If you’ve been feeling the urge lately to let go of your inner Viking, you’re not alone: millions of people have been riding the waves, swallowing mead and kill the enemy in a crack for the video game “Valheim”.
Designed by Swedish small games studio, “Valheim” has been an unexpected sight, selling five million copies since its release early last month on the gaming platform Steam online.
At one time, more than half a million people were playing online at the same time.
“We didn’t expect this kind of success at all,” said Henrik Tornqvist, co-founder of Iron Gate, the company behind it.
“We are terrible, humble, and under a lot of pressure.”
The team of five who developed the survival game have yet to meet to celebrate due to the pandemic, Tornqvist said.
“Valheim” players can learn to hunt, make weapons, build Viking dwellings and finally kill scary monsters while exploring the vast and fascinating world.
“It’s a very innovative game and a very good one, whether you’re talking about the light, the background or the music,” said 25-year-old Pierre Galissant, who has 60 hours spent trekking the fields, woods and swamps with three companions.
Tornqvist suspects that the ability to work with friends is part of the game’s appeal.
“Our game of focusing on co-op is definitely part of our success,” he said, “and also the Viking theme.”
Viking Revival
“Valheim”, still in development, is just the latest video game set in the crucial and violent world of medieval Viking warriors.
Norse mythology has inspired game designers for decades, from the Baldur Gate series in the late 90s to strategy games like Age of Empires II.
But Jean-Christophe Piot, writer and guest podcast of folklore, said there had been a “real revival” of Vikings sailing, plundering, trading and settling. throughout Europe between the 9th and 11th centuries.
Pop culture has hardly a new Scandinavian influence, he said – Marvel Comics introduced Thor, the god of Thunder, as a character in 1962.
“But they have appeared in video games at a level never seen before in recent years,” he said.
Iron Gate consciously chose this position for “Valheim” because of the vicious fear of a Viking, Tornqvist said, citing the 2013 TV series “Vikings” as an added feature.
Historical accuracy
The latest installment of the popular game franchise “Assassin’s Creed”, released in November, plays out in several historic moments – but it also takes players on tour Norwegian.
“Fans have been wanting it for ages,” said Thierry Noel, a historian who worked with Ubisoft’s French studio on the development of “Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla”.
From sticking to stereotypes of bloody barbarians in horned helmets, Ubisoft wanted to avoid cliches and bring in a level of historical determination, Noel said.
“The idea was to try to identify gray zones – parts of history where you can slip in without affecting the historical fabric of events as we know it,” he said.
“As for the Vikings, it was very easy. We don’t know much about this time, they left very few traces,” he explained.
“That leaves some room for creativity and imagination.”
This is a bet that paid off: “Valhalla”, set in 9th century England, is the franchise ‘s biggest event yet.
Sony also jumped on the Scandinavian band in 2018 for the latest installment of the “God of War” saga, which previously focused on the Greek gods.
After selling more than 10 million copies in a year, the sequel “Ragnarok” – the Scandinavian apocalypse – is expected later this year.
“I think ‘Valheim’, totally, partly lives on the success of those other games,” said Tornqvist, who also cites “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” and “Skyrim “as sources of encouragement.
For some, the ever-changing Viking game universe offers a counterpoint to the pandemic at a time when very few of us are traveling.
There are five different zones to explore and the developers say there will be nine before the official release date, which has not yet been announced.
“There’s escapism to it, which works well at the moment,” Galissant said, adding that the game had allowed him to go on some enjoyable “walks” in the Scandinavian forest.
Noel agreed. “We want events, wide open spaces, discovery,” he said.
“We live in a time where we want to be Vikings.”
You will have the best time expires in 0 day (s)
close x
