Valheim shares new look at its upcoming Ashlands biome: "Can you feel yourself melting in the heat already?"

Developer Coffee Stain has released a new image of the upcoming Valheim Ashlands update a week after the game's Xbox launch.

In an admittedly sparse development update shared to Steam, Coffee Stain revealed a screenshot from the still-in-development biome, asking players if they can "feel yourself melting in the heat already?" Here's the screen that was shared, which you can expand into full screen if you want to pore over every detail.

The Valheim Ashlands update was confirmed to be in development back in January, but it's still a ways off. Considering the sizable Valheim Mistlands update took more than a year to complete, it's safe to expect Ashlands to arrive somewhere within the vicinity of late 2023 to early 2024. When it does launch, the update will bring the aforementioned smoldering biome, new enemies, weapons, and survival materials.

When it was announced, the Ashlands biome was described as being "quite different from what we're all used to, given that the Ashlands is a large chunk of land at the far south of the map, rather than small islands spread out over the world."

In today's update, the studio also touted Valheim's release on Xbox and Game Pass, which includes full crossplay with PC, and acknowledged the existence of some "bugs and issues." The developer didn't confirm a timeline for the next patch, but said it wants to have the issues sorted out "as soon as possible." Finally, for a limited time celebrating the Xbox launch, you can pick up Valheim for 20% off its usual price, bringing the total down to a very reasonable $13.99.

Looking for something to fill the time until Ashlands? Check out the best games on Game Pass for Xbox and PC.