Valheim's first big content update will expand your options when building the ultimate Viking purgatory residence, adding new features and objects for developing your bases in the open-world survival game. It's called Hearth and Home, and it's specifically aimed at base improvements, as well as adjustments to food that should make survival in the wilds of Valheim a little more practical.
Since Valheim has racked up some six million players, developer Iron Gate Studio has said it's mostly focused on bug fixes, and the massive influx of players has been more than the developer anticipated. But right now, there are four big updates planned for the game, with Hearth and Home being the first. Here's everything we know about it so far.
Valheim Hearth And Home Release Date
Back in February, Iron Gate released a roadmap of planned additions for Valheim that are coming to the game as it continues in Early Access. That roadmap includes several updates for 2021, the first being Hearth and Home. The roadmap doesn't include firm dates, but given that Hearth and Home was the first on the list, we can probably expect it sooner rather than later.
The question is how much bug-fixing work Iron Gate feels the need to do. Like the rest of the games industry, the team is also working from home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which might contribute to the time it takes for the new update to get out. That said, Iron Gate had ambitious plans for Valheim in early access, with multiple updates slated for this year, so it seems likely we won't have to wait long for Hearth and Home to come to the game.
What Hearth And Home Entails
Valheim's first update is focused on base-building. While players have already created some huge and impressive Viking strongholds, but Iron Gate is looking to expand on all those capabilities in a number of ways. We don't have exact details about what the update will entail, but the developer has said the major push is to add more crafting assets for houses. That means you can likely expect more building materials, more kinds of walls, doors, floors, roofs, and more decorations for inside your buildings. Iron Gate also told PC Gamer that the intention is to add "more stuff to do in and around your house," which will be a nice addition given that right now, you can really only sit, sleep, or craft in your base.
Iron Gate has also said that Hearth and Home will focus on food. Expect food to be rebalanced and more food to be added, which should give more solid combinations to keep you alive in the field and give you specific buffs, like stamina regeneration. There could also be new cooking stations to go with the new materials. Again, Iron Gate hasn't given us much in the way of details, but we know the update will give you more things for your home, so expecting to do more cooking for more specific buffs seems reasonable.
What's After Hearth And Home?
Valheim's roadmap is very thin on details, but we can get a sense of what else is slated for 2021 based on the names of each expansion. Here they are, in order:
- Update 1: Hearth and Home
- Update 2: Cult of the Wolf
- Update 3: Ships and the Sea
- Update 4: New Biome -- Mistlands
Updates 1, 3, and 4 are pretty clear, at least thematically, so we can expect more to do on the oceans (and probably more scary monsters to face) and a new biome to explore, with all the resources, crafting upgrades, and enemies that entails. Update 2 is the one that leaves the most to speculation--Cult of the Wolf could pertain to things like Wolf armor, or it could lean into the taming system that already lets you turn wolves into your pets and combat companions.
In addition to those four major updates, the roadmap includes some other improvements that could come to the game "if Odin wills it." These are:
- Multiplayer interactions
- Combat improvements
- Moon phases
- Tarpits
- Vendor inventory expansion
- Svartalfr brigands
- More unique locations
- Sandbox mode
- Munin (which is Odin's other raven)
With more than six million players having bought into Valheim, one assumes most of these upgrades are probably on the table.
We'll continue to update this article as more information about Hearth and Home becomes available. With so many Vikings flooding into Valheim, though, it seems likely there won't be long to wait for the first early access expansion.