Frequently Asked Questions

General questions

  • What is Valheim all about?

Prove your worth to Odin by helping him reclaim the long forgotten lands of Valheim. Survive in Valheim’s hostile environments by gathering resources, building outposts and farms, and slaying the monsters that stand in your way. Work up your courage and strength to take on the Forsaken Ones to free Valheim from their grasp.

  • Is Valheim built for multiplayer only?

No, Valheim can be played either as a singleplayer or a co-op game. But we would of course highly recommend you to play it with a few friends if possible!

  • Does Valheim have a Sandbox mode?

No, it does not. It might be something that gets added in the future, however.

  • The visuals of Valheim look kind of old, what’s up with that?

We have chosen a stylised graphical look that blends low-resolution textures and sparse polygonal detail with modern materials, lighting and post effects. The visuals are inspired by the early days of 3D graphics, like the style seen in PS1 titles and old DOS-era 3D games (before hardware acceleration and texture filtering was a thing). 

  • On which platforms is Valheim available?

Valheim is currently available on Windows, Linux, Mac and Xbox, and can be purchased via Humble, Steam, the Mac App Store or the Microsoft Store, as well as being available with PC Game Pass and Xbox Game Pass.

  • Does Valheim support gamepad?

Yes! Valheim has full controller support. This also includes being verified for Steam Deck.

  • What resolution is available for Xbox?

The Xbox resolution available depends on what console you're playing on, as follows:
Xbox Series X Quality Mode: 4K @ 30FPS
Xbox Series X Performance Mode: 1080p @ 60FPS
Xbox Series S Quality Mode: 1080p @ 30FPS
Xbox Series S Performance Mode: 900p @ 60FPS
Xbox One X: 1080p @ 30FPS
Xbox One S: 720p @ 30FPS
Xbox One: 720p @ 30FPS

  • Can I customise my in-game ‘stuff’, such as weapons and armour?

Some items can be customised, like choosing paint jobs for almost every shield and picking colours on linen capes. More customisation might happen in the future, but right now we’re focusing on the mechanics and general contents of the game. 

  • Can I customise the appearance of my viking?

The Player character is fully customisable with the choice of two body types and a number of different hairstyles, beards, and complexions. By building the Barber Station, you can also customise your character later during the game, accessing some special hair and beard styles.

  • Will I be able to use mods?

We don’t have official support for mods. You can read more about our stance on modding the game here.

  • What happened to the Itch.io version of Valheim?

The ancient Itch.io (Alpha) release of Valheim has been removed from the Itch.io site due to it not really reflecting the state of the game any longer. If you are in possession of the Itch.io version you are free to share it as you wish, but we won’t be providing any support for it going forward.

  • Do you still accept donations for the development of Valheim?

We have signed a publishing agreement with Coffee Stain Publishing and will therefore no longer accept monetary donations. Chocolate and other sweets are still welcome :)

  • How much does the game cost?

The pricing varies depending on your local currency. Check the storefront you want to purchase from for the exact price!

Early Access Questions

  • Why is Valheim available for Early Access?

We want to make the best game we can, and even in Beta we’ve learnt that working directly with our community is the best way to do that. Valheim is a huge world and we have lots that we want to add, and Early Access is a way for us to receive constant valuable feedback, collaborate with our players on what they want to see, and keep our players in mind at every step of the development cycle.

  • For how long will Valheim be in Early Access?

It’s hard to say! It will likely take a couple of years, but we don’t have any set dates. It’ll be ready when it’s ready.
The complete game will feature three complete biomes in addition to the ones in the original Early Access release: The Mistlands, Ashlands and Deep North. Each biome will have its own gameplay loop with resources, enemies, craftable and buildable items, and a boss.

  • Do you have a roadmap?

While we did release a roadmap back when Valheim launched into Early Access back in February 2021, we decided to roll it back to prioritise bug fixes and stability issues when the game launched due to the sheer amount of players that started playing. Since then, we’ve released Hearth & Home and a couple smaller updates to flesh out the existing in-game biomes, and we recently released the Mistlands, our first full biome update.

We’ve decided not to share a new roadmap as we want to be flexible when it comes to the development of Valheim. We are constantly iterating on the existing content in the game as we release new biomes, enemies and resources.

  • How long is the development process?

This depends on the type of update; how big it is and how much pre-production it needs. Aside from some pre-production, our development timeline since the Early Access release has looked roughly like this:

- February 2021 - April 2021: Bug fixing to ensure the game ran smoothly for our massive influx of new players.
- May 2021 - September 2021: Main development of Hearth & Home
- October 2021 - November 2021: Bug fixing for Hearth & Home, as well as developing the Abomination, and starting the development of the Frost Caves
- December 2021 - February 2022: Main development of the Frost Caves
- March 2022 - December 2022: Main development of the Mistlands
- January 2023 - August 2023: Hildir's Request in development, parallell to Ashlands development
- January 2023 - May 2024: Ashlands in development, parallell to Hildir's Request


Gameplay questions

  • Is there a lot to explore in Valheim?

Valheim is a vast procedurally generated world with many different biomes. Every biome has its own challenging environment, enemies and secrets to discover. Travel through deep forests, through harsh snowstorms in the mountains or sail the high seas if you dare. If you’re not the outdoorsy type, there are plenty of dungeons, crypts and caves for you to explore as well. 

  • Valheim sounds very big. What other means are there to travel other than running?

You can craft three different types of boats to use for sailing from place to place, as well as portals that can take you wherever you want.

  • How does crafting work?

You can build many different workbenches and crafting stations like kilns, smelters and windmills that you can use for refining raw materials. Use the materials you have gathered to craft an array of different armours, weapons and tools. You can also build boats and bases.

  • Can I build my own bases from the ground up? 

Yes! We have a robust construction system where you can choose from different types of floors, walls, roofs and furniture to build and decorate your base in any way you might want. Our players have built anything from little fishing villages to enormous castles. What do you want to build? 

  • Do you eat in Valheim?

There are many types of food in Valheim, from mushrooms and berries to pies and fish wraps that all come with different attributes. Eating food is not vital for survival in Valheim, but your total health and stamina depends on it. You are able to cultivate the grounds around your base to farm your own materials, and you can tame animals and keep them in pens to later use their meat.

  • What does the progression look like in Valheim?

Every biome comes with its own difficulty and unique resources for crafting armour and weapons. To conquer a biome you have to defeat its corresponding Forsaken One in a brutal boss battle, then use your newly gained items and skills to move on to the next one. Defeat all the Forsaken Ones and conquer their lands to carry out Odin’s mission.

  • I’ve found a bug in the game, how can I report it?

Please fill in the bug report form on our support page! You can also find a form for general feedback there, as well as a list of currently known issues with the game.

  • Where can I leave suggestions for the game?

We collect all player suggestions in our discord server: https://discord.com/invite/valheim There you can find the channel labelled #suggestions, and you can tell us about your idea by following the rules stated in the channel.

  • I found an issue with the translation of the game. How can I report that?

Fill in the form on our support page! Tell us what word or phrase is wrong, and give us your new suggestion. However, we're not looking for additional people to help localize the game.

  • What happens to my world when there’s a big update?

Any update to the game that adds new content fixed in the world (such as new terrain, buildings or dungeons) will only be applied to previously unexplored areas. An unexplored area is an area where no player has set foot, including a radius of about 500 metres. When new updates are released, you will either need to travel to new areas or start a new world to experience the new content. The reason for updates not affecting previously explored areas is mainly to avoid ruining player-built structures.


Multiplayer questions

  • Is there any PVP in Valheim?

Although the main focus of Valheim is PVE, we support consensual PVP. Players that wish to bash each other over the head have to turn on the friendly fire setting from the Inventory-screen.

  • Is there any in-game communication in Valheim?

Valheim supports in-game chat, but you’ll have to use dedicated software such as Discord or TeamSpeak for voice communication.

  • How many Players can play at the same time?

Valheim is not an MMO, but rather a co-op game meant to be played with a couple of friends. Servers are capped at 10 players.

  • How does a multiplayer-server work?

When starting the game you can create your own p2p-based play session that can be either public or private. If you wish to run a persistent server you can download the Valheim Dedicated Server-application from Steam. Iron Gate does not provide any official servers, nor do we have any access to your saved worlds or characters.

Iron Gate Questions

  • Tell me a little about yourselves!

Iron Gate is a small company operating out of Sweden. Currently the company consists of fourteen people, though not everyone is a developer directly involved in the production of Valheim. Our publishing partner Coffee Stain Publishing helps us with many aspects of the business such as marketing and other business stuff, and we also contract some talented freelancers for certain aspects of the game.

The company was founded in 2019, after Valheim had already been worked on for two years as a solo project, and by then consisted of the two co-founders and one employee. Two more employees were added over the following year, and another two joined right after Valheim’s launch into Early Access. Since then the team has continued to grow slightly every now and then, but our ambition is to remain a small and independent company.

  • Can I apply for an internship? Are you hiring more people?

Right now we aren't looking for any more people to join the team. We are also unfortunately unable to accept any interns at this time.