Ashlands, the newest biome in Iron Gate’s Valheim, is now available through the game’s public testing branch on PC.
A dark landscape filled with burnt trees and foliage, the Ashlands is the most challenging environment in the multiplayer survival game to date. Players will have to watch out for fire raining down from the red-tinged skies and fight against a new group of deadly creatures, including fallen valkyries and undead Charred warriors.
But the biome update also provides new resources that expands your arsenal with magic-imbued flametal weapons as well as the option to create new types of structures for your settlements. You can also take part in the new siege warfare gameplay, which has you using ballistic weapons like catapults and battering rams to breach the Charred’s imposing fortresses.
“The Ashlands mark a significant milestone as the last major update before our final batch of content when the game reaches 1.0,” said Valheim producer Andreas Tomasson in a statement. “We’re anticipating players will be surprised by how difficult it is at first, but that’s what Valheim is all about – challenging and often brutal exploration and survival. We will of course keep an eye out on how public testing goes, and make sure that it’s not unfair!”
Valheim came out on Steam early access in 2021 (and eventually to Xbox consoles) and has held on strong ever since. It was one of the most-played Steam games last year with over 80,000 peak concurrent players.