Valheim Previews New Difficulty Presets, Death Penalty Slider, And Manual Building Snapping

Valheim players are in for a treat as Iron Gate's Jonathan Smårs reveals ongoing work on a Hardcore mode and other custom settings that could potentially shake things up in the smash hit Viking-themed multiplayer survival game.

“Are your ready for hardcore mode in Valheim? …or do you prefer something more chill?” tweeted Smårs.

Smårs also shared a sneak peek at the new world modifiers and sliders that will be coming to the game in a future update, including "Easy," "Casual," and "Hardcore” presets. The sliders and presets can be used to adjust various gameplay settings and mechanics such as combat difficulty, resource spawn rates, and raid rates, among other things. For the ultimate challenge, players will apparently even be able to choose a no-map option.

Smårs also provided a preview of a death penalty slider that can be used to adjust the difficulty of the game even further. Setting the slider to Hardcore mode will result in the permanent loss of items and skills on death while setting it to casual will only result in a small skill penalty when you die. The team is also looking into adding a no death penalty slider and the ability to adjust death penalties for individual characters instead of the whole server.

Whether you're a hardcore player who's looking for a more extreme challenge of losing all progress or a more casual experience who’d rather not lose all their hard-earned items, the new custom settings in Valheim have got you covered.

In addition to the new difficulty modifiers, Smårs also previewed new manual controls for snapping building pieces into place. This new feature will give players more control over their builds and make it easier to place building supports and floor pieces.

Smårs didn’t reveal a launch date for either of the new features but we’ll be sure to let you in on the details once they’re announced.

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/9OtOxDpkAo

— Jonathan Smårs (@jsmars) April 17, 2023