It may, as I write this, be summer showcase season. However, you should get ready to wrap up warm. Co-op Viking survivor Valheim’s set to get very cold soon, as its 1.0 release brings a final new biome, the Deep North. “A frigid land encased in ice and mystery” this dangerous locale and Valheim 1.0 will arrive on September 9th.
Developers Iron Gate Studios have painted a picture of the Deep North as an inhospitable final frontier, full of ancient threats left undisturbed for eons and encased in enough ice and snow to keep the lollies in your freezer cool until the end of time.
“What at first seems like a picturesque postcard is bound to quickly turn into a struggle to survive as the land awakens to banish any invaders trying to set foot on its icy shores,” the devs wrote in a press release. “When players first arrive in the Deep North, they are likely to be greeted by an impenetrable snowstorm that, once it clears out, reveals snowy mesas and fields frozen in eternal stillness. As they carefully begin to explore, they will discover vast but abandoned villages, quickly realising that they aren’t the first vikings to set foot here.”
Roaming the snowy surface, you’ll run into the likes of Gammeltrolls, elder trolls who’ve transformed into primordial giants that guard the northern reaches their bodies have become attuned to. Below the ground like horned Yeti-like creatures called the Elakingar, who dig tunnels and “are at times accompanied by something far more terrifying”. Oh no, not giant man-eating moles?
“When we set out on this journey back in 2021, we could hardly imagine the amount of players that would dive in, and the size of the community that would form around the game,” Valheim creative director Robin Eyre said of reaching this milestone. “Approaching 1.0 feels equal parts exciting and anxious as we’ve worked hard to make Deep North a worthy conclusion to the Valheim journey!”
Back in February, Iron Gate celebrated the game’s fifth anniversary by rolling out the flower garlands, sweetbread, and Steam Deck optimisations. Meanwhile, if you want perpectives on what hijinks have been possible in Valheim throughout its early access, we have many features waxing lyrical about such things, many of them by Ed Thorn (RPS in peace).
