It’s been some time since Valheim got any sort of major content infusion, but thankfully, the game’s biggest update since Hearth & Home back in September has just hit public test servers. This update adds “Frost Caves” — new icy dungeons that will pop up in the Mountain biome and challenge players to take on cultists, bats, and other creatures that like to lurk in the dark. The update also adds full controller support, Steam Deck optimization, and some handy quality-of-life improvements, like the ability to pause while playing a single-player game. You can check out the full patch notes for update 0.207.15, below.
New Content
- Frost Caves added as a new dungeon (Will only appear in unexplored areas)
- New enemies: Ulv, Cultist, Bat
- New crafting materials: Red jute, Fenring hair, Fenring claw
- New armour set: Fenris Coat, Fenris Leggings, Fenris Hood (equip all at once for an extra bonus!)
- New weapon: Flesh Rippers (Unarmed)
- New build pieces: Red jute carpet, Red jute curtain, Standing brazier
- New event: “You stirred the cauldron
Fixes & Improvements
- FPS limiter setting and option to reduce GPU usage when minimised, menu FPS capped to 60
- Various console command improvements and additions, see console ‘help’
- Fixed some dungeon parts not being fully deterministic (ends)
- Nomap mode improvements (vegvisr alternative, nomap is server setting, max distance for shouting, Random build/spawn rotation, ‘noportals’ command)
- Resolution now only shows refresh rate when forcing exclusive fullscreen
- Various UI fixes
- Recipes for Jack-o-turnip + Yule stuff disabled
Quality of Life
- Building marker is more subtle and indicates piece rotation
- Corpse run gives carry weight bonus to compensate for unequipped belt
- Crafting stackable items while having full inventory now possible if there are are available stack slots
- Fixed a bug where sometimes stackable items won’t be taken when having full inventory and pressing ‘Take All’ in a chest
- Chat can now be closed using esc, mouse or gamepad B
Gamepad support
- Full controller support!
- Controller legend visible in pause menu and settings
- Controller text input when running in Steam big picture mode. Chat, characters, signs, pets etc can now be named using the controller.
- Controller mapping of all game features
- Context menus will now always show controller buttons when using controller
- Alternative controller glyph style option
- Skills window scrollable with gamepad
- Crafting can be cancelled if pressing the button again (like with mouse)
- Fixed some missing/misplaced gamepad tooltips
Steam Deck
- Steam Deck controller layout shows when playing on Steam Deck
- Loads default settings catered to the Steam Deck
No word on when this update will exit testing and be available to all, but it will probably take at least a few weeks. We also don’t know when Valheim’s big “Mistlands” update will arrive, but hopefully exploring Frost Caves will tide players over for a while.
Valheim is available now in Early Access form on PC.
