] 25 points26 points  (4 children)

                              They could have easily called launch "release" and made the new biomes "expansions" if they'd wanted and no one would have batted an eye.

                              [–]igby1 8 points9 points  (0 children)

                              Exactly. Release versus early access are just arbitrary lines in the sand.

                              [–]ConnerBartle 5 points6 points  (1 child)

                              It probably would have been more expensive this way too. I imagine the cheap Early Access price tag helped at the initial popularity surge. Now when they raise the price on full release no one will bat an eye

                              [–]SonOfMcGee 5 points6 points  (0 children)

                              The price tag was a very wise move, considering it probably prompted a lot of people to buy multiple copies to play with friends.

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                                [–][deleted] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

                                They could’ve called it 1.0 and it still would be the best game of the past 5 years imo

                                [–]jayb151 18 points19 points  (0 children)

                                I totally agree, though I'll say that valheim for sure has a bit more cultural significance. Having come out the same time as the pandemic lead to a lot of people exploring valheim and doing so with friends.

                                The best part of the game is how it immediately brought my group of friends closer at a time we couldn't really get together.

                                The game has kind of list its luster for me only because we're no longer playing on the same server. I'll build on my own to my heart's content, but it's just not the same experience. That first time sailing stupidly too far only got us all to die to a serpent was so frustrating and fun. I'd do it again in a heart beat.

                                [–] Builderdoublepint 3 points4 points  (1 child)

                                Can you provide some examples? I'm curious, as I've played a lot of games this year and Valheim is easily my GOTY. From creative building, to playing alone (with mods), to experiencing it with friends - hilarious moments of killing each other with a tree avalanche, to coordinating shots on trolls, or going into the plains for the first time and experiencing a deathsquito, corpse runs so you don't have to build stuff again.

                                Legit, the best gaming experience in years for me. Others have been fun, but this has given us some good moments to laugh about and remember.

                                [–]Jeramiah 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                That says as much about the quality of the released games as it does Valheim.

                                [–]jkerpz -1 points0 points  (3 children)

                                i would give it to it takes two. the amount of detail in the game is insane and it was super fun as fuck. then maybe halo campaign up next. then probably valheim but thats just personal opinion.

                                [–]Phoenix_Muses 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                It Takes Two was great! Easily one of my favorites of all times. Had it not been for Valheim, that would've been my GOTY too.

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                                  [–]D1sp4tcht 4 points5 points  (1 child)

                                  According to steam I only have 1 game with more playtime, fallout 4. Valheim over took skyrim a few weeks ago. ~900 hours of valheim and not done yet!

                                  [–]KlopeksWithCoppers 4 points5 points  (0 children)

                                  1000% agree. I played in a shared world with 2 friends and it's definitely the most fun I've had playing a game in years. The boat ride back to home base after a mining run or a boss fight was almost cathartic.

                                  [–]Heshin 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                  Mistlands when so I can have that feeling again

                                  [–]Seeker_Dan 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                  I mean they added hot tubs so it was definitely the shoo-in to win this year.

                                  [–]cusoo 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                  And yet, I can't make my friends join me in Valheim.

                                  [–]Samugremus 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                  Finaly some sence in gaming journalism. Absolutely deserved.

                                  [–]lifepuzzler 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                                  Fantastic game. It deserves the praise.

                                  [–]respondstolongpauses 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                                  you're goddamn right it is

                                  [–]AnamainTHO 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                                  I haven't played In awhile unfortunately but truly deserved. I absolutely loved this game but my friends all stopped playing it and I love interest. Once mistlands drops I can't wait to give it another go.

                                  [–]Nayruan 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                                  The devs deserved this. I felt they got shafted at the game awards. Well done!

                                  [–]snow_is_fearless 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                                  They earned it. Hell, they got 500+ hours out of me on a $20 EA release.

                                  [–]archSkeptic 3 points4 points  (0 children)

                                  Definitely one of the games that deserve to be GOTY

                                  [–]Buzzlight_Year 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                  Well deserved

                                  [–]InternationalWafer74 1 point2 points  (1 child)

                                  Game looks so good! Sadly my PC can't run it, any chance it might come to console?

                                  [–]AlphaDag13 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                  Well deserved!

                                  [–]contemplative_potato 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                  Definitely deserved. My friends and I played this game together for weeks straight. Was the first time in a very long time that a game captured me the way Valheim did.

                                  [–] SailorSivick314 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                  Hell yeah

                                  [–]floridayum 1 point2 points  (0 children)

                                  Easily the game of the year.

                                  [–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                                  I wouldn't give it to anyone else. Honestly the most fun I'd had in a long time. Cant wait to get back into it. When I left off I had just finished a nice feast hall full of amazing and tasty looking food.

                                  [–]drtmgrt 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                                  Yaaaay

                                  [–]slayermario 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                                  I do believe that this game is one of the best, but I feel like in order to achieve GOTY status, the game needs to be finished first.

                                  As much as I loved Valheim and the amount of hours I sunk into it, GOTY should go to a game that is fully finished and not in early access.

                                  [–]dangolo 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                                  Well earned! Easily the best this year. I have over 150 hours in the game. My fiance and I had endless fun together.

                                  [–]Snowydaze 0 points1 point  (1 child)

                                  Tbh i only voted for Valheim because the other options were shit. Valheim is fun, but still lacks content imo

                                  [–] BuilderBreezyWrigley 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                                  i bought that game the moment i saw it on steam when it first dropped on early access because I saw the Coffee Stain logo, and every indie they've published has been great... so I just wanted to support whatever it was and blindly purchased it for $19 or whatever it cost at the time lol.

                                  i played for about 2 hours by myself and told all my friends to get it, and right then and there I told them in my discord server that I knew this was gonna be like, top selling indie game/GOTY in the next 12 months or so. that was like, october or something of 2020. after about 10 hours, I bought a second copy to gift to my younger brother that I often play games with online so that he could play with us.

                                  this sub went from like, 50,000 users to like, 200,000 within a few weeks of that time haha.

                                  I'd buy it a third or fourth time for the value and fun it's given me and my friends.

                                  [–]StormWarriors2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

                                  Well done Valheim! it is a well deserved spot!

                                  [–]murdill36 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

                                  Will progress carry over from alpha and beta?

                                  [–] CruiserPrettyDumbHonestly -3 points-2 points  (1 child)

                                  Eh, the game is far from finished, kinda weird to see it GOTY. Would love to see get in awards once there's actually more content

                                  [–]G_Riggons 2 points3 points  (0 children)

                                  I agree. The game isn't officially released yet. Don't get me wrong. It is an amazing game and I have enjoyed it immensely.

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