I'm a retired programmer. Having just bought this gaming rig for my umptieth birthday, I decided I should create space for all the great games I would buy. (There was a fire sale on SSDs and Steam was going berserk)

Modern budget gaming laptops are a pain to upgrade. There are no access panels. You have to crack the entire machine open like a cell phone. Using every size and variety of screw seems to be a design goal. Brain surgeons don't need so many instruments, nor such steely nerves, as you need to work on a budget gamer.

I forgot to use a towel. I lost three screws, but that was OK: I found four. The next day—the next day, after contemplating the Ponderosa of new space that I would soon fill with great games, I got Valheim.

One gigabyte. One lousy gigabyte. The worlds are procedurally generated, so Valheim doesn't need a lot of drive space for a pre-built world.

One gigabyte, twenty bucks, and 2,500 hours of riveting play while my other games languish: Skyrim, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Civilization VI, Cyberpunk, No Man's Sky, GTA, Dirt Rally, DOOM.

I look forward to playing them all. Just as soon as I've had my fill of Valheim.

Some people say the devs will just take the money and run, because that's what they would do. But if the devs were going to do that, they'd be gone already. There's no reason for them to hang around. What they have actually done is put the money in the bank to sustain long term development.

If the devs abandoned Valheim tomorrow, it would still be worth every penny. If they don't, if they finish it, it won't sell for $20.00. More like $60.00. And those who buy at that price will miss the fun of watching it grow.