(Image credit: Iron Gate Studio)

After earning a warriors’ death, the Valkyries have judged you worthy of entering Valheim, but their devious masters have more in store. Valheim was already a challenging survival game, and then Iron Gate Studio turned up the difficulty to Dark Souls level when they added the Hearth and Home update. Since the update affects all worlds, there is no going back now. The good news is it will not destroy any player-built bases. The Load Screen covers the recent update since the developers tweaked every aspect of the game, from fighting to starvation while adding numerous items.

Survivability in the game just got more complicated because stamina and food values have changed. Every action takes more energy, including attacking enemies, so non-stop sword-swinging is not a viable option. Blocking has seen improvement to balance the energy loss and absorb more damage at lower stamina than before the update. Proper timing of blocks can help gamers significantly since staggering enemies got easier. With actions costing more energy, skill-based features like staggering are now vital for staying alive.

The increased required skill couples with an entire rebalance of the food system while adding over ten new types. All meals still provide additional health and stamina, but they now focus on one attribute with a minimal bonus to the other. Developers added UI to go with the change to eating, and each food carries a marker for more health with a red fork or a yellow fork for stamina. Once the player consumes food, the icons for the three active meals now have visible timers, so no guessing when one of them is about to run down. Also, Bukeperries make a player sick but clear out all food eaten without waiting for their timers.

(Image credit: Iron Gate Studio)

There is also new cooking equipment and other items to go with the edible ones. Cauldrons now have three available upgrades, and several meals now require baking in ovens. Iron Gate Studio gave world builders a bunch of new Dark Wood construction materials and various item stacks. They added a new ingredient called Tar for crafting some of the new cosmetics. It spawns in the Plains biome, but an additional enemy type named Growth defends it. These black oozes fire poisonous and sticky tarballs at unsuspecting players, so watch out.

Raising animals has also improved, which includes feeding them and what they can do. Finally, tamed Loxes have a purpose, and it is glorious! Players can now build a saddle and ride their favorite furry friend but fighting the other inhabitants of Valheim while Lox-back does not make it easier. However, patient gamers can breed them, and the baby Lox are adorable for a game so murderous.

All these updates together impact the overall gameplay of Valheim, and some of the tweaks rebalance the game. The food system overhaul is the most significant area for noticeable changes, and returning players may get frustrated by the new values. Also, the stamina used by basic actions will see further adjustments since the new setup severely punishes specific playstyles, like two-handed weapon users.

Expect more incremental changes from Iron Gate Studio since Valheim is still in Early Access. The bold reworking of the gameplay fundamentals makes the title feel entirely new, but it is not without issues. The Hearth & Home update adds another layer to this challenging open-world survival game that gets fans more goodies. The Load Screen will follow Valheim down its journey towards a full release; check out the Steam Valheim Hearth & Home patch notes for everything they did.

Valheim: Hearth & Home (Early Access)

• Platforms: PC

• Developer: Iron Gate Studio

• Publisher:  Coffee Stain Publishing

• Release Date: 9/16/2021