Iron Gate AB's Valheim is the latest game to take over Steam following its Early Access release this month. Valheim sold over three million copies in 17 days and has consistently beat out popular games like Grand Theft Auto 5 and Apex Legends in terms of concurrent player numbers. Undoubtedly one reason for its success is the game's creative building mechanics, which one fan recently used to recreate Star Wars' Millennium Falcon as a Viking longship.
Similar to January's Steam best-seller and surprise hit Rust, which rose to prominence years after its release because of OfflineTV streamers flocking to the title, Valheim is a survival game at its core that encourages players to build structures so they can hide from the elements. As other creatively-driven experiences like Animal Crossing: New Horizons have shown, many will go all-out when presented with an open canvas for construction, and Reddit user Colonel-James-Parker is one such player.
The Redditor uploaded a video of their "test build" Millennium Falcon to the r/valheim subreddit on Saturday, which they say took about half a day using debug mode console commands to add in resources. While they said a Star Destroyer or Death Star would also be fun builds if not for their potential to tank Valheim's performance and FPS, the Millennium Falcon is detailed with items like green torches that make its back exhaust glow in the dead of night.
About halfway through the two-minute showcase video, Colonel-James-Parker offers viewers a tour inside the Millennium Falcon, which has also been modeled to look as accurate as possible. With Valheim utilizing a comfort system that encourages players to decorate their structures so they recover health and stamina faster, it makes sense to see as much effort put into depicting a bedroom and outside-viewing cockpit as it does shaping the overall model.
Of course, Valheim is more than just an outlet for large-scale building projects. The game has a community of streamers and general players who are joining together to survive the harsh Nordic wilderness, and future updates laid out by its Early Access roadmap plan to add a number of features and mechanics including ship customization.
Whether or not a fan of Valheim prefers rugged survival or building interesting structures like Colonel-James-Parker's Millennium Falcon, the attention the game has received overall is impressive for such a burgeoning indie title. Iron Gate co-founder Henrik Tornqvist said he has been humbled by Valheim's success, and it's likely the title will only grow in scope going forward given the positive reception thus far.
Valheim is available now in Steam Early Access on PC.