Valheim was a surprise hit after its 2021 release. The beloved survival-crafting game set in Norse mythology comes from Iron Gate Studios, a small team based in Sweden. Support for Valheim is ongoing, with a few major updates and overhauls arriving post-launch, and more still on the way.
Valheim took fans of the genre by storm with stylized visuals, an interesting overworld, and intuitive structure-building mechanics. Even after the latest Mistlands update for Valheim, some fans are still hungry for more. For fans looking for similar experiences, there are plenty of survival crafting games that have a lot in common with Valheim.
Don't Starve
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Don't Starve is a horror-oriented survival-crafting game, thanks to the tight perspective, sanity maintenance, night cycles, and spooky enemies. Don't Starve is the single-player base game, while Don't Starve Together is a unique multiplayer edition. The game has a finite storyline as well as other endless modes, with several playable characters that bring different traits across new playthroughs and game modes.
Minecraft
Minecraft's entirely grid-based planes allow creativity to be manifested in a way no other sandbox games quite match. While epic creations in Minecraft are a majority of the appeal, there is so much beyond the surface. With experience points redeemable for tool/weapon enchantments, a potion brewing system, a final boss, and more, Minecraft is truly one of the greatest in the genre. Having access to every tool and resource in Minecraft’s creative mode is a solid way to experience the game in a risk-free environment, whereas survival mode offers the real challenge.
New World
New World is an MMO, and consequently far more oriented around multiplayer than Valheim, with less focus on building. New World’s hand-to-hand, ranged, and magic weaponry help bring to life an ongoing PvP turf war for factions of players to control parts of the game’s map. While PvP is one of the game’s main draws, there is otherwise plenty of PvE content, like quests, Expeditions, boss battles, and repeatable bounties. In addition to an overarching player level, New World also explores soft skills the same way as Valheim, with individualized skills that increase by distinct usage.
Tribes Of Midgard
Valheim and Tribes of Midgard have a lot of similarities, mainly the simplified combat system and settings inspired by Norse mythology. Tribes of Midgard's original mode is an onslaught encouraged to be engaged with a team. However, a meanwhile update added a more casualized mode that replicates the player-pacing of Valheim's gameplay flow. The map in Tribes of Midgard increases in difficulty as players venture further from the starting point in any direction. Tribes of Midgard notably features modular player enhancements, known as runes, along with skill trees that emphasize exploration, looting, and combat over crafting.
V Rising
V Rising shares Valheim's love for hunting down bosses, with far more encounters than the latter. With a day and night cycle, maintenance of blood levels and blood type, and a setting reminiscent of medieval fantasy, V Rising mixes up the genre with vampires as the player characters. Playing as a Vampire constitutes using blood from particular sources to gain passive bonuses, having access to weaponry and magical skills from slain enemies, and avoiding the harmful sunlight during the day. PvP is an optional feature, with the main goal of players in any server to get ahold of V Rising’s Soul Shards. V Rising is currently available in early access, with more features and locations planned leading up to the launch.
Whether players are burned out or finished with Valheim, there are plenty of similar experiences out there worthy of playing. The survival crafting genre has been around for long enough that a wide variety of games is currently available and will continue to release. Not to mention, a majority of this genre of games has ongoing support lately, so returning or branching out can lead to an entirely new experience.