The Viking-themed survival game Valheim exploded and remains a bestseller on Steam. While most players are working on construction, battling bosses and learning to navigate their new boats, a new community-organized tournament is breaking the mold of PvE adventures and focuses entirely on a confrontation between Vikings.
The Vikings of Legend are almost like a sport, but in a game without esports leagues, sets of rules for the whole community or even a main focus of PvP. Here’s how the competition works: Two teams are loaded on a server, completely naked and devoid of any tools or weapons. One team heads west and the other east. This is the construction phase; players must cut down trees quickly, gather rocks, hunt, kill bosses and build defensive bases.
There is only one rule when it comes to building bases: players need to put their beds, which act as spawn points, together. Teams can explore their opponents’ base, making the action much like a game of StarCraft, where everyone is trying to maintain their economy without being seen by enemy factions on the map, while also trying to gather information about the enemy.
The construction phase lasts an hour, and then the real test begins. Each team will attack your opponent, in order to invade the base, find the bed cluster and destroy it. If the attacker fails to break the beds, the defender wins and the two teams return to their bases to prepare for the next encounter, in which the attacker and the defender are turned.
Pre-production meetings for the debut of Vikings of Legend are in progress!
Note: Both teams will start the competition with empty stocks and the construction phase has been extended to one hour.
The action starts Saturday at 4pm EST! [Twitch link in bio]#Valheim @Valheimgame pic.twitter.com/iBMagGONXM
– vikingsoflegend (@vikingsoflegend) March 2, 2021
These comings and goings go until a team wins three rounds, at which point Vikings of the Legend are declared. The first tournament is scheduled to air on Twitch on March 6 at 4 pm ET, with Dread Pirate Doug – the organizer behind Sea of thieves‘Race of Legends – providing comments. He will be accompanied by SayHeyRocco, a streamer that plays with a cat puppet.
Valheim it is not a particularly balanced game when it comes to PVP combat, and the Vikings of Legend tournament has created a structure that should avoid the worst problems that anyone can encounter when fighting other players. Some Vikings are very dizzy from using end-of-game equipment, but since they only have a certain amount of time to collect what they need and the goal of the game is a humble bed, we shouldn’t see many players complaining about each other as their opponents simply refuses to die.
Since the game is developing very early – in fact, it is still in early access – these types of home tournaments are crucial to help build a larger community and maintain interest, even after fans run out of available content. In addition, organizers will raise money for a worthy cause at AbleGamers.
This will be an experimental and savage approach to the usual Valheim Formula. It will likely be repeated in the future, and other organizers may be inspired to add their own approach to the idea of a Viking sports sports league. But for now, all players can do is stay behind and watch the carnage unfold, then collect the best pieces of rubble and prepare to try again.