Valheim
Give it 3 hours
What the data shows
- In the first 2 hours 1 in 3 reviews are negative (34%); after 20h it's 1 in 17 (6%).
- Most players drop off before “Eikthyr” (Defeat the Lightning Stag): only 59% of starters get there.
- Only 18% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 562,740 Steam reviews in every language. Median playtime in a sample of 296 reviews: 149.1h for positive, 158.6h for negative. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (18.4% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
- Started playing 100%
- Eikthyr Defeat the Lightning Stag. Most players quit here 59% −41
- The Elder Defeat the Living Forest. 40% −19
- Bonemass Defeat the Writhing Dead. 28% −13
- Moder Defeat the Dragon Mother. 22% −5
- Yagluth Defeat the Twisted Soul. 17% −5
- The Seeker Queen Defeat the Crawling Matriarch. 11% −5
- Fader Defeat the Emerald Flame. 8% −3
story milestone ending biggest drop-off
Story milestones were labeled by AI from achievement names and descriptions; mistakes are possible.
All achievements (53)
story milestone ending side
- I Have Arrived! Enter the tenth world. 100%
- The First of Many Meet your end, then prepare to do it all again... 79%
- The Homesteader Build a house. 65%
- Eikthyr Defeat the Lightning Stag. 59%
- Stronger Together Kill a boss together with a friend. 51%
- The Architect Build a village. 48%
- The Elder Defeat the Living Forest. 40%
- The Builder Build 500 pieces. 36%
- Lone Wolf Kill a boss all by yourself. 28%
- Bonemass Defeat the Writhing Dead. 28%
- Moder Defeat the Dragon Mother. 22%
- The Cook Cook 100 dishes. 21%
- Accidents Happen Get killed by a tree. 21%
- No Time For Snoozing Awaken a sea creature. 20%
- No Adventuring On an Empty Stomach Eat 500 items of food. 19%
- Yagluth Defeat the Twisted Soul. 17%
- The Farmer Harvest 500 crops. 16%
- Comfort is King Reach a comfort level of 20. 15%
- The Survivor Survive for 30 consecutive days. 13%
- The Forager Pick 250 berries and 250 mushrooms. 13%
- The Seeker Queen Defeat the Crawling Matriarch. 11%
- Fader Defeat the Emerald Flame. 8.2%
- The Captain Sail far enough to circle the world, while manning the helm. 7.6%
- The Beekeeper Harvest 500 honey. 7.1%
- Kall Fimbulbringer Defeat the Shackled One. 4.9%
- The Sailor Sail far enough to circle the world twice. 3.8%
- The Viking Defeat all bosses on any difficulty. 2.7%
- The Tough Viking Defeat all bosses on normal difficulty or higher. 2.7%
- The Chosen One Assemble Dyrnwyn. 2.7%
- Odin is Pleased Defeat all minibosses. 1.6%
- Obliterated You stood a bit too close. 1.6%
- Mighty Halls Raise a very tall structure. 1.1%
- The Lumberjack Cut down 500 trees. 1.1%
- The Legends Are True Sail over the edge of the world. 1.1%
- The Toughest Viking Defeat all bosses on hard difficulty. 0.5%
- The Carpenter Build everything. 0.5%
- The Master Chef Cook every kind of dish. 0.5%
- The Gourmet Eat every kind of edible item. 0.5%
- The Artisan Craft every kind of item. 0.5%
- The Blacksmith Craft every kind of weapon. 0.5%
- A Catch Worthy of Njord Catch a four star fish. 0.5%
- Top of the World Build something very high up. 0.5%
- Child of Odin Embody the spirits of the Toughest Viking, Master Hunter, Survivor and Pathfinder. 0.5%
- Are You Alright? Die in every way possible. 0.5%
- That Can't Be an Accident Get killed by every kind of tree. 0.5%
- The Explorer Travel far in all four directions. 0.5%
- The Pathfinder Travel far in all four directions, without using a map. 0.5%
- The Trophy Collector Collect all trophies. 0.5%
- The Fisherman Catch every kind of fish. 0.5%
- The Treasure Hunter Discover 10 buried treasure chests. 0.5%
- The Hunter Kill every kind of creature. 0.5%
- The Master Hunter Kill every kind of creature on hard difficulty. 0.5%
- Kings and Queens of Valheim Embody the spirits of the Viking, Hunter, Artisan, Master Chef, Carpenter and the Explorer. 0.5%