Sometimes, even the strongest Vikings need a little help getting to Valhalla. Fortunately, playing with friends in Valheim is a fairly easy task to accomplish in just a few easy steps.
With well over three million copies sold and concurrent player counts peaking over 400,000, it shouldn't be hard to find someone to play with, even if no friends own the game. There are community servers to join in Valheim, though the standard warnings apply when joining servers filled with strangers.
In general, up to 10 people can occupy a single world in Valheim. That should be a sufficient number for most friend groups, and it keeps the game's difficulty balanced. That number also ensures that the servers are optimized, so there are no drops in performance. The more friends in a world, the easier it is to beat the game's bosses, like Eikthyr, a giant metal stag and the first big bad a group will encounter.
In order to create a private server, one must first make a character. After clicking "Start Game" in the initial menu, players will be able to select an existing character, or create an entirely new one. After that, a new interface where worlds can be selected or created, in similar fashion to a new character, will pop up.
Clicking on the "Start Game" tab, as opposed to "Join Game," will give players the ability to create a new world. There will then be a prompt to name the world-- it should be something recognizable by other friends in the group-- as well as a procedurally generated world seed. It's also possible to enter a different, valid world seed if a player wishes.
Creating a world does not automatically boot it up. Instead, it has to be selected. At this point, a player can choose to make the world a private, password protected server by selecting "Start Server," or they can open it up to the general public by selecting "Community Server." From there, clicking "Start" will generate the world and open the server.
Each time someone new joins the world, a message will pop up signaling their presence. Each new player will be dumped off by the giant bird at the Sacrificial Stones. If a player has already been on the world, they will spawn in wherever they left off. For instance, if a player was using a Workbench in a settlement prior to logging off, they will spawn next to that Workbench the next time they login.
Valheim is available now in Early Access on PC.