Valheim similar games & best alternatives

Valheim - Trailer
Valheim - valheim_1.avif
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Valheim

Xbox Series X|S, Linux, Nintendo Switch 2, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 5, Mac, Xbox One • 2021

Should you play it?

A brutal exploration and survival game for 1-10 players, set in a procedurally-generated purgatory inspired by viking culture. Battle, build, and conquer your way to a saga worthy of Odin’s patronage!

What works

  • Deep and rewarding survival and crafting mechanics
  • Extensive creative building system
  • Engaging cooperative multiplayer
  • Immersive norse-themed world and atmosphere
  • Frequent updates and mod support

Things to keep in mind

  • Performance issues and bugs especially in later biomes
  • Grindy progression and inventory limitations
  • Combat can feel repetitive and clunky
  • Some biomes (ashlands, mistlands) are overly difficult or unbalanced
  • Building physics and ui can be frustrating

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Windrose

  • Enshrouded

  • Smalland: Survive the Wilds

  • Grounded

  • Grounded 2

  • Craftopia

Less intimate

Games that feels like Valheim but with less focus on close relationships

  • RuneScape: Dragonwilds

  • Solace Crafting

  • DYSPLACED

  • Everwind

  • First Dwarf

  • Survival Nation

More intense

Games that feels like Valheim but with a more intense feel

  • The Forest

  • Knights End

  • Warhammer: Vermintide 2

  • Plains of Pain

  • ELEX

  • Remnant: From the Ashes

Choose your own criteria ->

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with Valheim. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Swipe to compare nearby games with Valheim. These titles are not in What to play next.

Valheim: A very typical example of its motivational profile. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Cooperation, Fellowship, Intimacy, Leadership. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Relaxation, Exploration. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Competition.

Last update: 21/08/2026