Valheim Makes Trolls More Terrifying Than Any Other Game

Valheim Makes Trolls More Terrifying Than Any Other Game

Contents

Trolls are perhaps the most underappreciated fantasy monsters out there, but they become truly terrifying in indie survival simulator Valheim.

You Are Reading :[thien_display_title]

Valheim Makes Trolls More Terrifying Than Any Other Game

Trolls are perhaps the most underappreciated fantasy monsters out there. Most games do them an injustice by not making these creatures of legend imposing enough. That is not the case with indie survival simulator Valheim. Part of the game’s success is due to its incredible atmosphere. Nothing adds to a tense, survivalist atmosphere than a huge troll that can, and will, destroy a player’s base. These creatures are sources of terror in early game exploration, and still pose a threat at higher levels of play. In the moments of surprise the trolls are formidable, even as players get access to incredibly powerful items and weapons.

Even though some creatures are more mechanically difficult, like the deadly Deathsquitos, no enemy in Valheim strikes the same imposing image as the iconic troll. These creatures stand several sizes larger than the player, second only to bosses and the occasional stone golem. At the start of the game, the creatures can easily wipe out a player (or their home) in one fell swoop. This is not, however, the sole reason trolls are scary in Iron Gate’s Norse classic. A huge number of really impressive systems are at play in the indie breakout hit, all of which contribute towards a very clear system of progression. The trolls, as with many enemies, become integral to that progression.

All of these many systems at play transform Valheim’s trolls into more than just big blue brutes. Trolls are a threat at all levels of play, thanks to very carefully designed mechanics. The fact that these creatures can just as easily lay waste to landscapes and buildings, as they can to early-game players, makes their threat not just to individual characters. Trolls represent the possibility of losing hundreds of hours of building work, the greatest fear a survival simulator player can face.

Not only that, but the fan community’s fascination with the trolls speaks to their potency as antagonists. Fans on the r/Valheim subreddit have made the big blue enemies somewhat of a meme, even setting trolls up for kaiju-style battles with sea serpents. Some popular Valheim mods let the troll’s size scale with difficulty rating, creating some truly monstrous enemies. Trolls have unequivocally dominated the world of Valheim and its fans, and that is due to some clever moves on the developer’s behalf.

See also  Genshin Impact Character Leaks When Shenli (Shenhe) May Be Playable

Trolls in Valheim Are Forces of Nature Due to Their Destructibility

Valheim Makes Trolls More Terrifying Than Any Other Game

Crash. A player in Valheim, happily trudging through the Black Forest biome, hears a noise. This loud noise precipitates echoing footsteps. As the giant blue form moves towards the player, it swings its club, shattering the forest around it. With the noise of rending wood, a huge oak topples. The player, too busy nocking an arrow and aiming at the troll, does not notice it fall on top of them. Environmental damage is a key component to the terror trolls impart in Valheim. Especially for new players, the prospect of an entire forest collapsing upon them is an almost insurmountable challenge. One troll might be scary, but a cluster of collapsing trees is even more terrifying.

Damage from trees is a very deadly possibility in the game. Valheim is not content with just having cold or flames in the environment be a risk to players. This sets it apart from other survival simulators like Minecraft, and makes the game world feel especially deadly. Allowing trolls to affect this world gives their interactions a domino effect with the dangerous world around them. It also means that fighting trolls is not just a case of shooting a large, slow target with arrows. Players have to be actively aware of exactly what the trolls they fight are destroying at all times, and making sure that any cover they take among trees is not used against them.

Content Ramping Turns Trolls Into Valheim’s Litmus Test

Valheim Makes Trolls More Terrifying Than Any Other Game

Trolls begin as an unbelievably scary threat in the early game of Valheim. When players first meet the beasts, no enemy is even vaguely comparable in terms of size or damage. When players figure out how to use bows, however, managing trolls becomes much easier. Moreover, most status effect ammunition like Valheim’s frost arrows make short work of the lumbering beasts. Trolls in the game stand as a massive progress blocker at the start of play, and by endgame tend to be more of a threat to player buildings than to actual players.

Prolific Valheim mod creator randyknapp describes this as “content ramping,” something which he thinks the game does excellently. The modder created the “Epic Loot” mod for Valheim, so they understand the progression system intimately. According to randyknapp, the key to the title’s incredible success is how it paces its content. Progression blockers like the trolls are placed throughout to give a very specific sense of scale to the gameplay. When players watch entire forests fall before troll strikes, they understand they are not meant to delve too deep into the Black Forest yet.

See also  The Death Of Superman Why Its A Classic Comic (& Why Its Controversial)

In the later game, frost trolls become incredible threats again when players attempt to explore the frozen wastes of Valheim’s Mountain biome. These trolls are higher level, and tend to spawn nearby hordes of wolves, drakes, and stone golems. Placing these early game threats into a new, more threatening context as the difficulty ramps up is a brilliant choice, as it makes them a truly persistent threat.

Construction and Enemy Interactions Make Trolls into Kaiju

Valheim Makes Trolls More Terrifying Than Any Other Game

Many Reddit users compare trolls to kaiju, and it’s quite easy to see why. When construction degradation is a core mechanic of the game, and building the best Valheim constructions is a huge part of the title’s community, creatures that can tear wood to pieces with a single swipe are a huge threat. In fact, memes about how trolls love to destroy player homes are very popular on the game’s subreddit.

Furthermore, the fact that trolls can (and will) attack other monsters make the creatures feel all the more realistic. These creatures are so aggressive that they are happy to do combat with whatever is around, not just players. Rather than feeling like players in a game world, this makes player characters feel even more like intruders into a dangerous realm. Trolls are especially deadly, apparently, to seaborne creatures like serpents (which are usually deadly to most ships). One talented Redditor mashed up a combat between the two titanic creatures with some clips from Godzilla Vs Kong, showing exactly how most players think of the monsters:

Mods Make Trolls Even More Terrifying

It would be remiss to write about trolls in Valheim without mentioning the giant troll Valheim mod. Like the above Reddit meme implies, a lot of Valheim’s playerbase think of trolls like the monsters from Attack on Titan. Well, there is now a mod that grows trolls to a hundred times their usual size. Mod creator Blaxxun made the “Creature Level and Loot Control” mod, which adds a whole set of new creature levels. These levels are tied to creature size in the mod. As a result, it is possible to be pursued by a 10-star Valheim troll, which, as streamer Gladd demonstrated, are pretty terrifying.

Gladd even went one step further, creating a 100-star troll that is truly humungous. Mods like this show Valheim’s success in rehabilitating the troll. Rather than just a blundering and stupid oaf of a creature, the game turns them into a force to be reckoned with. Not only does it make trolls truly terrifying, but also a fondly remembered and utterly iconic symbol of the game.

#valheim-troll-fantasy-creature-terrifying-mods-difficulty-destruction/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>#valheim-troll-fantasy-creature-terrifying-mods-difficulty-destruction/

Movies -