Valheim
Hacker ApprovedRanked 7 of 12 sandbox games by recommenders
People recommend Valheim for hours of addictive survival gameplay, and for being made largely by a very small team as a labour of love.
People recommend Valheim for hours of addictive survival gameplay, and for being made largely by a very small team as a labour of love.
12 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 92%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 11 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Hours of addictive, deep gameplay
“Games like Stardew Valley or Valheim or Factorio had very small teams, and rudimentary graphics, and yet offered up countless hours of addictive gameplay”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Game design is simple” “I've been playing Valheim for 2 years and I'm still finding things you can do that i didn't know about.”
Comment from 10 Oct 2026 in “Triple-A Minesweeper” Largely made by a small team
“Games like Stardew Valley or Valheim or Factorio had very small teams, and rudimentary graphics, and yet offered up countless hours of addictive gameplay”
Comment from 7 Nov 2025 in “Game design is simple” “Not only is Valheim remarkable for the fact that’s it’s largely a one man show, it’s also a labour of love”
Comment from 25 Oct 2026 in “America has lost 200k of jobs in media, film and the arts. How much is AI?” Peak of its genre
“Each sit at the peak of the genre, IMO.”
Comment from 21 Oct 2026 in “EA is shutting down BioWare” “Valheim does that so well.”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Maybe the Default Settings Are Too High”
Other sandbox games people recommend
The four most recommended other sandbox games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Minecraft | 222 | 149 | 60% | 13 | 10 yrs11 owners | — |
| Luanti | 23 | 4 | 85% | 7 | — | Approved |
| No Man's Sky Cosmos | 22 | 31 | 42% | 1 | — | — |
| Voxile | 16 | 1 | 94% | 3 | — | — |
| ValheimThis page | 11 | 1 | 92% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
8 of the 12 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Not only is Valheim remarkable for the fact that’s it’s largely a one man show, it’s also a labour of love”
“Each sit at the peak of the genre, IMO.”
“I've been playing Valheim for 2 years and I'm still finding things you can do that i didn't know about.”
“both of which have been reasonably successful and long running games”
“the games I tried such as Transport Fever 2 and Valheim are streamed and visible but still noticeably laggy”
“We need a Valheim-like where there are other factions of creatures that play the game similarly to you”
“Valheim does that so well.”
“Games like Stardew Valley or Valheim or Factorio had very small teams, and rudimentary graphics, and yet offered up countless hours of addictive gameplay”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.