Since Valheim was released, developer Iron Gate AB has been steady at work producing new content for its hit game. As expected of a relatively small development team—the initial game being developed by a team of only 5 people—the updates for Valheim have been slow coming. With a forthcoming update, Iron Gate AB is expected to unveil the Mistlands update, which will introduce an entirely new biome into the game.
During Valheim's latest Midsummer update, fans were teased with tidbits of information about the Mistlands update, including the types of enemies to expect and quality-of-life features that will be implemented along with the new biome. Of course, while fans are undoubtedly excited to explore new lands, the Mistlands update also brings the promise of subsequent biomes, a few of which have already been teased.
Niflheim
A biome that takes players to a dark, demon-filled realm seems like a no-brainer at this point. With the addition of larger dungeon-like areas in the Frost Caves update, Valheim has already shown it's capable of offering terrifying subterranean encounters, but a biome that takes players to a version of Niflheim from Norse mythology would ratchet up the intensity one step further and make for a perfect late game biome. As far as the content found there, like enemies, materials, and other items, Norse mythology has already done all the heavy lifting, and the only task for Iron Gate AB would be to pull from preexisting ideas.
Yggdrasil
Valheim players can already crane their necks up to the sky and see Yggdrasil floating above them. By using console commands to enter Valheim's creative mode, players can even fly up and explore Yggdrasil as it currently exists in a very bare-bones state. Due to its uncanny ability to capture the imagination of players, Yggdrasil seems like another obvious location to flesh out into an entirely new biome. The biome could force players to fight for their footing on the massive branches in the sky, or take players to a subterranean world in the roots of the world tree.
Coastal City
It's impossible to set out onto the Ocean biome, battle the Sea Serpents in Valheim, and not imagine continuing on to raid distant lands. While it is easily the most ambitious biome that Iron Gate AB could try, a raidable City biome would also likely be one of the most engaging biomes. It feels like a natural extension of the game thanks to Valheim's Viking connections. Iron Gate AB could lean on the building aspects that are already included in the game for players in order to quickly flesh out such a biome.
Desert
If players travel far enough using console commands, they will eventually reach a forthcoming Ashlands biome in Valheim. In the early days of Valheim, the Ashlands had yet to be fleshed out at all and looked like a massive Desert biome. While the Ashlands have since been confirmed to be a volcanic biome, a potential Desert biome could be equally exciting. Like any great potential biome, the Desert biome would more or less write itself. The structures, enemies, and materials found in deserts have been explored in countless other titles and Iron Gate AB could simply pull from sources like Ancient Egypt.
Tropical
While Valheim's current biomes are centered fairly firmly around Scandinavia and Nordic folklore, it might be time for Valheim to keep expanding and introduce a Tropical biome. Once players have exhausted all the Nordic-feeling biomes, a Tropical biome could be the perfect pivot away from Valheim's tried-and-true formula while still feeling familiar to most gamers.
A Tropical biome is a natural way to introduce a ton of new materials that could allow Valheim's player base to get even more creative with their builds. It also offers Iron Gate AB the chance to get extremely creative with the enemies and items found there since the biome is very different from Valheim's usual fare.
Valheim is available now in early access for PC and releases in early 2023 for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S.