Valheim is the newest boat to catch on the river of survival games rising in popularity. After the resurgence of Rust and the survival game genre, gamers are hungry for more in the same vein, and Valheim has come out at just the right time to satiate that hunger. It was released in early access on Steam, and in just a week it has already got over 100,000 players. A lot of these players have started seeing a mysterious cloaked figure appear in this Norse mythology-themed world, and a theory is quickly spreading that this could be the mighty Allfather himself, Odin.
Valheim is a co-op survival game with teams ranging from 1-10 players, and players must work together to gather and craft items to help them survive on one of the PvE servers. User reviews have been overwhelmingly positive due to the substantial amount of content and the huge world that players can explore even in early access. The narrative centers around Vikings and their mythology, with the game starting off by dropping players into purgatory as Viking souls, tasked with taking down the nine bosses that are powerful enemies of Odin, king of the nine realms. Although it seems that he might be popping in to check on the progress of his Viking hunters from time to time, despite the monsters that plague him.
According to PC Gamer, several players have seen a shadowy figure, cloaked and holding a staff or cane, watching them. They have been spotted in the swamps biome, and when approached or attacked, they quickly vanish. There is more than one theory floating around; some think the character might be the grim reaper, having seen glowing red eyes and guessing that what they carry is a scythe. Others think that it might be a wraith, the ghostly enemy also wearing a hood and spawning in the swamps. The most popular theory is still that this character is Odin, perhaps showing gratitude to the players after defeating one of his enemies, or perhaps merely taking a stroll through his procedurally-generated limbo.
In Norse mythology, Odin is known for disguising himself as a traveler, with a cloak or a hood and a staff or a spear, which does sound an awful lot like the strange character watching from the shadows of the game. Some players have also reported seeing one glowing eye on the figure, and thanks to the MCU it is widely known that Odin only has one eye, although in actual Norse mythology he didn’t lose it fighting the Frost Giants, but rather sacrificed his eye to gain true wisdom and the ability to see all.
Hopefully more sightings of the mysterious figure will grant players a bit more knowledge of who it is, but for now it is a fun easter egg for players to investigate and trade their stories and theories about the character. Valheim is already a game with plenty to keep players occupied and guessing, but it is expected that the full game will only be released in 2022. In the meantime, developer Iron Gate Studio has assured players that they will continue to add updates on a monthly basis, perhaps with even more mysteries to solve.
Valheim is available on PC.
Source: PC Gamer
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