Give players something truly new, and you can break all the rules of game design. That’s why Valheim, the breakout indie hit that berserker-charged its way to #3 on Steam, gets away with game design murder.
While the trendline of modern games has bent towards making things easier and more convenient (roguelites, MMOs, action), Valheim turns towards realism. But it’s not the “fall five feet and break your foot” realism of DayZ and its ilk. It’s a realism that we can actually use. When art imitates life close enough, life can learn from art.
Maintaining is Easier Than Building
One of the grievous design sins Valheim commits is loss of progress. It’s unheard of for our in-game strength to deteriorate after inactivity. In real life though, that’s what happens – we need to stay active, and avoid excessive screen time and spend less time sitting. Our muscles are “use it or lose it,” and here, Valheim is brutally accurate.
To make it fit with the game world, these decrements are also a punishment for taking on challenges the player wasn’t prepared for. If a boss is impossible to melee, maybe you shouldn’t have waltzed into that fight with a low archery rating?
That’s the equivalent of walking into the gym after laying on the couch for five years, setting the bench press to 500kgs. Valheim rewards bravery, not stupidity. In Valheim, as in life, we build towards our goals incrementally.
But even easier than building, is maintaining. Multiple deaths in Valheim will let all of your skills slip away, just like multiple days on the couch will hurt your real-life stamina. Take a short walk outside or spend just a few minutes of exercise to get the blood flowing — if you do it regularly, you’ll spend less effort staying at a high level.
Now here’s a secret about Valheim that most players don’t take advantage of. For those who bother, it can become your biggest opportunity in game and IRL.
Simulated Hardship
Some games deliberately design downtime, either to encourage you to take a break, or just to make the active periods feel tenser — intentionally calm periods to juxtapose the excitement.
In Valheim though, downtime doesn’t mean clown time. Every second should be spent building skills.
Much like these Vikings don’t really need to hit their partner’s shield over and over, there’s no survival impetus for modern humans to run a mile or lift heavy things. We’re long past the days when sabretooth tigers would test our ability to scramble up trees.
Hitting the gym, or going for a run is all simulated hardship – it’s not really life or death, but it gets us to where we want to be. Sprinting and jumping when it’s not necessary in Valheim makes you better and better at the same task. Just like in real life, little walks and gym workouts get easier day by day.
The same applies to food – you can’t get far in Valheim without making sure there’s the right amount of food in your belly, and that it’s the right food for the job. Want a high-performance body and mind? You’ll need high-performance fuel. Valheim’s Vikings wisely never neglect their fruit and veggies. Follow the same advice in real life and you’ll get a lot more done.
The trick is to not deflate yourself by focusing on the end goal from the start of your journey.
Compounding Tiny Improvements
Here’s a neat piece of mental trickery to get started. Take the tiniest piece of improvement – some stretching or a push-up during a game’s downtime, or bringing a water to your gaming session instead of a soft drink, or even standing instead of sitting – and let that be a good enough effort for the day.
It’ll feel like child’s play. Like nothing. So easy, it’s fun. Then the next day you do more. Two push-ups instead of one. Still so easy it’s a laugh. But crucially it’s habit-forming, and doing way more good than you might think.
Just like you wouldn’t take on the ranged boss with an archery skill of zero, in real life, those early steps are necessary. As author James Clear states, if you improve 1% every day, by the end of the year you’ll be 37 times better. Small growth that builds on itself is the key.
Let’s not squander the lesson. Let’s be Vikings, and get 1% better every day.
To find out how you can live like a Viking in real life, get all the facts and tips from Queensland Health’s website here or search ‘dump the junk’.
