Reminds me of an adventure in 'Warhammer roleplaying' game when I was in my teens. I saved a friend by throwing them a rope to drag them to the boat when they didn't make the jump. The funny part was we didn't have a rope but the GM wasn't on their game. At the end he figured it out and was going to punish us by deducting experience but we all agreed it was his mistake so he let it go. Needless to say we didn't get away with stuff like that again :D
I wonder how Mack would do at SEA OF THIEVES game now? on a ship and we are overwhelmed by another ship. Would he throw his mates under the bus? er ship? hmmm haha Mack is great to listen too. I do wonder about if he did another review on Sea of Thieves? They now have seasons. Season one just started. Many updates since he last reviewed. I am curious what he thinks of that game now? This game Valheim , I never heard of until just now from this review. looks cool
@@renoverrin9624 I can understand that point if you dont like it, however it is designed that way. While I'm sure they will improve on them as time goes on the charm of the game is the simple art style and polygon low res way its shown
Amen brother. Games aren’t what they used to be. Modern day game developers are the perfect example of people that try to fix things that aren’t broken. The only thing that should change in video games are the graphics and not the gameplay or anything else. Anyone here remember one of the best MMORPGs of all time, Star Wars Galaxies?
hooked for 3 days straight, totally agree, this game is just so immersive.. the nature effects, crafting, building, the fear during night and in some reagions,... cant believe this is early access as I had more fun with it than with many AAA full releases already... totally recommend
Glad I'm not the only one that thought that. 🤣 I found myself dodging the "wind" at the beginning of the game because I thought projectiles were flying at me lol.
Just to clarify what I mean as a scripted event, I am talking about something that will always happen at that given time, that is a scripted event that I am on about and this game has none that we have seen. As much as this game is a total breath of fresh air and a joy to play I can’t help think that we should not all be so ecstatic about it. Games as good as this used to be released back in the 90’s and noughties, I think of the likes of Oblivion, sure it’s not the same as this but it was equally immersive. It’s the fact we have been starved of really good immersive games for such a long time (with the odd exception KCD, M&B) that when something like this comes along we all swoon. I said at the start of 2021 that I had a feeling this would be the year indie games (small companies not tied to the big publishers) really shine and totally humiliate the big devs/pubs, well it’s certainly happening so far with garbage AAA and AA releases and some awesome indie games such as Dyson Sphere and Valheim. This is why I own a PC, we simply get some outstanding games, shame it’s not as often as it used to be.
Being a fresh new game, it might take a while for anyone to realize whether those things are scripted or not. For example the "ground shaking" might be scripted to happen after that Elder boss is killed. The giant sea creature might happen after X ingame days have passed, and so on.
As a upcoming creator making my own game we are in for some good surprises in the near future, the talent I'm seeing coming up and at ages I only wished I was again with the amazing Tech we have today is really mind blowing. And I'm seeing some absolutely beautiful art styles and visuals with other upcoming Devs and indie Devs that are already in full production. The future is bright and its not orange ;). Great vid as always. Love the way you come across on your vids, gives me a good laugh at times.
I had an 'event' where a message came on the screen saying 'The forest is moving' and then my base was attacked by a ton of those woodland things (shamen, brutes, the lot)> I killed a bunch of them and then the rest just ran off never to be seen again.
@@MBOmnis I watched someone take the boss down on a stream they never got attacked by Trolls, no ground shook either. Shit just happens in this game which is half the appeal, new things happen the further in you get which is great as it keeps the game fresh.
Ahhhh.. the majestic days/weeks when my wife and I binged on Minecraft PS4 splitscreen. The illusion was kept up as long as we believed there would be more to explore. But eventually we realized that EVERYTHING is random and there is nothing of design in the game. We kept hoping to explore long enough to find something special like a Lair, an underground base, an abandoned cave of treasure, an enemy hideout or something... but alas, it was not meant to be :(
Once a studio becomes successful with big budgets they usually start making games like Valhalla: it’s newly acquired corporate structure is channeled into design of their games - big, lavish, grandeur, extravagant but with no substance and unique identity. Solution to this problem is to stop buying great games from small studios so they never become successful.
@@nictron99 The problem is the people funding the development have too much input despite not being developers themselves. Business men need to know when to let the creatives have their freedom.
To be fair, alot the textures are basically 8 bit levels of detail. Look at any rock, especially the copper and tin deposits. Not saying its a bad thing, its a style choice and it looks good, but that's why it's so small
@@chaoswraith Exactly. High res textures take away insanely much memory, this would have at least 5GB with some proper texturing, though this would also shit on the performance.
Textures and uncompressed sound. Even in stuff where dialogue isn't a big thing, they still use ludicrous sound file sizes, probably for surround systems or similar.
Mack, I don't know how old you are but I'm 53, started proper gaming (after Pong and the Atari) on a BBC Micro that my old man (who was a copper and had "connections") bought home from work one day. You know the drill; Donkey Kong, Elite, Chuckie Egg, Citadel etc. Then on through a few early consoles (getting ripped to the tits with my mates in the 90s and playing PGA Golf on the Megadrive for days on end) and only occasionally dipping my toe into PCs back in the Doom days. Then I went and got married, had a family and the years went by. When my son got a bit older he got a PS3 for his birthday and I bought myself an XBox cos consoles seemed like an easy fix for a married, busy man like me. I drifted away from PC gaming about the time I finished Deus Ex I think. But then a few months ago I was a little bit flush thanks to some voiceover work and thought I'd dip my toe back in. That was only a few weeks ago and now I'm hooked and in love all over again. Been hammering survival games (Scum, 7 Days to Die which was woeful on console and The Infected) and a few other beauties like Medieval Dynasty, Raft and Green Hell. And now I've discovered the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R games and the atmosphere of those things makes me remember why I played games in the first place. So, to hear that twinkle in your uh... voice, if that's even a thing, made me very happy. It's the sound of someone reverting back to childhood, in the best possible way, when you start out on some big, mysterious and beautiful new adventure and you have no clue what's around the corner and you still get that thrill of the chase (or of being chased) and quite frankly, you couldn't be happier. I'm glad to say, PCs still have that magic that for me, consoles never did. So I feel like I'm back home, after all these years. Picked up Valheim myself a few days ago and only started it up for a minute or so and thought to myself "that looks a bit special" and closed it again while I got some IRL writing done. Then this evening I was about to don my tabard thing and fire it up again when I saw the notification for your review. Perfect timing. And now I'm going in. Cheers for all the great work old chap. You're one of the good guys - and it's good to know I'm not the only old bastard still "kicking it wiv da kids"... as the kids definitely don't say. Be lucky. Matt
I think if you were born into videogames, nobody could accuse you of 'kicking it with the kids'! Videogames are like, a decade away from being an entirely intergenerational thing like films and music. I can't wait till we have gamers in their 60s and 70s and the kids are pushed to the bottom of ranked because the servers are full of 360 noscoping grandads.
I'm two years younger than you and started with the Commodore Vic 20, I drifted off to consoles for a while but came back to PC around 2000, consoles are fun but PC is where it's at and to be honest always has been. It's great being an older gamer, I can afford all the things that I couldn't when I was younger, it also gets me away from the wife.
We have a dedicated server running 24/7. Built my first raft today to go to another island, chopped a tree down to make my bed when I got their so I wouldn't have spawn on the other side of the world if I died, The tree killed me...
I love that this game is proving that triple a developers have become extremely lazy and depend on their budgets to provide entertainment more than actual passion driven gameplay.
Why are you blaming devs for "laziness" in the final product? Triple A developers do not make those decisions. Blame the suits at the top and the gamers who keep spending millions on cookie cutter titles.
@@meidachnate8855 This was in no way an insult to the developers as individuals, and I'd say anyone with a half of a brain would assume that. When referring to triple A developers this typically means the high end development machine that churns out continual garbage and still expects you to pay year in and out. It means the lead designers, presidents, and CEO's of these companies who would rather watch you burn your money than actually have a good user experience. Use your brain just about 5% and you could have probably figured that one out yourself.
Hard disagree on the portals. They're a necessary evil to keep the experience from becoming tedious after your umpteenth expedition to a far flung location.
@@ferociouzmonk Good for you. I have other shit to do. Tedium kills games like this. There's a reason 3/4s of the mods for other survival games include things that cut back the tedium. Auto harvesters, faster transportation etc. Portals are fine, and should stay in the game. You guys are trying to tell others how they should play. Fuck off with that.
Here's a great point somebody made which shows why this game is incredible. My map is only about 5-10% revealed, and in every -- single -- revealed -- area (not counting the ocean of course), I have very VERY vivid memories of what happened there, flashbacks of the scenery, the sunsets. This shouldn't happen in a procedurally generated world, but it does here.
Agreed. So attached to my first map due to all the adventures I'm not sure I could play another seed, even if the bosses and resources were better located.
I spent 3 hours last night exploring the ocean shores, making landfall in a few places, nearly dying 4-5 times, It was the most tense and fun time i've had in a game in a long time. Sense of exploration is amazing.
I will say, after day 150 in-game the "unscripted adventure" he's talking about gets pretty boring. Another this and another that. The portals help with this. You can skip the long trek... I mean.. you still have to make that LONG trek on foot/boat but when you arrive you drop a portal and you don't have to do it again, assuming something doesn't destroy the portal. What's more, I don't think Worth A Buy realizes yet in this video just how HUGE HUGE HUGE the world is. Now, I will say, if you aren't bored yet, don't make the portals. When you've had enough of traveling for 2-3 in-game days to get to a place you've already been to... drop a portal.
Eh, the trips themselves can bring more spoils. Such as serpent meat or going by continents you havent explored yet. I think the whole "no portals" thing is a cool concept, but in practice you're right, it does drag out the game by a lot. Especially if you have multiple bases and just want to go from one to the other. I couldnt imagine doing that with my four bases (i play solo), as they are far apart and have different purposes. Portals aren't a must, but they're super recommended unless you have the same mindset as Mack. I'm 230 hours in and I'm not bored yet. I have already started another character and seed, but this time it's on a dedicated server with friends :) I've got so many more hours of this game ahead of me
I can only really compare the portal thing to a game like Minecraft, which I have thousands of hours in. Compared to this which I have like 70 hours in. In Minecraft, I still have playthroughs that I refuse to use conveniences like large-scale nether travel, or connecting farms up with chunk loading. I also in my current hardcore survival world in Minecraft, I did not even touch the nether till I had diamond gear, then I left once I had enough blaze rods. I didn't return till I had fully enchanted gear/elytra, and all I did was created direct travel portals from where I wanted to go. Even currently I only use the nether for mining resources, which I dont even mine technically; I have a machine clear lava, blowup resources, then clear lava once more. So honestly I think the portal thing is a good idea, but personally I dont touch fast travel in games like Valheim because it stunts my growth as a player. Only at a certain point when I know for a fact that me using fast travel will not cause me to be ill-prepared, will I take the time to use these helpful things made by the developers.
i feel like the perfect fix for this, instead of removing portals completely is to just make them extremely expensive. i feel like they're very easy to make right now and you can get them at a very early stage
They are adding more feature btw you guys, they confirmed 3 new biomes and 3 or 4 new bosses, and 2 new types of enemies. And I would imagine there's more items/map features/etc. On the horizon.
@@ErinHoneyBunny yes. True. But all of those features sometime in the next 9 1/2 months. Which to me is strange. Over 5,000,000 copies sold. Untold wealth and nothing communicated about expediting the schedule. They could easily triple the development team with that kind of cash and roll all those updates out in 5 months instead of 9-10 months.
This game is a masterpiece. I was actually starting to feel like I would never get sucked into a game again. This one has grabbed me and I’m so glad I gave it a chance. Excited to see what the devs have planned
@@MrCrazyhamster28 exactly! My brother and I were playing and finally built a ship. Got attacked in a storm by a sea serpent and ran. Found an island and when we got ashore grey dwarves and a troll swarmed out and attacked. It was dark and we were using fire arrows so it looked epic. We built a small base to make repairs on the ship and rest and stumbled on the merchant on that island so then we built a portal. I love the way adventures just seem to happen.
Hi Mack, I have been following your channel for quite a long time and I just wanted to thank you for your videos and all your hard work. I think that compliments and appreciation are given out far less than they should now a days and I think its important that we express it to each other when we can. After starting a TH-cam channel on language learning and language learning with video games, it really has given me an even stronger appreciation for some of the TH-camrs like yourself out there. I am sure there are times where you are really just tired, progress is going slower than you would like, or some of the haters can really get to you but I along with many of your subscribers are incredibly appreciative of what you do. As someone that generally never comments, there are a number of people that never comment that feel this way and it’s important to remember that. TH-cam and in particular the video game subgenre is filled with a lot of clickbait, fakeness, and encouragement of predatory video game practices. I, and I’m sure many of your subscribers are incredibly appreciate of your congruence, integrity, and honesty when it comes to the quality of video games. In many aspects, coming from the perspective of someone that has played video games for a long time, the quality of many games is going in the wrong direction. I think that this is discouraging for many people that consider this a hobby and an activity where they can unwind from life and relax. That said, you are a strong voice amongst it all and I think that should be encouraging despite much of the negativity out there. So once again thank you for all that you do. In those times where things feel frustrating or de-motivating, I and your subscribers want you to know that we really appreciate your work and making us laugh (bell). I know that you have had some health issues in the past so please be sure to keep yourself healthy, happy, and balanced as much as possible. We really enjoy your content but you are a person just like the rest of us and it’s ok to rest when you need to. You might not have the largest following out there but you have a very loyal one and that is worth far more than the biggest audience. We might not agree on everything (I personally like the Witcher 3 (bell), but your perspective is appreciated. Keep up the excellent work
The physics engine in this game is amazing, I once cut down a tree next to a rock, and the Archimedes lever effect katapulted me into the air, I survived, and then I saw Odin.
@@anomalyunit4637 indeed, falling trees or chopped trees that might roll downhill both do big damage. enough to get yourself or a friend to a very swift death. they also float on the water.
I would say it should be some epic construct that takes loads of grinding to complete. But then again I'm a perpetual solo player and would benefit immensely from it.
@@darken2417 fast travel exists in the form of craftable portals. Certaint things cant pass through, like ores and coal, but the items made from those can pass though
What you wouldn't rather have a 200gb hyper realistic game where literally all you can do is run around and mindlessly PEW PEW at people!? PEWPEWPEWPEW!!!
True. This is the perfect example that lightning and post processing effects are more important than high res textures and lots of polygons. Sometimes under the right conditions it's just stunning.
I'll never forget our first Valheim session. We went on a journey to kill the 1st boss with the boat we just crafted. It was an exceptionally beautiful voyage. Along rivers that curled through dense forest with lage trees and oceans with waves as high as our ship itself. Along the way we discovered a new biome as we were close to the boss location and decided to continue by land, for we did not know, the new biome called Plains. We docked our ship and got off, amazed by the beauty of this biome. But the awe turned into alertness, witch quickly turned into a light panic as we heard a buzzing sound. All of us start looking around as one of us spots an insect heading our way, not knowing its powers, arrows start flying. We get lucky and its killed before it gets to us. A little further we can see something holding a torch, it looks like some sort of goblin. With high morale from just killing the deathsquito, we charge. All five lost our lives that day.
Kenshi, Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, Caves of Qud and Cataclysm does this masterfully imo. Also loved old school WoW PVP servers, you walked around doing quests with your friends but there could suddenly be a story around every corner in PVP zones.
@@G0LD3NF1RE Im still waiting for the day i see a C.D.D.Ahead game in First person,. I agree with your list though, you just named 5 of my fave all time games
yeah thats the big difference between gta missions of the past and gta missions now... where you could just steal/destroy your targets get away vehicle before the mission starts because it was a true sandbox game, now they are rather linear where you fail a mission because you took your own shortcut.
Looking back, that Portal rant is even more hilarious. Mack describes the only two things you can encounter on the Ocean and that convinced him that there is so much excitement to be had hauling Mats back and forth, but try doing it 50 times and nothing ever changes because after some time you realize that the world is actually pretty repetetive.. at which point you use Portals for every. fucking. thing. Still having to do some Trips with the Metals however is a nice touch. (I love this game btw. Insane Value for 20 bucks on the first run, 200 hours. But unlike most people we stopped playing when we finished and now wait for more Biomes to be added instead of burning our face off and bitching at the Devs)
I 100% Disagree with you on the Portals! They make getting to and from areas better! you don't have to use them, but I like them. I play solo I am a 44 year old woman who has no gaming friends anymore, so Yeah I will take an easy way to get the stuff I need sometimes.. So developers Please DO NOT remove the portals. other than that, great review :)
48 year old clocking in - - For a brief moment when he said it, I could understand where he was coming from in regards to (essentially) defending the game by dissuading the developers from allowing people to "skip through" such a large, beautiful world via portals; then I thought, "No one's forcing you to use them?" I have been playing a lot of the game solo, with friends joining every couple of days, but I can relate to how much of a PITA it would be to sail my boat over to see the merchant (for instance, as he didn't spawn close to my starting island) to get bait, or to discover a swamp 5 islands over that finally had some crypts so that I could finally mine iron. Like you said, getting rid of portals isn't the solution. At most, have the devs give an option to enable/disable them if people think they're an issue, but beyond that, I agree they shouldn't be removed. I'm waiting for someone to start complaining that repairs to structures and gear doesn't cost materials, or that destroying structures or workstations should not give you the full materials back. 🙄
@@howardstark Yeah I hear you, I hope they don't change the free repair, or item return, lol If they took away getting your items back from misplaced items it would suck.
@@Mystical_Goddess Yep! 😂 I don't think they'd do that *knocks on wood* i think it's another thing separating them from other survival games that many of us see as a QoL "improvement."
Given the size of the map, I think portals are necessary. Unless they eventually add land or air mounts to get around faster. Once you leave the spawn island, it's a pain to run and sail everywhere
I'm with you. I haven't even created a portal yet myself but with how big the map is and with no mounts of any kind I think it's good they have them. They require valuable resources to create and they don't replace other forms of travel or trivialize exploration. I think if you plan to play in a nomadic style I could see not using them at all. However, if you want to invest in base building I like the option of linking far flung bases together with portals.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps was made with unity and runs on the switch with no graphical deductions a part from modified motion blur at 60fps. No one can complain about unity. bad games are just the developers fault.
@@Wylie288 Nah, you gotta be really smart and really know how to use Unity to make Unity not be a piece of shit. Unity just isn't that great of an engine. Its easy, and accessible to a lot of people. But of course, something like that comes with drawbacks.
This game is absolutely incredible. The devs are allowing you to rob them by being able to buy this game for only $20. There is an absurd amount of content in this game for only being an early access.
The game has well over 100k concurrent players on Steam. Don’t think the devs expected it to do that well. Could’ve easily bumped the price up to at least 30 bucks and I think it still would’ve done really well.
I still love this game. Hunting, farming, fishing, fighting, cooking, sailing, foraging, crafting, and building. They way they break up the grind into different activities always leaves something to do breaking up the monotony of other survival games.
I like the portals. D: The exploration is fun, but I really don't want to have to sail back and forth for half the time I play, especially as a solo player.
Also you still have to sail back and forth at occasions if youre not building a forge or smelter in every base cause you cant take minerals through the portal anyway.
@@arnaldocosta1298 if you dont like cars just dont drive them to and from work lul do you see how flawed that is? Hes saying the portals ruin the game because everyone else is probably going to use them making those who dont feel left out, and you will probably use them because of that, and how tempting they are. Just like Skyrim with stealth archer, everyone says they wont do it, but they end up doing it anyways.
@@monke5403 me using the portals, will not decrease his enjoyment of the game, people are free to play as they see fit with the tools they have he says portals should not exist but he is also playing with 5 other friends, i would like to him play for 50+ h solo and say the same
@@monke5403 First of all that was a shit analogy. People don't like to drive and take the bus to work or another means of transportation. He's right though; don't like it, don't use it. Don't like guns? Don't own one.
Well the title is all I needed to know. Mack and I have very, very similar tastes. I think it was Mack who went against the grain when it came to Kingdom Come Deliverance, everyone said it was boring, Mack said he was living his best life as a medieval knight and that's exactly how I felt 🤣
@@ShadowsofRlyeh very cool story, thank you for sharing! Danke! :P It was WaB who said that that game was groundbreaking, and I felt the same. It felt more like a historical simulation experience than a video game at times. It reminded me of going to heritage locations here in the US where history majors dress up in time appropriate clothes and do educational reenacting.
The KCD review earned my sub. Listening to people trash what is a great game just because the beginning can be frustrating sucked. Then I watched his review and rant on the subject. Summed up how I felt lol.
@@ShadowsofRlyeh the game is a godsend I beat it twice on PS4z I just got a PC and it was the first one a bought. Love history and can’t wait for whats next with KCD. Also as someone who loves history I appreciate the work.
Your timing is spot on. An hour ago I was like "hm, cool game, when does Mack cover this early access gem?". Then I took a stroll thinking really deeply, I came back, opened TH-cam and voila, your video just arrived, like a perfectly craf.. eh cooked carrot soup :)
This seems like a game that would be fun with friends who are also interested in playing a survival game. So not for me if I could only play alone or with randoms.
Having a blast solo! 43 hours in. You dont even have to make a new character if you wanna join somone else or something. You basically keep everything you learn and have on you when u join others. I just joined a friends server to have a look. Fun solo, fun with others. 10/10 no doubt.
I had a friend who i was pretty sure not interested in survival game at all, only after we played for like 4 hours and we stopped cuz its like 3 am alr, the next day hes the one who keep asking to ppay valheim now lmao
This may sound "odd" but I think what makes this game a lot more fun than the other open world games is NOT having levels and even a skill tree to your character. Ever notice how we innately have this "urgency" to get to the next level to increase your STR, WIS, INT, HP, etc.? There's none of that here. So it puts most of your focus on the "adventure" and the journey you experience, rather than "using" these adventures to reach your personal drive to increase your character's abilities. Not having levels also forces the player to prepare appropriately and not rely on the fact that they may now have 100 STR and can defeat a boss wearing only cloth around the loins and their bare fists.
The random online lobbies aren't as toxic as you might expect. You have to choose to take pvp damage by way of toggle, and you can restrict/allow people from interacting with all your buildings
My friend and I got this two days ago and we are looking forward to having some time to try the multi today. Great review video. Edit: we got the chance to play last night, 2 hours flew by. Lots of fun.
I do not regret buying Valheim on my newly bought PC. I am loving the game. One of the better games i have played in years. I am new to the PC master race.
Great thing about the portals, is to don’t have to use em. Two playthroughs I got with different friends, one uses portals and one doesn’t. Both are a blast, it’s all down to what you enjoy
just FYI.... it's now at 3 million sold copies and more than 60.000 reviews and still at 96% overwhelming positive :D no one ever imagined this will happen during the betaphase i was part of.... but we allways hope for it since this game is just so good. Made by only 3 devs (now 4).
Mack: the escape raft is ready! Partner: makes a slowmo jump... Mack: oops i rowed a bit early. Partner: drowns in shallow water after losing stamina.. Mack: feels bad.. . ow well at lest i made it~!
The fast travel (portals) is amazing, I love the addition. It starts to feel like a walking simulator when most of the enemies aren't a challenge. They shouldn't take out a feature that doesn't affect you if you don't build it.
Was thinking the same thing, the portal is mostly for farming purposes or transferring things from one friends base to another who is across map. Just a QOL immersive, lore friendly and canon optional thing. Don't want/need it don't use it.
Been following you for a while, and got kind of surprised of your review, bought the game beginning of March and honestly can't stop playing it, it's exactly how games used to be in the late 80's and 90's, loving it, by now I have 240+ hours, and some of my friends 500+ hours(no small kids at home). Just an amazing game, done by 5 developers still studying?! in Skövde Sweden(from what I've read). Amazing.
Eh, I still read into it a bit. Mack hasn't steered me wrong as to whether or not a game is dogshit but sometimes he likes stuff a lot more than I wind up liking it.
Been having a blast with it this week, cannot remember a time exploration was such a diving force for me in a game. I go out explore and run into new things constantly that devotes a day or two of proper exploration.
Update We are up to the final boss now and have forward bases next to all the biomes, we have not used a single portal in all our play time, we have a small fleet of longships that we use to ship all the people and loot back and forth from the biomes. As we are over day 200 we are getting some nasty attacks on our journeys and it's an amazing adventure, portals would have pretty much ruined our experience as all the fun stuff happened when travelling. People who say portals are necessary are telling lies, we are proof you don't need them.
I've been watching Mack's videos for over 40 years, and I've never heard him heap such high praise on a game. Even when we were kids he never got this excited. Well, I remember one time he did, but that was just to show me the benefits of bum sex, and he was right about that too! This game must be amazing.
Just be warned there are major issues with the dedicated server and the server browser atm. It's an amazing game but the dedicated server needs a lot of work.
Mack your reviews are the best. This is the only channel i come to when I want to find out about new games that I think would be up my alley. Keep up the good work.
I didn't play it yet but i already love the look of this game. It looks and feels like one of those good ol' dark Fantasy 2000's game graphics but in a more modern way you know ?
I really cant see why people love this so much. It feels very much like your typical survival game. Sure the setting is neat but overall it looks extremely unpolished with just a lot of content. Also the game pushes my GPU to 58c which is the highest i've ever seen while playing games like red dead redemption 2 and horizon zero dawn lol.
I think the biggest draw of the game is the fun and adventures you make with friends, like the situations that occur like he talked about, making your way to the boat and a huge giant is there wreaking havoc or having a casual boat ride turn into sailing for your life when you notice something huge coming at ya from under the sea.
@@Thomas-ti9gw Yeah thats a given, but the fact that it has overwhelming positive revies is why I wonder. That's something a lot of fantastic games dont get. I'm talking top tier games in their genres dont even have that. And I doubt this game is some master piece atm.
I believe so. I’ve been solo for the majority of my playtime and have still had a blast. It’s certainly more fun with friends but holds up well as a solo player too.
Solo scaling is well balanced. Having another player can help with material/combat. Bigger groups have to deal with more frequent insane scaling enemies
Portals dont actually take that much away. You obviously have to make the journey at least once everywhere and then at least 4-5 more times if you intend to get resources home. But if you have to run across the entire world 10+ times without any gear because you happen to die out there, it would definetly ruin the experience.
2024 and I'm addicted to this game. It is absolutely amazing. Im playing my way through casually, taking my time building outposts in new areas and slowly advancing into new territory and im 650 in game days in, and half way theough clearing the mountains biome. Im really getting great playtime out of this one with my slow and steady progress building and farming while i progress. This has to be in my top 10 ever played. It trumps minecraft for me.
Is this one of those games where in order to really enjoy it you need a group of friends to play it with you? Or is it just as enjoyable as a solo experience?
never played in a group but it was one of the most boring survival games ive ever played when i played it. Normally i play survivals both solo and with friends and enjoy solo but this was such a waste of my time
Mack, I also fell in love with this game. You mentioned you were scared at the end when you saw that figure, but fear not... that isn't the Grim Reaper. That is ODIN himself watching over you, a little bit of hidden game lore for you.
Mack. You've got a point there with the portals but my guess is that this is intended by the developers to hit the sweetspot in contrast to all the other survival games. And they do hit the sweetspot in so many ways in this game to flatten the "easy to learn hard to master"-curve here imoh. My bet (and suggestion to the devs) is that they'll balance the chance to build portals (i.e. lower the chance to find surtling cores or have a specifi level/boss that needs to be reached to make portals available in end-game). At the moment it only needs a dungeon or two to find them. And think about players that do not have the chance or will to play with so many buddies.It's way easier gathering stuff having 9 friends with you than with only 2 other players. Everybody's having less time to play (except for the kids out there) but can now enjoy the beauty of a (somewhat casual) GREAT survival game. But besides that, you sir... again..... hit the spot! Cheers
@@jackietwotwo6587 It's great. This is one of the few games I can say is just as enjoyable singleplayer as it is online. There's still plenty of stuff that can go wrong but for me it's a more laid-back, chill experience playing singleplayer. That's mostly because I like to take things slower than the other people I play with. I'd definitely recommend it even if you're planning on playing by yourself.
Congrats on breaking the 500K barrier on views, Mack! Longtime fan and patreon supporter. You are my go-to reviewer and one of the very few I trust to be honest with the fans, and you're hilarious to boot! Keep up the good work, and congrats on the success.
Loved your stories! me and my 2 mates had the same "issue" with the sea serpent. Second day playing and we decided to explore the brave new world... when we landed one of us died by a 2 star skeleton, we grabbed his gear, ran to the boat and for a moment thought "oof, thank God we've made it". we were deep in the middle of the ocean when we saw the monster. We died, lost all of our 2 days gameplay crap and laughed for hours. Im loving every second of this game.
As much as I would love to give it a try, I'm honestly just gonna wait. Rather have everything finalized with even more content than burn myself out early and have no desire to keep playing after the game is finished.
for what it's worth, I've reached the end of the content in the early access and I'm really looking forward to playing the whole thing again from scratch once the full game is out which might be quite a while away.
By the gods this game is GORGEOUS!... The intro, the tiny bits of lore, THE ambience! Its just perfect. I am at awe every break of dawn watching the bloom and god ray effects touch the forest on different angles. The fact that its still is in early access and the file size is just 1 GIG blows my mind... This is like a slap in the face of devs who make games with 100gig+ file size all just to repeatedly shoot people.
Thanks mate! Bought the game 2 minutes after finishing the vid. Mack, you are the most reliable source for game reviews out there in my eyes. Please dont ever stop doing it!
The only use for a portal I see is placement by the merchant to your main base. From what I've heard there is only one merchant in the entire map and they don't move around. The good thing is they always are found in a Black Forest biome. I hope the devs either A. Add more merchants, or B. Add travelling merchants.
Don't listen to Mack, that was a perfect leap by me (Raoh), and I would have made it too if not for Mack saving himself! :)
Was gonna say he's done you right over there Raoh 🤣 defo saving that gear.
Thanks for the great review. I Love hearing these stories. Dev and Main artist at Irongate. Love to see more of your adventures.
Reminds me of an adventure in 'Warhammer roleplaying' game when I was in my teens. I saved a friend by throwing them a rope to drag them to the boat when they didn't make the jump. The funny part was we didn't have a rope but the GM wasn't on their game. At the end he figured it out and was going to punish us by deducting experience but we all agreed it was his mistake so he let it go. Needless to say we didn't get away with stuff like that again :D
anti-climax defined
I wonder how Mack would do at SEA OF THIEVES game now? on a ship and we are overwhelmed by another ship. Would he throw his mates under the bus? er ship? hmmm haha Mack is great to listen too. I do wonder about if he did another review on Sea of Thieves? They now have seasons. Season one just started. Many updates since he last reviewed. I am curious what he thinks of that game now? This game Valheim , I never heard of until just now from this review. looks cool
BUT this is an early access game that is more finished than many AAA games.
it looks like it was made with a ps2 i brought it and i refunded it not worthy of my money imo
@@renoverrin9624 I can understand that point if you dont like it, however it is designed that way. While I'm sure they will improve on them as time goes on the charm of the game is the simple art style and polygon low res way its shown
Not as polished as one specific game that released on December 10:th Lul. Jokes aside, this game is sick.
I mean, that's not saying much anymore
@@heymorado4372 i rebrought it after reading abit more into it so second chance ^^
You know Mack loves a game when his review is mostly just talking about his experiences rather than just overal impressions.
i just listened to a grown man give details of the types of magical adventures i've only had when i was a kid playing runescape or diablo 2
Runescape man I cri evri time I think about 2006. Magical childhood memories.
@IDK F
The game does have some runescape qualities to it with skill progressions and grinding.
D2 is getting a remaster
Amen brother. Games aren’t what they used to be. Modern day game developers are the perfect example of people that try to fix things that aren’t broken. The only thing that should change in video games are the graphics and not the gameplay or anything else.
Anyone here remember one of the best MMORPGs of all time, Star Wars Galaxies?
hooked for 3 days straight, totally agree, this game is just so immersive.. the nature effects, crafting, building, the fear during night and in some reagions,... cant believe this is early access as I had more fun with it than with many AAA full releases already... totally recommend
this wind blowing had me fooled for a minute i was thinking somebody is shooting arrows at you
Yeah looks super strange
@@jzubs its less jarring once you play the game and get acclimated
Glad I'm not the only one that thought that. 🤣 I found myself dodging the "wind" at the beginning of the game because I thought projectiles were flying at me lol.
Same
Same
Just to clarify what I mean as a scripted event, I am talking about something that will always happen at that given time, that is a scripted event that I am on about and this game has none that we have seen.
As much as this game is a total breath of fresh air and a joy to play I can’t help think that we should not all be so ecstatic about it. Games as good as this used to be released back in the 90’s and noughties, I think of the likes of Oblivion, sure it’s not the same as this but it was equally immersive. It’s the fact we have been starved of really good immersive games for such a long time (with the odd exception KCD, M&B) that when something like this comes along we all swoon.
I said at the start of 2021 that I had a feeling this would be the year indie games (small companies not tied to the big publishers) really shine and totally humiliate the big devs/pubs, well it’s certainly happening so far with garbage AAA and AA releases and some awesome indie games such as Dyson Sphere and Valheim. This is why I own a PC, we simply get some outstanding games, shame it’s not as often as it used to be.
Oblivi gang rise up.
Being a fresh new game, it might take a while for anyone to realize whether those things are scripted or not. For example the "ground shaking" might be scripted to happen after that Elder boss is killed.
The giant sea creature might happen after X ingame days have passed, and so on.
As a upcoming creator making my own game we are in for some good surprises in the near future, the talent I'm seeing coming up and at ages I only wished I was again with the amazing Tech we have today is really mind blowing. And I'm seeing some absolutely beautiful art styles and visuals with other upcoming Devs and indie Devs that are already in full production. The future is bright and its not orange ;). Great vid as always. Love the way you come across on your vids, gives me a good laugh at times.
I had an 'event' where a message came on the screen saying 'The forest is moving' and then my base was attacked by a ton of those woodland things (shamen, brutes, the lot)> I killed a bunch of them and then the rest just ran off never to be seen again.
@@MBOmnis I watched someone take the boss down on a stream they never got attacked by Trolls, no ground shook either. Shit just happens in this game which is half the appeal, new things happen the further in you get which is great as it keeps the game fresh.
Someone summed it up pretty well on the Steam reviews page, they said “It feels like I am discovering Minecraft for the first time again”.
i have never related to a statement this hard before.
Shame it took near 2 decades for the market to answer.
Ahhhh.. the majestic days/weeks when my wife and I binged on Minecraft PS4 splitscreen. The illusion was kept up as long as we believed there would be more to explore. But eventually we realized that EVERYTHING is random and there is nothing of design in the game. We kept hoping to explore long enough to find something special like a Lair, an underground base, an abandoned cave of treasure, an enemy hideout or something... but alas, it was not meant to be :(
@@semikruller Now you got Valheim to re-kindle that flame :D
nice name
I haven’t heard Mack this genuinely excited for a game in quite a while.
To be honest, this is the most fun I've had in a long time too.
@ Yes!
@@potatooolatke I just bought it. Is there a way you can check what all can be crafted?
@ I'd check wiki page but you unlock build items by looting the materials.
@ you unlock a recipe when you get its ingredients usually, so try to loot items at least once, plant food, kill all that can be killed, etc.
Imagine if Assassin's Creed Valhalla's budget was utilized for this game LOL.
Prolly would've gone on another path. Not keep it as basic as this is. And i mean good by "basic"
Once a studio becomes successful with big budgets they usually start making games like Valhalla: it’s newly acquired corporate structure is channeled into design of their games - big, lavish, grandeur, extravagant but with no substance and unique identity. Solution to this problem is to stop buying great games from small studios so they never become successful.
Sometimes the lack of funding makes people focus on the right stuff
@@nictron99 The problem is the people funding the development have too much input despite not being developers themselves. Business men need to know when to let the creatives have their freedom.
@@nictron99 I can safely assume Ubisoft spends more of their budget on marketing than actually developing the game. Same shit happened with Cyberbug.
And it's only 1GB install... Where did all the "AAA" developers go wrong?
To be fair, alot the textures are basically 8 bit levels of detail. Look at any rock, especially the copper and tin deposits. Not saying its a bad thing, its a style choice and it looks good, but that's why it's so small
@@chaoswraith Exactly. High res textures take away insanely much memory, this would have at least 5GB with some proper texturing, though this would also shit on the performance.
They went wrong when they started trying to please everyone all the time. Oh and loot boxes...
Textures and uncompressed sound.
Even in stuff where dialogue isn't a big thing, they still use ludicrous sound file sizes, probably for surround systems or similar.
it's our fault because as gamers everyone always complains about graphics. Nobody cares abotu core gameplay anymore..it's all about flash.
Mack, I don't know how old you are but I'm 53, started proper gaming (after Pong and the Atari) on a BBC Micro that my old man (who was a copper and had "connections") bought home from work one day. You know the drill; Donkey Kong, Elite, Chuckie Egg, Citadel etc. Then on through a few early consoles (getting ripped to the tits with my mates in the 90s and playing PGA Golf on the Megadrive for days on end) and only occasionally dipping my toe into PCs back in the Doom days. Then I went and got married, had a family and the years went by. When my son got a bit older he got a PS3 for his birthday and I bought myself an XBox cos consoles seemed like an easy fix for a married, busy man like me. I drifted away from PC gaming about the time I finished Deus Ex I think. But then a few months ago I was a little bit flush thanks to some voiceover work and thought I'd dip my toe back in. That was only a few weeks ago and now I'm hooked and in love all over again. Been hammering survival games (Scum, 7 Days to Die which was woeful on console and The Infected) and a few other beauties like Medieval Dynasty, Raft and Green Hell. And now I've discovered the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R games and the atmosphere of those things makes me remember why I played games in the first place. So, to hear that twinkle in your uh... voice, if that's even a thing, made me very happy. It's the sound of someone reverting back to childhood, in the best possible way, when you start out on some big, mysterious and beautiful new adventure and you have no clue what's around the corner and you still get that thrill of the chase (or of being chased) and quite frankly, you couldn't be happier. I'm glad to say, PCs still have that magic that for me, consoles never did. So I feel like I'm back home, after all these years. Picked up Valheim myself a few days ago and only started it up for a minute or so and thought to myself "that looks a bit special" and closed it again while I got some IRL writing done. Then this evening I was about to don my tabard thing and fire it up again when I saw the notification for your review. Perfect timing. And now I'm going in. Cheers for all the great work old chap. You're one of the good guys - and it's good to know I'm not the only old bastard still "kicking it wiv da kids"... as the kids definitely don't say. Be lucky. Matt
oh a good old BBC, I'm currently trying to buy one but crikey the ebay prices are shocking.
Damn! I feel lucky for you. May the magic you experience now never fade away again.
I think if you were born into videogames, nobody could accuse you of 'kicking it with the kids'! Videogames are like, a decade away from being an entirely intergenerational thing like films and music. I can't wait till we have gamers in their 60s and 70s and the kids are pushed to the bottom of ranked because the servers are full of 360 noscoping grandads.
Paragraphs!
I'm two years younger than you and started with the Commodore Vic 20, I drifted off to consoles for a while but came back to PC around 2000, consoles are fun but PC is where it's at and to be honest always has been. It's great being an older gamer, I can afford all the things that I couldn't when I was younger, it also gets me away from the wife.
We have a dedicated server running 24/7. Built my first raft today to go to another island, chopped a tree down to make my bed when I got their so I wouldn't have spawn on the other side of the world if I died, The tree killed me...
I love that this game is proving that triple a developers have become extremely lazy and depend on their budgets to provide entertainment more than actual passion driven gameplay.
Bro indie devs have been doing this for years.
many, many years
The directors and higher people are more responsible, the developers can't go outside their commands no matter how much they want
Why are you blaming devs for "laziness" in the final product? Triple A developers do not make those decisions. Blame the suits at the top and the gamers who keep spending millions on cookie cutter titles.
@@meidachnate8855 This was in no way an insult to the developers as individuals, and I'd say anyone with a half of a brain would assume that.
When referring to triple A developers this typically means the high end development machine that churns out continual garbage and still expects you to pay year in and out.
It means the lead designers, presidents, and CEO's of these companies who would rather watch you burn your money than actually have a good user experience.
Use your brain just about 5% and you could have probably figured that one out yourself.
Hard disagree on the portals. They're a necessary evil to keep the experience from becoming tedious after your umpteenth expedition to a far flung location.
Yeah he's early into the game but some parts are too far and you need them
Agreed. It's a personal preference but for me personally, it's absolutely necessary for my own enjoyment of the game.
@@ferociouzmonk Ofcourse you don't need them. Literally nobody is saying that
@@ferociouzmonk Good for you. I have other shit to do. Tedium kills games like this. There's a reason 3/4s of the mods for other survival games include things that cut back the tedium. Auto harvesters, faster transportation etc. Portals are fine, and should stay in the game. You guys are trying to tell others how they should play. Fuck off with that.
@@ferociouzmonk nice you have time to spend time walking in a game.....
"It was hilarious! Lots of people died!"
Yep, sure sounds like a Viking Survival game to me!
Here's a great point somebody made which shows why this game is incredible. My map is only about 5-10% revealed, and in every -- single -- revealed -- area (not counting the ocean of course), I have very VERY vivid memories of what happened there, flashbacks of the scenery, the sunsets. This shouldn't happen in a procedurally generated world, but it does here.
Agreed. So attached to my first map due to all the adventures I'm not sure I could play another seed, even if the bosses and resources were better located.
I spent 3 hours last night exploring the ocean shores, making landfall in a few places, nearly dying 4-5 times, It was the most tense and fun time i've had in a game in a long time. Sense of exploration is amazing.
Sounds like He`s genuinely having fun...
I will say, after day 150 in-game the "unscripted adventure" he's talking about gets pretty boring. Another this and another that. The portals help with this. You can skip the long trek... I mean.. you still have to make that LONG trek on foot/boat but when you arrive you drop a portal and you don't have to do it again, assuming something doesn't destroy the portal. What's more, I don't think Worth A Buy realizes yet in this video just how HUGE HUGE HUGE the world is. Now, I will say, if you aren't bored yet, don't make the portals. When you've had enough of traveling for 2-3 in-game days to get to a place you've already been to... drop a portal.
Eh, the trips themselves can bring more spoils. Such as serpent meat or going by continents you havent explored yet. I think the whole "no portals" thing is a cool concept, but in practice you're right, it does drag out the game by a lot. Especially if you have multiple bases and just want to go from one to the other. I couldnt imagine doing that with my four bases (i play solo), as they are far apart and have different purposes. Portals aren't a must, but they're super recommended unless you have the same mindset as Mack. I'm 230 hours in and I'm not bored yet. I have already started another character and seed, but this time it's on a dedicated server with friends :) I've got so many more hours of this game ahead of me
I can only really compare the portal thing to a game like Minecraft, which I have thousands of hours in. Compared to this which I have like 70 hours in.
In Minecraft, I still have playthroughs that I refuse to use conveniences like large-scale nether travel, or connecting farms up with chunk loading. I also in my current hardcore survival world in Minecraft, I did not even touch the nether till I had diamond gear, then I left once I had enough blaze rods. I didn't return till I had fully enchanted gear/elytra, and all I did was created direct travel portals from where I wanted to go. Even currently I only use the nether for mining resources, which I dont even mine technically; I have a machine clear lava, blowup resources, then clear lava once more.
So honestly I think the portal thing is a good idea, but personally I dont touch fast travel in games like Valheim because it stunts my growth as a player. Only at a certain point when I know for a fact that me using fast travel will not cause me to be ill-prepared, will I take the time to use these helpful things made by the developers.
i feel like the perfect fix for this, instead of removing portals completely is to just make them extremely expensive. i feel like they're very easy to make right now and you can get them at a very early stage
They are adding more feature btw you guys, they confirmed 3 new biomes and 3 or 4 new bosses, and 2 new types of enemies. And I would imagine there's more items/map features/etc. On the horizon.
@@ErinHoneyBunny yes. True. But all of those features sometime in the next 9 1/2 months. Which to me is strange. Over 5,000,000 copies sold. Untold wealth and nothing communicated about expediting the schedule. They could easily triple the development team with that kind of cash and roll all those updates out in 5 months instead of 9-10 months.
I'm about 30 hours in and I am addicted to this game. Absolutely love it and glad you do as well
almost at 70, and we are still at Iron xD
is there PVP in this game?
@@francissantos1815 you can turn on PvP dmg, but as the server is only 10 players, its more of a coop
@@ThePuma1707 gotcha. Thank you!
@@ThePuma1707 and you're not even bored yet I'm sure
This game is a masterpiece. I was actually starting to feel like I would never get sucked into a game again. This one has grabbed me and I’m so glad I gave it a chance. Excited to see what the devs have planned
@Fionn MacCuill not yet but I’ll check it out thanks!
Dude ill buy the game again
@@MrCrazyhamster28 exactly! My brother and I were playing and finally built a ship. Got attacked in a storm by a sea serpent and ran. Found an island and when we got ashore grey dwarves and a troll swarmed out and attacked. It was dark and we were using fire arrows so it looked epic. We built a small base to make repairs on the ship and rest and stumbled on the merchant on that island so then we built a portal. I love the way adventures just seem to happen.
@@barrett5229 i dont even like survival games but this game blows my mind
@@awakeandwatching953 it’s fantastic! I’m still playing and loving it
I enjoy how the characters run like they are about to shit their pants.
Immersive or no, I can't decide
wait until you are going stealth mode its like ballerinas. but the game is nice and im playing solo, with people it must be a blast.
especially up a mountain or hill
Wait, this isn't normal for people to walk this way?
That's how we do it in Sweden
You can tell Mack *loves* the game when half of the review is just recounting the amazing adventures he's had! I'm absolutely buying this
Don’t forget: Deep Rock Galactic was in Early Access as well and is a phenomenal experience. ⛏⛏⛏
Rock and Stone brother!
@@strikemasterice2004 rock and stone!
Rock and Stone
Rock and Stone forever!
Rock and Stone, Brotha!
Yeah! Rock and Stooone!
@@ewjiml DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE!
ROCK AND STONE!
For carl
The excitement in your voice is palpable. This is very rare and this game looks exceptional
No BS reviews.
Love this content.
First time I died in this game, it was from smoke inhalation.
10/10 would asphyxiate again.
Lol. My first death was from chopping a tree down, which then toppled the 3 next to it crushing me to death.
Hi Mack,
I have been following your channel for quite a long time and I just wanted to thank you for your videos and all your hard work. I think that compliments and appreciation are given out far less than they should now a days and I think its important that we express it to each other when we can.
After starting a TH-cam channel on language learning and language learning with video games, it really has given me an even stronger appreciation for some of the TH-camrs like yourself out there. I am sure there are times where you are really just tired, progress is going slower than you would like, or some of the haters can really get to you but I along with many of your subscribers are incredibly appreciative of what you do. As someone that generally never comments, there are a number of people that never comment that feel this way and it’s important to remember that.
TH-cam and in particular the video game subgenre is filled with a lot of clickbait, fakeness, and encouragement of predatory video game practices. I, and I’m sure many of your subscribers are incredibly appreciate of your congruence, integrity, and honesty when it comes to the quality of video games. In many aspects, coming from the perspective of someone that has played video games for a long time, the quality of many games is going in the wrong direction. I think that this is discouraging for many people that consider this a hobby and an activity where they can unwind from life and relax. That said, you are a strong voice amongst it all and I think that should be encouraging despite much of the negativity out there.
So once again thank you for all that you do. In those times where things feel frustrating or de-motivating, I and your subscribers want you to know that we really appreciate your work and making us laugh (bell). I know that you have had some health issues in the past so please be sure to keep yourself healthy, happy, and balanced as much as possible. We really enjoy your content but you are a person just like the rest of us and it’s ok to rest when you need to. You might not have the largest following out there but you have a very loyal one and that is worth far more than the biggest audience.
We might not agree on everything (I personally like the Witcher 3 (bell), but your perspective is appreciated.
Keep up the excellent work
Just rewatched this review just to feel again the joy Mack shows when telling about it. :)
The physics engine in this game is amazing, I once cut down a tree next to a rock, and the Archimedes lever effect katapulted me into the air, I survived, and then I saw Odin.
Can you hurt a troll by making a tree fall on it?
@@anomalyunit4637 indeed, falling trees or chopped trees that might roll downhill both do big damage. enough to get yourself or a friend to a very swift death. they also float on the water.
@@TheBendixSA Epic
The fast travel is nice for solo adventures. With friends, you can chat and hang out on your voyages, but alone gets lonely right quick
I would say it should be some epic construct that takes loads of grinding to complete.
But then again I'm a perpetual solo player and would benefit immensely from it.
@@darken2417 fast travel exists in the form of craftable portals. Certaint things cant pass through, like ores and coal, but the items made from those can pass though
Valheim is proof that the chase for more realistic graphics is fool's gold. The characters all have low res textures and they look excellent.
Game is basically Minecraft mod lol.
What you wouldn't rather have a 200gb hyper realistic game where literally all you can do is run around and mindlessly PEW PEW at people!? PEWPEWPEWPEW!!!
the game is fun but also ugly as fuck lets be real here
@@HassanMohamoud-lg2xw It's like they say, Art is subjective.
True. This is the perfect example that lightning and post processing effects are more important than high res textures and lots of polygons. Sometimes under the right conditions it's just stunning.
The older I get the more I realise that we are all just our kid selves deep down.
thats why kids are awesome! theyre the core personality in all of us. no bullshit with kids
I'll never forget our first Valheim session.
We went on a journey to kill the 1st boss with the boat we just crafted. It was an exceptionally beautiful voyage. Along rivers that curled through dense forest with lage trees and oceans with waves as high as our ship itself.
Along the way we discovered a new biome as we were close to the boss location and decided to continue by land, for we did not know, the new biome called Plains.
We docked our ship and got off, amazed by the beauty of this biome. But the awe turned into alertness, witch quickly turned into a light panic as we heard a buzzing sound.
All of us start looking around as one of us spots an insect heading our way, not knowing its powers, arrows start flying. We get lucky and its killed before it gets to us.
A little further we can see something holding a torch, it looks like some sort of goblin. With high morale from just killing the deathsquito, we charge.
All five lost our lives that day.
I’m so happy you’ve enjoyed yourself with this game. The pure joy in your voice is infectious. 👍
Wowsers, in all the years I've been watching, I've never heard Mack so happy.
"the adventures we had"
That's what games are missing today. Total lack of adventure, exploration, and imagination.
Kenshi, Rimworld, Dwarf Fortress, Caves of Qud and Cataclysm does this masterfully imo.
Also loved old school WoW PVP servers, you walked around doing quests with your friends but there could suddenly be a story around every corner in PVP zones.
@@G0LD3NF1RE Im still waiting for the day i see a C.D.D.Ahead game in First person,. I agree with your list though, you just named 5 of my fave all time games
@@ScoopDogg First person Cata would seriously be a dream come true.
yeah thats the big difference between gta missions of the past and gta missions now... where you could just steal/destroy your targets get away vehicle before the mission starts because it was a true sandbox game, now they are rather linear where you fail a mission because you took your own shortcut.
Dam where in gta now is going a different route a mission failure lmao what are you talking about what game are you playing lol
Looking back, that Portal rant is even more hilarious. Mack describes the only two things you can encounter on the Ocean and that convinced him that there is so much excitement to be had hauling Mats back and forth, but try doing it 50 times and nothing ever changes because after some time you realize that the world is actually pretty repetetive.. at which point you use Portals for every. fucking. thing. Still having to do some Trips with the Metals however is a nice touch.
(I love this game btw. Insane Value for 20 bucks on the first run, 200 hours. But unlike most people we stopped playing when we finished and now wait for more Biomes to be added instead of burning our face off and bitching at the Devs)
I 100% Disagree with you on the Portals! They make getting to and from areas better! you don't have to use them, but I like them. I play solo I am a 44 year old woman who has no gaming friends anymore, so Yeah I will take an easy way to get the stuff I need sometimes.. So developers Please DO NOT remove the portals. other than that, great review :)
48 year old clocking in - - For a brief moment when he said it, I could understand where he was coming from in regards to (essentially) defending the game by dissuading the developers from allowing people to "skip through" such a large, beautiful world via portals; then I thought, "No one's forcing you to use them?"
I have been playing a lot of the game solo, with friends joining every couple of days, but I can relate to how much of a PITA it would be to sail my boat over to see the merchant (for instance, as he didn't spawn close to my starting island) to get bait, or to discover a swamp 5 islands over that finally had some crypts so that I could finally mine iron.
Like you said, getting rid of portals isn't the solution. At most, have the devs give an option to enable/disable them if people think they're an issue, but beyond that, I agree they shouldn't be removed.
I'm waiting for someone to start complaining that repairs to structures and gear doesn't cost materials, or that destroying structures or workstations should not give you the full materials back. 🙄
@@howardstark Yeah I hear you, I hope they don't change the free repair, or item return, lol If they took away getting your items back from misplaced items it would suck.
@@Mystical_Goddess Yep! 😂
I don't think they'd do that *knocks on wood* i think it's another thing separating them from other survival games that many of us see as a QoL "improvement."
Given the size of the map, I think portals are necessary. Unless they eventually add land or air mounts to get around faster. Once you leave the spawn island, it's a pain to run and sail everywhere
I'm with you. I haven't even created a portal yet myself but with how big the map is and with no mounts of any kind I think it's good they have them. They require valuable resources to create and they don't replace other forms of travel or trivialize exploration. I think if you plan to play in a nomadic style I could see not using them at all. However, if you want to invest in base building I like the option of linking far flung bases together with portals.
Listening to those stories really make me miss Mack’s corner :(
Why did he stop that second channel?
@@DelicateCheese Gonna go ahead and guess it's the most obvious reason, it wasn't worth his time considering the views he got.
@@DelicateCheese i heard on his stream. it's a financial threat to his business. he said he might bring it back anyways though (eventually).
Everyone hating on Unity, meanwhile there are people doing this.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps was made with unity and runs on the switch with no graphical deductions a part from modified motion blur at 60fps. No one can complain about unity. bad games are just the developers fault.
@@Wylie288 Nah, you gotta be really smart and really know how to use Unity to make Unity not be a piece of shit. Unity just isn't that great of an engine. Its easy, and accessible to a lot of people. But of course, something like that comes with drawbacks.
Eft is being made in unity
Unity is great but it's not what makes this game great!
@@bullshitdepartment which is why it runs like shit
This game is absolutely incredible. The devs are allowing you to rob them by being able to buy this game for only $20. There is an absurd amount of content in this game for only being an early access.
The game has well over 100k concurrent players on Steam. Don’t think the devs expected it to do that well. Could’ve easily bumped the price up to at least 30 bucks and I think it still would’ve done really well.
Yup be thankful
Wow. Not only is it not shite, he likes - dare i say loves - this game.
I still love this game. Hunting, farming, fishing, fighting, cooking, sailing, foraging, crafting, and building.
They way they break up the grind into different activities always leaves something to do breaking up the monotony of other survival games.
I like the portals. D: The exploration is fun, but I really don't want to have to sail back and forth for half the time I play, especially as a solo player.
complaining about portals is dumb if someone does not like it, just dont use it, they are there to help solo players
Also you still have to sail back and forth at occasions if youre not building a forge or smelter in every base cause you cant take minerals through the portal anyway.
@@arnaldocosta1298 if you dont like cars just dont drive them to and from work lul
do you see how flawed that is? Hes saying the portals ruin the game because everyone else is probably going to use them making those who dont feel left out, and you will probably use them because of that, and how tempting they are. Just like Skyrim with stealth archer, everyone says they wont do it, but they end up doing it anyways.
@@monke5403 me using the portals, will not decrease his enjoyment of the game, people are free to play as they see fit with the tools they have
he says portals should not exist but he is also playing with 5 other friends, i would like to him play for 50+ h solo and say the same
@@monke5403 First of all that was a shit analogy. People don't like to drive and take the bus to work or another means of transportation. He's right though; don't like it, don't use it. Don't like guns? Don't own one.
I wish my mates were into games like this, looks like a great experience to play with a group
Well the title is all I needed to know. Mack and I have very, very similar tastes. I think it was Mack who went against the grain when it came to Kingdom Come Deliverance, everyone said it was boring, Mack said he was living his best life as a medieval knight and that's exactly how I felt 🤣
I freaking LOVE KCD. Still play it.
Saaame, gotta check this game out
@@ShadowsofRlyeh very cool story, thank you for sharing! Danke! :P It was WaB who said that that game was groundbreaking, and I felt the same. It felt more like a historical simulation experience than a video game at times. It reminded me of going to heritage locations here in the US where history majors dress up in time appropriate clothes and do educational reenacting.
The KCD review earned my sub. Listening to people trash what is a great game just because the beginning can be frustrating sucked. Then I watched his review and rant on the subject. Summed up how I felt lol.
@@ShadowsofRlyeh the game is a godsend I beat it twice on PS4z I just got a PC and it was the first one a bought. Love history and can’t wait for whats next with KCD. Also as someone who loves history I appreciate the work.
I guess I'm the only one that doesn't get how this game is so good. I've tried to get into it 3 times, can't do it.
I love this game, nearly 2000 hours in. Gorgeous worlds, wonderful build system, so immersive, the choice is yours to do whatever you want.
Your timing is spot on. An hour ago I was like "hm, cool game, when does Mack cover this early access gem?". Then I took a stroll thinking really deeply, I came back, opened TH-cam and voila, your video just arrived, like a perfectly craf.. eh cooked carrot soup :)
That was scripted
me to
My bf sent me the steam page and was like "wdyt?" and I said "Just because he did a video on it like 12 minutes ago" and he didn't even know
@@MeLikeARockstar Yeah it's on top selling atm
Exactly what I was thinking! I believed it was too good to be true, so I waited for the review. Probably gonna buy it. Thanks Mack!
You know what I love most about Macs integrity is he even tells you to piss off from his content if you're not interested, lol.
This seems like a game that would be fun with friends who are also interested in playing a survival game. So not for me if I could only play alone or with randoms.
U can play alone 😂
Having a blast solo! 43 hours in. You dont even have to make a new character if you wanna join somone else or something. You basically keep everything you learn and have on you when u join others. I just joined a friends server to have a look. Fun solo, fun with others. 10/10 no doubt.
@@alexanderinsty428 I just bought it look forward to trying it out
I had a friend who i was pretty sure not interested in survival game at all, only after we played for like 4 hours and we stopped cuz its like 3 am alr, the next day hes the one who keep asking to ppay valheim now lmao
50 hours in. All solo. Don't let other people discourage you. Solo is a lot of fun.
This may sound "odd" but I think what makes this game a lot more fun than the other open world games is NOT having levels and even a skill tree to your character. Ever notice how we innately have this "urgency" to get to the next level to increase your STR, WIS, INT, HP, etc.? There's none of that here. So it puts most of your focus on the "adventure" and the journey you experience, rather than "using" these adventures to reach your personal drive to increase your character's abilities. Not having levels also forces the player to prepare appropriately and not rely on the fact that they may now have 100 STR and can defeat a boss wearing only cloth around the loins and their bare fists.
Now I just need to find a crew to play with!
Same! Let me know if you guys need a stupid lackey. That’s me.
My standard flex with every single game I buy..
"Be great if I had someone to play with!"
Same ! Looking for a group on PST preferable
The random online lobbies aren't as toxic as you might expect. You have to choose to take pvp damage by way of toggle, and you can restrict/allow people from interacting with all your buildings
Hey im looking for mates too ! add me up send me message
My friend and I got this two days ago and we are looking forward to having some time to try the multi today. Great review video.
Edit: we got the chance to play last night, 2 hours flew by. Lots of fun.
I do not regret buying Valheim on my newly bought PC. I am loving the game. One of the better games i have played in years. I am new to the PC master race.
Great thing about the portals, is to don’t have to use em. Two playthroughs I got with different friends, one uses portals and one doesn’t. Both are a blast, it’s all down to what you enjoy
just FYI.... it's now at 3 million sold copies and more than 60.000 reviews and still at 96% overwhelming positive :D no one ever imagined this will happen during the betaphase i was part of.... but we allways hope for it since this game is just so good. Made by only 3 devs (now 4).
Mack: the escape raft is ready!
Partner: makes a slowmo jump...
Mack: oops i rowed a bit early.
Partner: drowns in shallow water after losing stamina..
Mack: feels bad.. . ow well at lest i made it~!
The fast travel (portals) is amazing, I love the addition. It starts to feel like a walking simulator when most of the enemies aren't a challenge. They shouldn't take out a feature that doesn't affect you if you don't build it.
Was thinking the same thing, the portal is mostly for farming purposes or transferring things from one friends base to another who is across map. Just a QOL immersive, lore friendly and canon optional thing. Don't want/need it don't use it.
Mack, i once bought 7 days to die, thanks to you. No regrets. Been playing since. Guess ill buy Valheim too.
7 days is the only game i still routinely come back to. Not even minecraft grabs my attention like 7 days and the new updates are always a treat
so... how many people for the longest time thought he was saying "longboard" and was waiting to see him skate down some mad hills LOL
Been following you for a while, and got kind of surprised of your review, bought the game beginning of March and honestly can't stop playing it, it's exactly how games used to be in the late 80's and 90's, loving it, by now I have 240+ hours, and some of my friends 500+ hours(no small kids at home). Just an amazing game, done by 5 developers still studying?! in Skövde Sweden(from what I've read). Amazing.
When Mack loves a game straight off the bat I open my wallet.
Eh, I still read into it a bit. Mack hasn't steered me wrong as to whether or not a game is dogshit but sometimes he likes stuff a lot more than I wind up liking it.
To be honest I watch everyone of your video even it I do not have any interest in the game because I love your critical eye.
The sheer enjoyment in your voice convinced me to buy it. Thanks for the recommendation!
Been having a blast with it this week, cannot remember a time exploration was such a diving force for me in a game. I go out explore and run into new things constantly that devotes a day or two of proper exploration.
Update
We are up to the final boss now and have forward bases next to all the biomes, we have not used a single portal in all our play time, we have a small fleet of longships that we use to ship all the people and loot back and forth from the biomes. As we are over day 200 we are getting some nasty attacks on our journeys and it's an amazing adventure, portals would have pretty much ruined our experience as all the fun stuff happened when travelling. People who say portals are necessary are telling lies, we are proof you don't need them.
Starsector, Mack. You’ve got to check it out if you haven’t yet. Not even for review, just for yourself. It’s amazing.
I've been watching Mack's videos for over 40 years, and I've never heard him heap such high praise on a game. Even when we were kids he never got this excited. Well, I remember one time he did, but that was just to show me the benefits of bum sex, and he was right about that too! This game must be amazing.
Are you from the future?
How old is Mack?
40 years??
streamed it on your commodore 16 through 300 baud modem in 2x2 monochome CRT pixels, nice
I remember Mack used to always piss against a neighbors fence just to piss them off
Just be warned there are major issues with the dedicated server and the server browser atm. It's an amazing game but the dedicated server needs a lot of work.
Mack your reviews are the best. This is the only channel i come to when I want to find out about new games that I think would be up my alley. Keep up the good work.
I didn't play it yet but i already love the look of this game. It looks and feels like one of those good ol' dark Fantasy 2000's game graphics but in a more modern way you know ?
I really cant see why people love this so much. It feels very much like your typical survival game. Sure the setting is neat but overall it looks extremely unpolished with just a lot of content.
Also the game pushes my GPU to 58c which is the highest i've ever seen while playing games like red dead redemption 2 and horizon zero dawn lol.
Yeah it's a typical survival game but made good
Sometimes simple made good = great
Unpolished - early access?
I think the biggest draw of the game is the fun and adventures you make with friends, like the situations that occur like he talked about, making your way to the boat and a huge giant is there wreaking havoc or having a casual boat ride turn into sailing for your life when you notice something huge coming at ya from under the sea.
@@Thomas-ti9gw Yeah thats a given, but the fact that it has overwhelming positive revies is why I wonder. That's something a lot of fantastic games dont get. I'm talking top tier games in their genres dont even have that. And I doubt this game is some master piece atm.
@@G0LD3NF1RE Sure i get that completly. But you can have that in nearly all surivval games. Thats why I dont get the massive love it gets.
Just jumped into the game.. I built an axe, and the first tree I chopped down fell and crushed me. 10/10.
Is that a new bow? How you liking it?
Oh it’s just fine.
I bought the game today, downloaded and installed.... brings me back to the spring of many years ago, when i started playing Morrowind...
My boy shamelessly flexing his calculus skills at 3:11
Leave no man behind, unless your Mack and you just sod off.
That story would be great by a campfire 🔥 gameplay looks brilliant, epic journeys to come 👍🏻
Aye, old warriors having a few and talking to their chitlins around the hearth.
Is it worth a buy if I'm just playing by myself?
Yes and no, there is a lot of grind so having even just 1 other with you helps a LOT, with combat aswell
I believe so. I’ve been solo for the majority of my playtime and have still had a blast. It’s certainly more fun with friends but holds up well as a solo player too.
Solo scaling is well balanced. Having another player can help with material/combat. Bigger groups have to deal with more frequent insane scaling enemies
Thanks for the replies. I'll start exploring by myself soon.
Portals dont actually take that much away. You obviously have to make the journey at least once everywhere and then at least 4-5 more times if you intend to get resources home. But if you have to run across the entire world 10+ times without any gear because you happen to die out there, it would definetly ruin the experience.
2024 and I'm addicted to this game. It is absolutely amazing.
Im playing my way through casually, taking my time building outposts in new areas and slowly advancing into new territory and im 650 in game days in, and half way theough clearing the mountains biome. Im really getting great playtime out of this one with my slow and steady progress building and farming while i progress.
This has to be in my top 10 ever played. It trumps minecraft for me.
Clicked on this so fast, thanks Mac for making my days. Im hoping to build my first pc this year, hopefully won't get delayed again. Love the videos
I have never played a game like i've played this one. So much fun
Is this one of those games where in order to really enjoy it you need a group of friends to play it with you? Or is it just as enjoyable as a solo experience?
I usually play with two others but it's a whole different experience by yourself, still fun on your own
never played in a group but it was one of the most boring survival games ive ever played when i played it. Normally i play survivals both solo and with friends and enjoy solo but this was such a waste of my time
1 or 2 other people make a world of difference
It’s perfectly fine solo
@@mikemead4606 well you are entitled to your opinion. thousands and thousands of other people say differently
This game is literally better than most freaking giant company games and its freaking 5 people in a basement
Mack, I also fell in love with this game. You mentioned you were scared at the end when you saw that figure, but fear not... that isn't the Grim Reaper. That is ODIN himself watching over you, a little bit of hidden game lore for you.
Mack. You've got a point there with the portals but my guess is that this is intended by the developers to hit the sweetspot in contrast to all the other survival games. And they do hit the sweetspot in so many ways in this game to flatten the "easy to learn hard to master"-curve here imoh. My bet (and suggestion to the devs) is that they'll balance the chance to build portals (i.e. lower the chance to find surtling cores or have a specifi level/boss that needs to be reached to make portals available in end-game). At the moment it only needs a dungeon or two to find them. And think about players that do not have the chance or will to play with so many buddies.It's way easier gathering stuff having 9 friends with you than with only 2 other players. Everybody's having less time to play (except for the kids out there) but can now enjoy the beauty of a (somewhat casual) GREAT survival game. But besides that, you sir... again..... hit the spot! Cheers
yeah i like the portals, the long ship rides with ore are enough for me
I haven't spent hours immersed in a game like this since I was a kid. Feels good
How is the single-player experience?
@@jackietwotwo6587
It's great. This is one of the few games I can say is just as enjoyable singleplayer as it is online. There's still plenty of stuff that can go wrong but for me it's a more laid-back, chill experience playing singleplayer. That's mostly because I like to take things slower than the other people I play with. I'd definitely recommend it even if you're planning on playing by yourself.
Is this the result of Skyrim and Rimworld having a late night out and then inviting eachother for a cup of tea?
Psychite tea...
Congrats on breaking the 500K barrier on views, Mack! Longtime fan and patreon supporter. You are my go-to reviewer and one of the very few I trust to be honest with the fans, and you're hilarious to boot! Keep up the good work, and congrats on the success.
Loved your stories! me and my 2 mates had the same "issue" with the sea serpent. Second day playing and we decided to explore the brave new world... when we landed one of us died by a 2 star skeleton, we grabbed his gear, ran to the boat and for a moment thought "oof, thank God we've made it". we were deep in the middle of the ocean when we saw the monster.
We died, lost all of our 2 days gameplay crap and laughed for hours.
Im loving every second of this game.
As much as I would love to give it a try, I'm honestly just gonna wait. Rather have everything finalized with even more content than burn myself out early and have no desire to keep playing after the game is finished.
for what it's worth, I've reached the end of the content in the early access and I'm really looking forward to playing the whole thing again from scratch once the full game is out which might be quite a while away.
By the gods this game is GORGEOUS!... The intro, the tiny bits of lore, THE ambience! Its just perfect. I am at awe every break of dawn watching the bloom and god ray effects touch the forest on different angles. The fact that its still is in early access and the file size is just 1 GIG blows my mind... This is like a slap in the face of devs who make games with 100gig+ file size all just to repeatedly shoot people.
Ok Warzone is the pinnacle of all gaming. Ever.
@Wayrock Way only people above 8yrs old would understand.
Thanks mate! Bought the game 2 minutes after finishing the vid. Mack, you are the most reliable source for game reviews out there in my eyes. Please dont ever stop doing it!
I got this game 2 weeks ago and have put 60 hours into it. It consumes my life
The only use for a portal I see is placement by the merchant to your main base. From what I've heard there is only one merchant in the entire map and they don't move around. The good thing is they always are found in a Black Forest biome. I hope the devs either A. Add more merchants, or B. Add travelling merchants.
Great review, thanks! Hope I can get my friends to buy it.