Valheim: new hit Steam survival game on PC explained, system requirements - and is it on Xbox or PS4?

A new game that debuted with little fanfare has become the latest gaming hit to take over Steam.

Valheim has scored concurrent player records, with over a quarter of a million players logged in to the game at any one time, making it one of the most popular titles to ever grace the distribution platform.

It's popular among streamers too, with Twitch and YouTube inundated with Let’s Play live streams of the game’s “brutal multiplayer exploration survival.”

Here is everything you need to know about it.

What is Valheim?

Valheim is a Viking-themed survival game, set in a vast open world of lush forests, snow-topped mountain ranges and mystical meadows, all inspired by Norse mythology and viking culture.

The game world is procedurally-generated, meaning each time you load it up, you’ll be dropped into a randomised play space ensuring no two play throughs are quite the same.

The premise sees you and a team of up to 10 other players working together (though the viking adventure can also be played solo) to craft tools, weapons and armour, build shelters and fight enemies to survive in the viking afterlife.

What is the gameplay like?

The game is presented in a stylised, lo-fi style, and played from a third person perspective with a dodge and block based combat system inspired by action games like Dark Souls.

Indeed, the difficulty also reflects that of the ‘Soulslike’ games, notoriously difficult games that reward pixel-perfect timing and mastery of their controls.

“Valheim is really tough," says Richard Svensson, CEO of Iron Gate Studio, the Swedish development studio behind the game. “You will die, a lot. Your friends will die, a lot. But we hope we’ve managed to strike that balance between being needlessly brutal, and offering a rewarding and challenging experience.

“The world we’ve created is huge and varied, and there’s room for so much more. We’re happy to welcome new players to our community and work together during Early Access.”

The game also allows players to host a dedicated server on their PC, for those who want to run a persistent server.

Why has the game become a hit?

The game has only been in Early Access – a period of time before a game’s ‘official' release where bugs and other glitches may still be being ironed out with the help of the community of players – for a couple of weeks, but already it's proven a surprise hit.

Just a few days after its 2 February release, Valheim had sold a million copies, topping the charts on Steam and becoming the distribution platform’s fourth most played game.

It has now sold over 2 million copies, which is not bad going for Iron Gate’s first game.

Albert Säfström, CEO of Coffee Stain Publishing, the game’s Swedish publishers, says exploring the world of Valheim “feels like being outside, rather than being in a virtual world.

"When many of us are stuck inside,” he says, “meeting people virtually is such a breath of fresh air, and exactly what we need right now.”

How can I play it?

Valheim is available in Early Access through Steam for players on PC.

You can find the game’s Steam page by clicking here.

At the time of writing, the developers have not announced any future plans to bring the game to consoles like Xbox or PlayStation 5.

What are the system requirements?

To run Valheim on your PC requires a 64-bit processor and operating system. The “recommended” system requirements are as follows: