Just to add albeit late that this is also my first survival game and I have played consistently since buying it back in feb 2021. Not one regret. Hope that helps.

Valheim is superior to v rising pretty much every way except pvp imo. If you like pvp v rising is better.

Wow dudes.. Thank each and every one of you for your answers.. Guess I'll start with Valheim first and see how it goes then plan my next move later down the line.. Again, thank you for your time and stay awesome <3

Valheim ist the to-go Game to just Chil and built something.
You can play by your own pace, don´t have to rush anything and still are able to have a "line to follow" regarding progress.
The Survival Elements are not really tough, so it´s really a good and relaxing Start in the Genre

Valheim.

Finally after 2 months of no internet & having it re-activated the first thing I did is fire up Valheim for another session building some new stuff. SO I would suggest Valheim. Got about 1800 hours or so as of writing this and still playing it & loving it.

Best game I've bought in.... I can't remember how long. Not sure what the other game is.

I'm a Sims4 and very occasional platform player, not a survival game player. I went into this game completely blind - all I knew was "vikings" and "co-op". It's rare that I will play a game for more than 30 hours, tops and the first day I played this I think we (my partner and I) played for 27 hours straight. I am now coming up to 700 hours and ALL of that is active play and I am still going strong. Literally the best $28 dollars I've spent on a game.

V Rising is a completely different concept as has been pointed out in the comments above so I am not going to repeat something that has already been contributed far more eloquently than I could manage. Valheim is very chill (most of the time...) and an altogether different experience.

If you buy Valheim, just jump in. It's just plain old fun.

I don't know V rising, I can only recommend Valheim and that in full. Dive in and have fun, but beware the frumious bandersnatch... err... Troll... or whatever. ;)

Some tips (not ((many)) spoilers):
https://steamcommunity.com/app/892970/discussions/0/5144805327259514367/

I can't tell you anything about V Rising but if you've never been into survival games, Valheim is a good start I guess. Unlike many other games in that genre Valheim doesn't have the constant struggle for not dying due to starving. You can't starve here, you just have low health and stamina regeneration. So the game rewards you for eating by just beeing stronger.
In terms of survive Valheim can be easy, if you do things right, but as well merciless if you do things wrong like going into biomes that you are not prepared for. You start in meadows biome where its chill and enemies aren't strong. Once you step into dark forest (the next biome) the game warns you only one time to think about if you are prepared enough. After that no further warnings so venturing into further biomes is in your responsibility.
If you die, you loose your gear where you died in a tombstone and wake up in your last registered bed. You then need to walk to your tombstone to get back your stuff.
So be careful, plan ahead and prepare for adventures.

About building you can just build the most necessary things or spend hours and hours into building a huge base/village and decorating to get a cosy viking home.

Totally worth the money if you ask me.

V rising is a PVP game and many reviews even state it is nothing like this game.

It seems this game has building freely while v rising is just upgrading set areas. You can choose areas but not much choice in actual building etc.

If you are looking for PVE solo fun Valheim is the way to go.

Another way to look at it is V rising is hardcore PVP get ganked just for trying to advance. Die enough times and you have to start from scratch basically.

Valheim is a casual PVE focused game where lack of knowledge is your biggest enemy and you start knowing nothing so it is brutal in that respect.

Originally posted by Jazara:

Hey dudes!

I know I know that you beautiful humans are most likely biased towards Valheim BUT! as someone who has NEVER played a survival game in their life, would you recommend I deep dive straight into this or for those who have played it, should I jump on the hype wagon and go try V Rising first?

Appreciate you taking the time to answer <3

You've already gotten Valheim but I'll cover a few things:

1. V Rising and Valheim are completely different games. V rising has no single player currently(you can only make a server and just play by yourself instead), it is survivial on the rails, it has official servers divided between pvp and pve(which still has pvp elements due to the current coding). It is a top down arpg survival lite really.

Also there is no offline play currently with V rising though devs say they may add it in the future but require an online once authentication for it.

2. Valheim has both single player and unofficial server play only. Most servers are password protected because in valheim you can dig and build up terrain and do other things that can grief even pve servers. Building is not on the rails. etc. etc.

3. Content wise, if you're more comfortable with diablo style skills and play with light survivial then that's V rising. If you want a more survival challenge oriented game with very liberal building but with some simplicity, sailing etc, then Valheim also may fit you better.

4. V risings map is (by comparrison to valheim) small and its also static(everything respawns and towns areas are the same. Valheim's maps are seeds which are procedurally generated and very large(so large sailing and teleports are needed for most). Some server communities also use multiple seeds in a cluster situation to have a building/town map and then multiple resource maps they wipe/renew every few weeks to accomodate the player needs.

5. Valheim is buy once and that's it. Devs have said they'll never charge for updates/dlcs. V rising has 2 dlc (cosmetics) they're peddling that cost in total more than their base game itself.

6. Valheim's pace of development is considered slow by some but is being sustained in what they're doing by the studio. Stunlock studio has a reputation for not sticking with projects for too long. Their hitting with 2 paid dlc's at EA release also may reflect their same thinking for v rising too...

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Since you got the game, if you hit challenge issues, use youtube, guides this forum etc. The game can be extremely easy if you do and doesn't need to be overly difficult otherwise.

Good hunting to you.

I can't contrast Valheiim to V Rising, but I can tell you I have over a thousand hours. (I stop and think a lot, so maybe half of that is active play). It's a wonderful game and worth many times twenty bucks.

The combat system is easy compared to games that are all about combat. It could stand to be a little tougher. On the other hand, if you're inta building, you'll appreciate being able to deal with attacks quickly. The building system is very good, once you get the hang of it. Somebody built a convincing sports car with it.

Have fun and let us know which you choose, if you like.

Perhaps I’m a tad biased as a moderator, but I’ve gotten over 900 hours of fun out of this little $20 EA title and I’m still playing. V Rising is probably awesome too, but I’d argue that Valheim is definitely worth a look.

Regardless of what you play, have fun and good luck! :-)