Valheim

About

Valheim is a third-person survival sandbox game developed by Iron Gate Studio and published by Coffee Stain Studios for Windows and Linux. Loosely based on Norse mythology, the game is set in the realm of Valheim where players control Vikings in the afterlife as they build, collect, craft and fight various enemies and bosses in order to reach Valhalla. The game released in early access in February 2021.

History

On June 13th, 2020, Valheim was revealed during the PC Gaming Show livestream event where gameplay footage was shown off to viewers. The reveal trailer was uploaded to Coffee Stain’s YouTube^[1] channel that same day (seen below) and received over 67,700 views, 1,500 likes and 300 comments in roughly nine months.

On February 2nd, 2021, Valheim released on Steam in early access and sold five million copies within one month.^[2]

Gameplay

In Valheim, players are dropped into a procedurally generated world comprised of numerous islands and landmasses with a range of biomes to explore.^[3] As Vikings in the “tenth realm,” players must collect materials, build shelters, craft gear and fight enemies as they continue expanding and exploring the world with the ultimate goal of defeating bosses to ascend to Valhalla. The game features a low-resolution 3D style of graphics with a third-person perspective and up to nine players in one world, with PvE and PvP mechanics.

Reception

Since being released on Steam in early access, Valheim has received rave reviews from both critics and players. One month after release, the game ranked No. 4 for most-played Steam titles of all time and over half a million concurrent players in February 2021. As of March 8th, Valheim received over 137,000 reviews on Steam with 96 percent of them being positive.^[4]

Online Presence

Valheim has had a large online presence across multiple social media platforms since its release and positive reception. In February 2018, the official Valheim Twitter^[5] account was created where news, features, fan art and other announcements are shared (shown below). As of March 8th, 2021, the account accumulated over 92,700 followers. On May 21st, 2018, the game’s official Facebook^[6] page was created, accumulating over 12,500 likes and 13,000 followers in nearly three years.

On May 17th, 2018, the /r/Valheim^[7] subreddit was created where Redditors share tips, engage in discussion and frequently post memes about the game. Within three years, the sub has garnered over 235,000 followers.

On March 1st, 2021, Redditor^[8] lapsies shared an example of a meme referencing the game to the subreddit using the Lisa Simpson's Presentation format, receiving over 12,900 upvotes, 624 comments and several Reddit awards in one week (seen below, left). That same day, Redditor^[9] Spidedk shared another meme using the Change My Mind format, receiving over 12,700 upvotes, 269 comments and several Reddit awards in one week (seen below, right).

Various Memes

Search Interest

External References