Valheim Ashlands Changes Frustrate Veterans, But It May Be A Good Reason To Return

Summary Valheim's new Ashlands biome adds extreme difficulty, including new enemies and harsh conditions for players.

The location of the Ashlands at the southernmost edge of the map makes it a challenging location to reach, requiring careful planning.

The Ashlands present a new challenge for veteran players, increasing the game's longevity and highlighting Valheim's unique difficulty among survival games.

If Valheim is known for anything, it's the game's grueling difficulty. The breakout survival title pulls no punches with its players, forcing them to undergo Corpse Run after Corpse Run to learn from their mistakes. Iron Gate Studio has yet to finish the game, despite the popularity it has received for the past few years. With a recent update, the long awaited Ashlands has just been released, the penultimate biome before the game's full release.

Entering new biomes usually presents players with some kind of difficulty spike, although this varies depending on the biome. This difficulty can be dampened by playing with friends, as solo players will feel the brunt of the brutality of Valheim's world. This has become even more evident with the addition of the Ashlands, with new enemies providing players an increase in difficulty that may be a little over-tuned. That being said, a new challenge to overcome can always be a great motivator for players to return to a title.

Related Valheim Ashland's New Creature Is Hard To Tame, But Well Worth The Effort Valheim’s new Ashlands update includes some of the strangest creatures the game has featured yet. They can be hard to tame, but it’s worth the effort.

The Hardships Of Valheim's New Ashlands Biome

Difficult Enemies & Inhospitable Environments

Close

Unlike every other biome in Valheim, the Ashlands will only spawn at the southernmost edge of the map. Most biomes tend to spawn at a range depending on their distance to the center of the world. For instance, the Plains will only spawn from 2,900 to 8,000 meters from the world's center. This means that journeying to find the Ashlands will be a hardship in and of itself, since players will have to cover so much ground just to reach its fiery shores. On the other hand, at least players know where it will be.

Crafting Valheim Portals is vital at this point, but it should be noted that progression in the game tends to be quite linear. Players usually attempt to complete a biome after defeating the boss from the last, and those that are embarking on a mission to conquer the Ashlands will typically have completed the Mistlands first. The Ashlands can't be as easily stumbled across thanks to its extreme location, so those traversing the Swamps or Plains will be safe from the flaming monsters of the latest biome.

That being said, those that are ready for the Ashlands will find it a harsh and unwelcoming place. The difficulty of the game spikes dramatically here, with new enemies, like Fallen Valkyries, being more deadly than any before them. With the burning air of the area, players need a Shield Generator just to begin building a base without it going up in flames. With fortresses, dense enemy spawning, and a general stat increase for foes, the Ashlands can crush players with its difficulty, especially frustrating solo players.

If players are struggling to make a base in the Ashlands, consider clearing out a fortress and using that instead. A battering ram can be used to break through and begin a take-over.

The Ashlands Presents Veterans With A New Challenge

Valheim's Ever-Increasing Difficulty

Veteran players of Valheim have gone through a decent number of difficulty spikes throughout their playthroughs, with the Swamp likely providing the greatest spike in most cases beforehand. Because of its nature, only those looking for a challenge play Valheim, unless they decide to tinker with the console commands to build exclusively. The Ashlands is just another biome to overcome, and with the Deep North next in the development pipeline, the game is likely going to get harder as time progresses.

The Deep North will be on the northernmost section of the map when it is released. It is the last planned biome of Valheim, and its release will likely mark the full release of the game.

This challenge is likely more enticing than off-putting to the Valheim player base, since the game has defined itself by both its mythic, Norse world and difficulty. The game hooks players by encouraging progression from biome to biome, creating new tools that they could have only dreamed of previously. Ashland's difficulty will likely give the game more longevity, since the longer it takes to conquer the biome, the longer a playthrough will be. Given that it is a survival game, players will likely be looking to spend hundreds of hours on Valheim.

It should also be noted that the game is not finished. The Ashlands have been planned for a long time, and for those that have played the title to death since the Mistlands update in late 2022, this has been a long time coming. Despite its difficulty, many veteran players will want to see what crafting items and mechanics the new update has added, and it provides the perfect excuse for many to return to the title just to see what Iron Gate has done.

Related The Deadliest Enemy In Valheim's Ashlands Update Shown Off In Hilarious Video An unlucky Valheim player highlights one of the most deadly enemies included in the Ashlands update and it's not a typical monster or beast.

Is Difficulty A Problem For Ashlands?

Endgame Content Needs The Challenge

Given that it is located in the southernmost section of the world, it is unlikely that non-veterans will be playing for the Ashlands. It can take dozens, if not hundreds of hours to get far enough to take on the Ashlands, and by then, most players would call themselves veterans of Valheim and are fully hooked on the title. The difficulty of the game is something to expect, rather than an unpleasant surprise, and is a reason for players to continue on their journey.

It isn't as though the new biome, despite its immense difficulty, will affect the approachability of the title, since everyone starts at the relatively serene Meadows. If the Ashlands were easy to beat, then the Valheim community would probably have been quite disappointed, and it may not have been enough to tide players over until the Deep North update. The survival genre is a saturated one in gaming, with titans like Minecraft ruling over it, and Valheim's difficulty is one of the main reasons it stands out from the pack.