Valheim 1.0 finally launches after five years in early access

Five years is a long time to spend building a longhouse. Valheim finally exits Early Access today, September 9, and it’s bringing the Deep North with it.

For those who missed the last half-decade, Valheim launched into Early Access back in February 2021 and immediately blew up, pulling over 500,000 peak concurrent players on Steam. It’s still holding over 20,000 daily players now, which is a genuinely mad number for a game that’s technically never been “finished” until today.

Valheim: 1.0 & Deep North – Release Date Reveal Trailer

The headline addition is the Deep North biome, a frozen expanse with rideable moose (yes, really), new enemies, abandoned villages, and underground Winding Tunnels to dig through. There’s also a new Frost Foundry crafting table for turning the region’s icy resources into gear, plus a fresh weapon lineup including Nord axes, greatswords, bows, and a shield. The standout is the Frostfire crossbow, which doubles as a grappling hook for hauling yourself across the Deep North’s terrain.

A proper send-off, not just a new zone

Beyond the new biome, 1.0 adds boss fight cinematics, new lore, over 50 achievements, and an actual finale to the character’s story. There’s also technical polish under the hood, with optimisations aimed at cutting micro stutters between areas and speeding up saves.

The version number bump comes with platform news too: Valheim is now officially on Nintendo Switch 2 and PlayStation 5, with cross-play switched on across every platform.

As for what’s next, developers Coffee Stain and Iron Gate say there’s no more Ashlands-scale content planned for now, though they’re not ruling it out depending on how the game keeps performing. Bug fixes and quality-of-life updates will keep coming, but for how long is anyone’s guess at this point.

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