This is my first survival game. The game was gifted to me by my son. I did not find this game brutal at all. He also gifted me Conan Exiles about a week later, I would say that game is brutal. Many of the first creatures one encounters are not killable, even after a few armour progressions, and if one does not reclaim the items on their tombstone after death within 30 minutes they are lost.

It does not take long to learn the creature mechanics in this game, and taking the time to learn how to block/parry makes every creature other than bosses, easily killable. Being obsessively compulsive about wearing and upgrading one's armour progressively, makes the next biome easy to advance into. One of the tougher aspects was getting enough wolf fur. Before we had cold resistance gear, my son made a series of warm-up huts along a torch lit path into the mountains while I was offline, and I ventured into the mountains when he was offline and got enough reagents to gear up both of us.

Building and learning the game mechanics can be a little time consuming, but I am sure that is by design. Compared to other games of this genre I played after my introduction to Valheim, such as Conan Exiles and 7 Days to Die, I agree with the OP, I do not consider this game brutal.

Please understand I do not mean the game is bad or easy,,, it is as advertised, a brutal game for some. My point is some are complaining the game is too hard, despite the description the game is brutal.
I like the chill game.
I just do not like the common complaint the game is hard, I do not think it is and if it is then... well the game is self described as hard, what do you expect ?
Its like me complaining Elite Dangerous has space ships...well duh :P

Originally posted by Flare |UKCS|:

My point is when players complain its a hard game... its in the description.

The game can be brutal, as in getting a 2 * in a burial, or a troll cave but in all honesty its all on the player, you are usually in a position to kick some, or run the heck away until you got the gear.
Its rarely a case of.. yeah I am dead no chance... like in Ark, getting a velicoraptor to the face. thats kinda game over.

I am saying this as a pro starter :P I have restarted a lot... even the starter mobs you got a torch that murders the starter lot.

This is your perspective since you come from a survival game background before this game.

Thing is this game appeals to a lot wider audience than just survival game players. Perhaps to you this game does not seem brutal since you are so hard core survival person but to the average person playing this game it really is.

Just a matter of perspective. No one is right or wrong so no need to beat the drum trying to defend your opinion. We all understand where you are coming from here.

If they made the game any harder I think a lot of people would stop playing, the devs have hit the perfect spot in my opinion with casual players and brutal learning by death. When you have people complain it is too difficult and others saying it is too easy I think that makes it just right for the average player.

I agree the devs hit the curve spot on, I am just reminding players this game can be hard but as a player you should understand it is meant to be so,
My issue is not the game is x... my issue is there seems to be some that think its too hard, and I say its not... its as advertised, if not a tad more gentle.
Can you really say Valheim is Brutal ? A few spikes here and there yes, but brutal ?
I say this is a chill game, you can relax and enjoy the worlds it generates, but brutal nah, its too chill for that... and that aint a bad thing imo

Since when did advertising ever count as truth?

Especially on subjective hype.

Originally posted by GunsForBucks:

Originally posted by Flare |UKCS|:

My point is when players complain its a hard game... its in the description.

The game can be brutal, as in getting a 2 * in a burial, or a troll cave but in all honesty its all on the player, you are usually in a position to kick some, or run the heck away until you got the gear.
Its rarely a case of.. yeah I am dead no chance... like in Ark, getting a velicoraptor to the face. thats kinda game over.

I am saying this as a pro starter :P I have restarted a lot... even the starter mobs you got a torch that murders the starter lot.

This is your perspective since you come from a survival game background before this game.

Thing is this game appeals to a lot wider audience than just survival game players. Perhaps to you this game does not seem brutal since you are so hard core survival person but to the average person playing this game it really is.

Just a matter of perspective. No one is right or wrong so no need to beat the drum trying to defend your opinion. We all understand where you are coming from here.

If they made the game any harder I think a lot of people would stop playing, the devs have hit the perfect spot in my opinion with casual players and brutal learning by death. When you have people complain it is too difficult and others saying it is too easy I think that makes it just right for the average player.

Best reply, so far, in my opinion. I pretty much never read a lot of the Discussions before I try a new Early Access game (new to me). I only look to see if the Dev(s) is/are active, if there are recent updates, etc. But I generally don't read people's opinions because those are very subjective. One person's "easy", is another person's "brutal". It depends on a lot of factors: Experience with survival games, whether one is the kind to stay at home and just build, or if they are an explorer... if they are tactical or just throw caution to the wind. It also depends on what a person's "motive" is for playing... obviously the OP here is playing "to win". I don't play to "win", I play to build and survive and have fun killing mobs. Although I think the Boss Mobs are a bit too powerful for solo play, they are hella fun with even just a team of 3. You could just *not* kill the Bosses, but you kind of need to in order to progress. Or you could just build in "Creative" mode and do nothing but build (though I'm hoping there are more building materials, shapes, etc. in the future).

In summary... this game can be pretty much whatever you want it to be depending on how you choose to play it. Or you can play it all different ways on different worlds/seeds.

Not to be an odd one out but..

The game is not brutal even on the first run, try playing Arc ... you can die in seconds if the wrong dino is in your face, try Darkwood you die on the 1st night, try most 'survivial' games and you will die from some odd reason... Standed, Green Hell, Dont Starve ... those game have a much more brutal aspect...

... dont get me wrong here, I love this aspect of the game, I can chill and build or go and fight, or hunt stuff, I dont need to but it helps me out... I wanna build ok go for it, you wont die from not eating.

It was a bit brutal for me when i start because i didnt play a game like this ever ( only 7d2d and i droped , even minecraft nothing ) but after learn everything was piece a cake

Originally posted by Flare |UKCS|:

Not to be an odd one out but..

The game is not brutal even on the first run, try playing Arc ... you can die in seconds if the wrong dino is in your face, try Darkwood you die on the 1st night, try most 'survivial' games and you will die from some odd reason... Standed, Green Hell, Dont Starve ... those game have a much more brutal aspect...

... dont get me wrong here, I love this aspect of the game, I can chill and build or go and fight, or hunt stuff, I dont need to but it helps me out... I wanna build ok go for it, you wont die from not eating.

Agree with this.

Originally posted by Flare |UKCS|:

The game is suppose to be brutal, yet to be honest its rather tame but has rough patches, but brutal ? Nah.

I agree. Reason? Stagbreaker.

it's only brutal if you don't prepare

I think given that we see posts all the time of complaints by players that they are frustrated with x boss/creature/event in the game giving them trouble that there is some merit to saying that there can be challenges to some, at least until they understand how to overcome those challenges.

But one can also by choice make it a harder game to play as well (all sorts of challenge type runs).

I'd not get so hung up on the marketing language to be honest as its meant to be subjective.

Solo, blind, first playthrough. Yeah it's pretty rough, especially if you try to rush things.

It's all player knowledge though. Mechanically this game is very simple. Once you learn how to play it's actually pretty easy. Not No Man's Sky level easy, but you'll only die if you get careless.

My point is when players complain its a hard game... its in the description.

The game can be brutal, as in getting a 2 * in a burial, or a troll cave but in all honesty its all on the player, you are usually in a position to kick some, or run the heck away until you got the gear.
Its rarely a case of.. yeah I am dead no chance... like in Ark, getting a velicoraptor to the face. thats kinda game over.

I am saying this as a pro starter :P I have restarted a lot... even the starter mobs you got a torch that murders the starter lot.

I think it is a bit brutal, for a first time run. The only similar style game I had ever played before was minecraft, so my first toon died often. Second toon, much less. Third, so far zero because I am playing permadeath, but it is my third iteration of him.

Game is extremely brutal for the new player who didn't spoil anything. Honestly if it wasn't for a friend who I played with to start who knew the early game and helped me over at least the early dumb stuff I may not have stuck with the game.

That said I think the game is perfect in that once you do learn you can avoid the brutality part.

So really I think the description is right.

Yes, for the first time player it is brutal. Thanks to some mistakes on my part I almost uninstalled it. After taking a couple of days to calm down and think (it was a really bad mistake that cost me all my armor and weapons ), I went back to playing.

4 worlds and over 2000 hrs of exploring and fighting. Love it. I'm not a creative builder and am in awe of the creations other players have built.