When it comes to the survival genre, it doesn’t get much better than Valheim.
No Man’s Sky is also fantastic, and I’m personally a fan of the Grounded franchise; it was nice to see Palworld set the internet alight for a short while too, even if the hype has subdued since.
Valheim, on the other hand, has steadily maintained its massive player base, and it’s not hard to see why when you look at the vast contents of the new Update 0.221.4.
Available to download now, the patch is titled ‘Call to Arms’. You may be familiar with some of its features if you were involved in playtesting the update.
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Let’s talk about new mechanics first.
The update introduces Trinkets which you can equip during battle to gain adrenaline and unlock temporary perks.
Adrenaline can be gained in a number of ways, including hitting enemies, triggering a Forsaken Power, using certain magic attacks, as well as performing Perfect Blocks and Perfect Dodge Rolls.
When your adrenaline bar is full, you’ll unlock a surge which grants you a temporary perk which is designated by your equipped Trinket.
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The patch notes add that adrenaline fades when you are not in active combat, plus you can only gain adrenaline when a Trinket is equipped.
Wooden weapons have been added, allowing you to practice combat with your friends without hurting them, and there’s a new Perfect Dodge Roll, which I just mentioned.
If you dodge an attack with this that would have caused you damage, you’ll get a percentage of stamina back.
There are two new enemies this update in the form of Bears and Viles, with Bear Meet thus becoming a new food option.
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You can make use of eight new crafting materials: Blob Vial, Ectoplasm, Ghost Trophy, Bear Hide, Bear Trophy, Bear Paw, Vile Trophy, and Vile Ribcage.
In the clothing department, there are seven new options, and there are a whopping 18 new weapon types.
Regarding those Trinkets I mentioned, you’ll have 13 to choose from which means there are plenty of perks to try out when combined with an adrenaline surge.
An archery target, T.W.I.G, and Bearskin Rug join the game’s furniture options, and CombatRuin01 is a new location that's now available.
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There’s also three new hairstyles and five new beard styles.
That’s all for new content, but the update also makes a ton of fixes and improvements.
I heartily recommend checking the full patch notes to see those detailed, but a rebalancing of Forsaken Powers is arguably the headliner.
Guess I know what game I’m loading up tonight. As a final warning, you will reportedly need up-to-date NVIDIA drivers installed to support the update.