Valheim's gorgeous Deep North brings it to 1.0, but it's still a "canvas to continue painting on"

Valheim 1.0 is coming, and with it we’ll be travelling to the Deep North. It’s the last area of the map to be fleshed out, and developer Iron Gate is finally almost ready to unleash it upon the world. To discover what it has to offer, I joined Producer Sara Uvalic and Creative Director Robin Eyre for a trek into the new region. Along the way, we tackled gargantuan trolls, got lost deep underground in a network of winding tunnels, and got to grips with the survival game’s new grappling hook.

The Deep North itself is absolutely beautiful, a picturesque blend of snow, ice, and forests after the grim wasteland of the Ashlands. You’ll need to be kitted up (and ideally well-fed) to head there and survive its frosty temperatures; this is the final region, after all. For our preview build, we’re given access to some of the best new endgame gear in Valheim, putting us at a bit of an advantage out the gate. These include Nord axes, greatswords, bows, and a giant circular greatshield. I’m particularly taken by the huge Frostfire crossbow.

After two pretty intense biomes in the Mistlands and Ashlands, Eyre says Iron Gate wants the Deep North to bring Valheim back to the vibe of earlier biomes like the Meadows and the Black Forest. “I want people to feel a little bit of PTSD coming here,” he laughs, “Like, ‘Where are all the creatures, where is everyone?'” It’s clear you aren’t the first to settle here, and the remnants of past civilizations are strewn across the landscape – but they’re strikingly empty, at least during our initial foray.

He describes the region as a “winter wonderland,” which feels apt, but promises that things will get “much more difficult” as you progress. The illusion starts to crack when we encounter ghosts of the old viking inhabitants. Eyre teases that these are the “jailers of the last boss,” and while we can’t do anything with them right now, he says there will be ways to interact with them later on.

As we poke around the abandoned housing, we stumble across a large hole in the floor of a back room. This is actually the first of two dungeon types you can encounter in the Deep North, and it’s called the Winding Tunnels. “I really wanted it to be called ‘The Hole,’ Eyre recalls, but I was downvoted so hard.” While I do love that name, its new moniker is very apt, because this interweaving network of narrow corridors is immediately confusing; I feel like I’m lost just ten steps in.

Rather than condemning our expedition to become prey to the Elakingar underground, we resurface to the sight of the Deep North’s most striking foe – a Gammeltroll. These are the oldest trolls in Valheim, having migrated there “to become one with the land.” They’re absolutely massive, despite not being considered boss creatures, and will hurl entire forests’ worth of tree trunks at you like nature’s biggest shotgun.

“We want to take him down, because he’s destroying half the village,” Eyre notes. Fortunately, with the help of our slightly overpowered gear and the assistance of well-practiced devs, we’re eventually able to overpower the gargantuan beast. When a Gammeltroll dies, it turns into rock and stone. Forget about trying to mine these the old-fashioned way; we grab a stack of Ember Charges, which are essentially throwable explosives capable of blasting the creature apart limb by limb.

Next on our tour is a tall tower, and while I’m sure ingenious Valheim players will come up with all manner of ways to get inside, we test out a new one I’m particularly delighted by: the grappling hook. This is unlimited use, and once you fire it into the environment you can reel yourself in or swing about as much as you wish until you detach from it. I take a few attempts to get to grips with it, but am quickly able to scale walls with ease. Just make sure you’re ready to take any potential fall damage into account.

Now inside the tower, our last stopping point is down in the basement, where we find an impressive doorway claiming to lead to the ‘Gates of Mökhalla.’ I’d really love to tell you what’s inside, but unfortunately we’re denied the chance to find out. According to the team, everything we explored totalled “about 30% of the entirety of the progress,” and the fast-track nature of it obviously isn’t representative of how it’ll actually feel in the real game. Still, it’s very much whet my appetite for 1.0. As for the final boss? “I think people are expecting Loki,” Eyre remarks, “but that’s not true – and I’m not saying that to trick people.”

The Deep North might be the last area, but Iron Gate considers 1.0 to be “a good base canvas to continue painting on.” There’s also plenty more polish, including cinematics ranging from the start through all of the bosses and up to the grand finale. Eyre says he recommends players start fresh: “There are changes to the entire world, so we can’t 100% guarantee that you’ll get all the changes with your current world. But if you’ve completed Ashlands and you just want to do the Deep North, absolutely just go for it.”

Valheim 1.0 launches on Wednesday September 9, bringing an end to early access with the arrival of the Deep North region. Expect a price increase, given that Valheim is finally stepping into full release – “We have a price point in mind,” Eyre says, “I don’t think it’s going to upset anyone too much.” Free updates will follow, but as to the exact nature of Valheim’s future, Uvalic says the team “hasn’t decided what we’ll do, or if we will do an expansion or DLC.”

The landscape of survival games has changed a lot since Valheim first arrived – at launch, the team considered it more about adventure than survival. Eyre and Uvalic sound more excited about the likes of Palworld and Enshrouded than worried, however. “We’ve seen so many games take what we’ve done and push even further, which is super nice,” Eyre says, “especially when you get to meet them, and just knowing that a lot of people have taken Valheim as inspiration to continue evolving the genre. I think that’s really, really inspiring.”