Summary
Developers of sandbox games often choose to leave their overarching narratives to the imagination, butValheim’s Nordic inspiration opened up a wealth of lore that has catapulted the Iron Gate Studios release to the apex of the genre. Each biome in the harsh climate tells a different tale with its unique creatures, and players can easily get sidetracked from the plethora of base-building mechanics to explore the enthralling boss battles.Valheim’s status as the Nordic purgatory - the unavoidable route for warriors to prove their worth to ascend to Valhalla - is only alluded to via the environment’s runestones, and the sandbox title could expand on these pieces of lore by bringing them to life in the form of NPCs.
Unlike other loose-ended sandbox games that may feature final boss battles but have no definitive story ending,Valheim’s premise of warriors gaining Odin’s favor and leaving the harsh climate ofValheimbehind shows that the game can logically end. Despite this logical conclusion, Iron Gate Studios allowedplayers to defeat the final boss in Yagluthand still wander around the world’s biomes. Players might never glimpse the famed halls of immortality due to sandbox mechanics, but other warriors have walked theValheimpath before the player character and have presumably ascended, as some runestone carvings show. As such,Valheimcould let gamers come face-to-face with these former glory seekers as an endgame dynamic.
Bringing Back Runestone Authors Would Expand Valheim’s Lore
Finding pieces of lore is always a captivating experience, andValheimimplements its lore drops and tips through runestones. In line with the Viking era inspiration, these structures are literal carvings of red runes on stones, and they give insight into theValheimworld at large.
Adding NPCs to Valheim Would Tie Up Loose Ends
These lore stones range from warnings about the types of enemies players will encounter to odes that wax poetic about a day in the harsh life of a tenth realm inhabitant below theYggdrasil world tree. Some of the runestones tell a story of disillusioned warriors, and it’s possible that some never made the jump fromValheimto Valhalla.
In such cases, Iron Gate Studios could buildValheim’s loreeven further by creating new NPCs that embody the persona of the warriors described on the runestones. For instance, a runestone in the Black Forest reads “I have died again and again only to awaken in my own house…”, highlighting the warrior’s frustration with life, and they allude to giving up the battle to reach Valhalla at the end of the quote. Other runestones also display similar allusions, and it makes sense to assume that a sizable portion of warriors failed to impress Odin, in which case they would be stuck in the Tenth Realm.
Ex Valheim Inhabitants Could Be Useful for Tips
Iron Gate AB could let players meet these characters who failed in their journeys to add some personable flavor toValheim’s biomes. Meeting such NPCs and getting tips on paths to take and insight to avoid ending up in their shoes lines up with theValheimspirit of toughness, and would give the developer a chance to include even more lore. In the same vein, warriors who ascended to Valhalla before the player character should be able to appear in the world. Although none of the runestones explicitly detail a warrior overcoming allValheim’s trials, one at the Plains details the story of Harald, who suspected that his final battle in the realm was at hand.
Adding NPCs would solve the mystery of what happened to each of these characters; from Astrid - who the Allfather spoke to in her seventh year onValheim- to Ulf, who shared multiple helpful tips on the great drake in the Mountain. Since players can return to any biome to continue their sandbox experience after defeating Yagluth, previous residents of theTenth Realm settingshould be allowed to return in the form of NPCs to give gamers some much-needed guidance.
