Fans of Valheim who have been eagerly awaiting the highly-anticipated "Hearth & Home" expansion, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. At the Gamescom opening ceremony, developer Iron Gate Studio announced that the new expansion with a gorgeous cinematic trailer.
Valheim became an unexpected smash hit when it was released in February 2021. Playing as a Viking and exploring treacherous woods, mountains, and plains populated by monsters like giants and dragons, the game was notable for its massive customization. Like Minecraft and other builder games, Valheim gained notoriety for all the incredible builds that players could construct using the materials they gathered and refined from the open world.
In a new trailer, Iron Gate gave Valheim players a key piece of long-awaited information: the date of the "Hearth & Home" expansion's release. The trailer features a player's Viking killing a dragon and trekking the valuable dragon's head across the snowy mountains, the sea, and the dark forest before finally arriving at their home. The home, unsurprisingly the subject of this update, shows two other Vikings at a table that is filled with many delicious foods and they greet the heroic conqueror with a hearty toast of their drinks. The trailer ends with the release date for the "Hearth & Home" expansion, which is September 16.
Obviously, the announcement of the release date will come as a great relief to Valheim players who have long since hit the end of the campaign's content. One common complaint from man players has been the lack of endgame content once they have managed to defeat the game's final boss, Yagluth. While Iron Gate has promised future expansions that are in development will include brand new biomes, like the Mistlands and Deep North, many players have spent months toiling away at upgrading their existing bases and builds.
The "Hearth & Home" expansion is the first of Valheim's announced additions on the official roadmap. Although it will not add any new exploration or combat improvements, there will be significant additions to house building. This includes new building components and new food recipes, which are evident from the trailer that Iron Door showed. While this will not add to the endgame content of Valheim, it will certainly be a boon to those players who have been enjoying the game's build and design suite. With so many incredible Valheim builds already out there, it will certainly be exciting to see what the "Hearth & Home" expansion will let players create.
Source: Iron Gate/YouTube