# Valheim

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Valheim and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend Valheim for hours of addictive survival gameplay, and for being made largely by a very small team as a labour of love.

## Why people recommend it

- Hours of addictive, deep gameplay (2 comments): "Games like Stardew Valley or Valheim or Factorio had very small teams, and rudimentary graphics, and yet offered up countless hours of addictive gameplay" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45846740)) "I've been playing Valheim for 2 years and I'm still finding things you can do that i didn't know about." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50033381))
- Largely made by a small team (2 comments): "Games like Stardew Valley or Valheim or Factorio had very small teams, and rudimentary graphics, and yet offered up countless hours of addictive gameplay" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45846740)) "Not only is Valheim remarkable for the fact that’s it’s largely a one man show, it’s also a labour of love" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50229397))
- Peak of its genre (2 comments): "Each sit at the peak of the genre, IMO." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50186033)) "Valheim does that so well." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46390478))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Minecraft](https://hackerapproved.com/p/minecraft.md): 222 recommend
- [Luanti](https://hackerapproved.com/p/luanti.md): 23 recommend
- [No Man's Sky Cosmos](https://hackerapproved.com/p/no-man-s-sky-cosmos.md): 22 recommend
- [Voxile](https://hackerapproved.com/p/voxile.md): 16 recommend
- [Terraria](https://hackerapproved.com/p/terraria.md): 14 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://www.valheimgame.com/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Valheim", https://hackerapproved.com/p/valheim/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).