Looks like Iron Gate AB and Coffee Stain Publishing did well, with the survival game Valheim doing fantastic.
After entering Early Access on February 2, it has repeatedly climbed up the top lists on Steam for players and sales hitting a fresh record of 131,153 online on Sunday February 7. Nothing is ever guaranteed to be a hit but it looks like they managed to find quite the sweet-spot and thankfully this hit has full Linux support, with the main developer even working from Linux.
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Not only is it doing well on sales and players, it's reviewing well overall too. It's gained over 8 thousand user reviews, with it already hitting an Overwhelmingly Positive status. The developer put up something of a teaser for their roadmap too, which gives the names of a few planned updates along with a confirmed new biome coming. We might also see multiplayer interactions, combat improvements, moon phases, tar pits, a sandbox mode and more "if Odin wills it".
Feature Highlight:
- Huge procedurally-generated world - explore and inhabit mystical lands, from mysteriousforests to imposing snow-topped mountain ranges and stunning meadows, complete with their own creatures of legend to battle and wildlife to hunt.
- Co-op PvE (2-10 players) - - Whether you want to brave the lands alone or venture with trusted allies, Valheim supports independent, player-hosted servers and unlimited world creation. We recommend playing co-op with 3-5 players.
- Punishing dodge & block based combat system with a wide range of weapons
- Build & sail ships - from flimsy rafts to imposing warships, build legendary vessels to conquer the seas and discover new lands.
- Summon and defeat vengeful primordial bosses of myth and legend, and collect trophies to progress and craft new powerful items
- Flexible house and base building system - raise mead halls, farms, settlements outposts, castles and more.
- Intuitive item crafting - forge the finest weapons and armour, and craft food and mead.
- Dedicated server- for players who want to run a persistent server. If you prefer not to run a server on your PC, consider renting a server at G-Portal.
If you're thinking about buying Valheim - be wary of the smoke. When building your house, you need a fire. You also need a roof for your bed and once you start containing everything with walls and a roof, things get a bit tough to breath. Smoke isn't just for show here either, so be sure to come up with some sort of fireplace with a chimney.
You can buy Valheim with Linux support on Steam.
On a side-note: the excellent LinuxGSM project just recently added support for running Valheim servers, so if you're interested in hosting your own cheaply that's probably the way to go. If you want to hook up with other Linux players, our Discord has a Game Server channel with multiple people hosting already and plenty of regulars from our community joining in on the fun.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I totally immersed in this game. Even trying to avoid Youtube game plays to avoid any spoilers.. 
1 Likes, Who?
Bought it as well and i must say its sooo good :D
0 Likes
30 hours played, still haven't reached to the end.. taking my time with it also ofc.. no rush.
love the game... runs good, looks good, plays good! no bugs or crashes during my 30 hours of playing.. thats how you do a proper Early Access.. amazing job by devs!
love the game... runs good, looks good, plays good! no bugs or crashes during my 30 hours of playing.. thats how you do a proper Early Access.. amazing job by devs!
2 Likes, Who?
Is it OpenGL on Linux or.. ?Vulkan by default, with a launch option picker to go OpenGL if needed.
0 Likes
ObsidianBlk Feb 8, 2021
Ended up getting the game shortly after the previous article on this site mentioned it.
It's absolutely beautiful, and runs very very well (especially when compared to some other big survival titles) even as an early access game. Personally I find the crafting/building just complex enough to be interesting and fun, but not so overly complex that I'm spending hours just trying to figure out how to build a club or camp fire.
That's not to say it's perfect... I love how the camp fire thing works, but I really wish there was some explanation given in game regarding how to put the camp fire IN your house. It's ultimately pretty easy, but I had to look that up. There are times when combat feels just a little off. I'll be in the middle of a swing and the enemy takes a sudden turn and, just that small turn causes me to miss. Can't count how many times I thought I was lined up for that to happen and waste my attack. Then there's the key combination for dodging. IDK... doesn't feel right to me. In the middle of combat, I keep screwing up the dodge combo and jump instead.
Still... I love this game and it's only bound to get better!
It's absolutely beautiful, and runs very very well (especially when compared to some other big survival titles) even as an early access game. Personally I find the crafting/building just complex enough to be interesting and fun, but not so overly complex that I'm spending hours just trying to figure out how to build a club or camp fire.
That's not to say it's perfect... I love how the camp fire thing works, but I really wish there was some explanation given in game regarding how to put the camp fire IN your house. It's ultimately pretty easy, but I had to look that up. There are times when combat feels just a little off. I'll be in the middle of a swing and the enemy takes a sudden turn and, just that small turn causes me to miss. Can't count how many times I thought I was lined up for that to happen and waste my attack. Then there's the key combination for dodging. IDK... doesn't feel right to me. In the middle of combat, I keep screwing up the dodge combo and jump instead.
Still... I love this game and it's only bound to get better!
0 Likes
On a side-note: the excellent LinuxGSM project just recently added support for running Valheim servers, so if you're interested in hosting your own cheaply that's probably the way to go.
I might be interested in this down the line, but what kind of money are we talking about here? I've done a cursory once-over their site and found not even a mention of them wanting money.
Last edited by Nanobang on 8 February 2021 at 4:07 pm UTC
0 Likes
slaapliedje Feb 8, 2021
I bought this, installed it, started making a character, sadly got bored or distracted by something else and left it for now. But then got sucked later into playing Half-Life: Alyx finally. It did seem like it'd be sweet to play though.
0 Likes
I might be interested in this down the line, but what kind of money are we talking about here? I've done a cursory once-over their site and found not even a mention of them wanting money.LinuxGSM is just a tool you use to automate self-hosting wherever you want.
0 Likes
So far this game seems to perform better for me using OpenGL, a sentiment I've seen echoed in comments here as well. Framerates under vulkan will tank one second (when it was just running at 60+) and then all of a sudden recover. I've yet to have OpenGL exhibit the same behavior.
If you have a spare computer or server (vps, aws, etc.) somewhere it's pretty easy to set up a server for this game. Requires a bit of port forwarding (2456-2458 UDP). Here's the systemd unit I'm using for my server, now modified to properly save the server state thanks to beko.
Last edited by drlamb on 8 February 2021 at 5:01 pm UTC
If you have a spare computer or server (vps, aws, etc.) somewhere it's pretty easy to set up a server for this game. Requires a bit of port forwarding (2456-2458 UDP). Here's the systemd unit I'm using for my server, now modified to properly save the server state thanks to beko.
Last edited by drlamb on 8 February 2021 at 5:01 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
So far this game seems to perform better for me using OpenGL, a sentiment I've seen echoed in comments here as well. Framerates under vulkan will tank one second (when it was just running at 60+) and then all of a sudden recover. I've yet to have OpenGL exhibit the same behavior.
that seems to be issue with AMD GPUs... with nvidia vulkan performs amazingly. OpenGL is a bit worse, but performs ok also
0 Likes
Anybody tried it in Big Picture Mode?? Tried it to configure my controller but its not playable in bpm :) Edit: Switched to OpenGL and here BLM works perfect :)
Last edited by Spirimint on 9 February 2021 at 7:55 am UTC
Last edited by Spirimint on 9 February 2021 at 7:55 am UTC
0 Likes
The game is indeed great.
I bought it on Release day and have played it acutally more than 30 hours.
I showed it to a friend and he bought it after about 20 minutes of watching. Now his entire family plays it :-)
So one Linux gamer gave Iron Gate 4 other Windows gamers through advertising.
I bought it on Release day and have played it acutally more than 30 hours.
I showed it to a friend and he bought it after about 20 minutes of watching. Now his entire family plays it :-)
So one Linux gamer gave Iron Gate 4 other Windows gamers through advertising.
1 Likes, Who?
I watched a stream some days ago and found the game to look fairly unpolished, just very early-accessy. Too much so for my liking, might look into it again later this year.
0 Likes
Bought this game soon after reading the last article and all the great comments from GoL users. Have not wandered far from my spawn point because I am having so much fun constructing my first "shack". I have only played 4 hours, so I will eventually leave the nest; but at this point I am extremely happy with the game.
0 Likes
I'm watching game play videos every day about this game. And even, if it has some interesting features, I still not sure about buying it. I like building and surviving games, but I do not see wanting to spend many hours in this game. Map is may be procedurally-generated, but game play is as liner as it can be. Kills this, craft this, now kill this and craft this. Monsters look just sad. Swimming on raft is just slow and sad also. Dungeons are small and boring. I do not know on which phase it should become exciting. Or, maybe, I'm just too spoiled 
0 Likes
Easily one of the best survival games ever despite early access status. Surprisingly stable and with minimum amount of bugs, though there are some. Simple and clean design that hides clever new mechanics behind it. Despite the primitive low-poly graphics art style the game looks amazing and packs an especially impressive weather system that will have you shaking in your boots during storms, gazing upon Yggdrasil at night and just chilling peacefully during sunrise. There's of course room for improvement, but most of it has to do with adding various new kinds of content and features as what's already in there is solid for the most part. Perhaps most important of all, the game nails its Viking theme perfectly and oozes mead through every pore. I like it. :)
Last edited by LungDrago on 9 February 2021 at 9:00 am UTC
Last edited by LungDrago on 9 February 2021 at 9:00 am UTC
2 Likes, Who?
This is the polar opposite of what I've experienced and/or heard from those playing the game. It's easily the most polished early access game I've ever seen in my life. This E.A. release puts most game's regular releases to shame.
Rafts are slow, yes, but have you tried the longboats?
I rather enjoy the progress gating this game has. It guides you towards the next goal which often requires serious resources and/or equipment. You're only limited by your creativity and the game is very much a learn-by-doing experience.
It's almost like Minecraft in this regard (getting to the ender dragon requires portal resources, etc). Experiencing this game through streams is not truly experiencing it.
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I've personally gotten 3 people to pick up the game. It's a blast with more people. The only concern of mine is what happens when the game releases? I'd imagine I'd need to restart the game for my world to include the new bosses/biomes.
Last edited by drlamb on 9 February 2021 at 2:18 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
This is the polar opposite of what I've experienced and/or heard from those playing the game. It's easily the most polished early access game I've ever seen in my life. This E.A. release puts most game's regular releases to shame.
I can't say much about how it plays, but I found the looks and especially the UI (fonts, spacing, etc.) very early stages. The developer probably wants to iron out the gameplay first, but for me that is reason enough to wait some more months before checking it out seriously. I've actually had this game on my Steam wishlist since mid 2020, because it seems very intriguing and it is definitely not out of the world for me.
Edit: Another point that is not too serious, but to me usually a reason to sit back a little and observe, is the current hype around the game.
Last edited by iskaputt on 9 February 2021 at 2:27 pm UTC
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