yes, I know that's not healthy. We're in a pandemic and the only sure thing is that Texas is about to be about as germ-free as a urinal cake in a dive bar bathroom. Anyway, in no particular order, this is why you SHOULD give Valheim a chance even if you tend to hate crafting or combat or open world or whatever.

Yes, the game might seem easy if you've watched the 1st or 2nd biome. Fear not. Those are like the tutorial level of Dark Souls. And they throw you right into BLIGHTOWN with nothing more than a bronze weapon you could barely manage to craft and a troll tunic that only absorbs sweat, not damage. You go from wailing away on enemies and killing them easily as if it's a mindless hack n slash to dying to an elite enemy because you got greedy and didn't realize he had two friends hiding behind the corner you ran past. I almost wonder if the developers took a step back after making the first two biomes and thought "Fuck, this is too easy. The testers don't feel like it's dangerous and mysterious enough. Let's crank it up so high yet keep it so engaging that even your niece who dropped off Animal Crossing after a month will do anything she can to get more play time." Think the slight ballsiness of designers like Cliff Blezinski or Kojima, but they ACTUALLY MAKE SOMETHING YOU WANNA PLAY. They clearly played Dark Souls and 100s of hours of WoW and Rust and probably Rogue, too. For an early access game, it feels super polished and there's always something new to craft or explore or test out with a friend. It's similar to the flow you get into on Skyrim or Minecraft where you wanna make a bit more progress before you log off. If you die, don't worry. Your loot will be there even if you die again. And if you sailed recklessly way out there without moving your spawn point, good luck. I hope you have friends willing to guard you as you go back--or the determination to get those items back solo and learn from your mistake along the way.

The story is minimal, but well written. Like Soulslikes, you really don't need to know the story at all to get something out of it. But if you love Norse mythology, the writing is better than expected and will no doubt only be fleshed out and flavored up even more now that they have 5 million sold and a huge roadmap ahead.

The jumping and air control is actually good. I can jump from one wall of my castle to the other which seems a bit too far, but I can adjust as needed and PROBABLY won't fall to my death. Even if the framerate decides to nosedive despite only looking at a dirt texture below me, I can usually land it or easily respawn a few feet away.

My only complaint is that my 7 year old gaming laptop (that can run Witcher 3 or Prey or Overwatch with no issues) cannot handle this game. It kinda feels like they did low poly in hopes of optimizing it, but then layered on lighting and bloom and lots of stuff that seems okay for my video card but is getting my CPU a lot more hot than it ideally should be. (They were a team of 5 before this game dropped, so give em some time.) I pieced together my frankenstein-esque gaming pc that had been in hiberation because i needed that more powerful card and CPU. It runs super smooth on my Radeon R9 390. My i7 gets to 90C sometimes, but it's also using the stock fan right now. Haven't had any overheating. Only crashed once. Haven't ever lost connection to the dedicated server I play on.

Honestly, if you have ever enjoyed a game like Minecraft or Don't Starve or WoW or Breath of the Wild, try it. You could refund it if it doesn't click. Chances are you have friends who own it or might get it if they hear you have it. I haven't had this much fun with cooperative multiplayer since Destiny 2 raids or Halo 2 multiplayer. Fuck. This game is gonna be a massive hit. It already is.

GO FORTH AND BURN THEIR YOUNG.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.