Valheim developer Iron Gate Studio is teasing what to expect from the game's upcoming difficulty settings, and the most exciting part is that we're finally getting an option to disable raids.
Lead designer Jonathan Smårs shared a clip of the difficulty settings menu in action (thanks, PC Gamer), here labeled as world modifiers. It's worth noting that all the settings shown here are subject to change since they're still in development, but they do indicate what the developers are hoping to put in place.
There are sliders to adjust the things you'd expect, like combat difficulty and the amount of resources you get from the world and defeated enemies. There's also a death penalty slider that changes what you lose when you die, with options ranging from 'nothing' to a hardcore mode that destroys all your carried items and removes all your skills permanently.
Are your ready for hardcore mode in #Valheim? ☠️ ..or do you prefer something more chill? Note: Actual settings are not final! @valheimgame #gamedev #indiedev #gamedevelopment pic.twitter.com/9OtOxDpkAoApril 17, 2023
Most exciting, however, is the 'raid rate' slider. Just as it sounds, this slider lets you turn off monster raids completely - or if you're a masochist, you can make them happen more often. The threat of monsters randomly (but regularly) tearing down your carefully-constructed fortresses is probably the biggest obstacle to anybody attempting to enjoy Valheim as a chill building game, and players have been looking for a way to change the raid rate pretty much since launch.
Beyond the sliders, there are a number of straight-up toggles that can make things easier or more challenging. You can turn off the map or disable portals if you want things harder, or you can turn off build costs and make enemies passive to create your own Minecraft-style creative mode. There is also a 'portal items' toggle, and while we don't get to see what that does in the course of this clip, the name suggests that we're finally - finally - getting the option to carry ore through portals.
As Smårs explains in follow-up tweets, you'll be able to adjust these settings at any time, and they'll even be available on existing worlds created before the options were introduced. No word yet on when the difficulty settings will arrive, but the devs began teasing them alongside details of the Valheim Ashlands update, so here's hoping we'll get both sooner rather than later.
If you need help conquering the Valheim biomes, you know where to click.
