Highlights
- Valheim’s biomes play a crucial role in shaping the game’s meta, with the Ashlands update set to transform player expectations.
- The upcoming Ashlands update has sparked excitement within the Valheim community, hinting at new content for this fiery landscape.
- As Iron Gate Studio gears up for the Deep North update, players can expect an icy-themed revamp with new mechanics and challenges.
Valheim has many diverse elements that mesh together to form the current meta, although hardly any have the pronounced impact of the sandbox giant’s biomes. Iron Gate Studio’s level of attention to detail in each region’s climate has proven to be one of the driving factors behind the IP’s notable successes since it launched in early access in 2021. However, the current meta is still far from the finished article – a point underscored by the upcoming Ashlands update that seems set to redefine what players can expect from the fiery landscape. After the completion of the flame-inspired area, it’s reasonable to expect the other unfinished biomes like Deep North to get a rework.
The Ashlands update has been the hottest topic in the Valheim community since the developer teased new content that would grace the region. Although there isn’t an official release date yet, it’s expected to make the rounds in the near future, marking the end of a long saga of development rumors for the title. That being said, Iron Gate is unlikely to have much respite since the Deep North and Ocean biomes are logically next in line to receive some much-needed finishing touches. It’s unclear which of these regions would get the outfitting go-ahead first, but the Deep North’s update should mirror that of the Ashlands in multiple respects.
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Valheim’s Deep North is Still in Need of a Major Revamp
Ice and fire are well-known polar opposites, and Iron Gate Studio embodies this belief by placing their respective biomes as far apart as possible; Deep North, as the name implies, to the northernmost part of Valheim‘s map, and the Ashlands reportedly deep in the south.
The Ashlands Update Could Provide Inspiration for the Deep North
The upcoming update deviates from the traditional randomly generated status quo with the region’s fixed location at the bottom of the map, and that’s an automatic starting point for a Deep North update. Other areas can maintain their random appearance, but the Deep North’s name and opposite premise to the Ashlands basically lock it in for a northern slot.
Apart from the logically sound fixed locations of the biomes, a Deep North update should have roughly the same principle as that of Ashlands. Every biome in Valheim has its unique boss run-ins, like Yagluth in the Plains, but one of the main selling points of the Ashlands update is the endgame-esque location called the Charred Fortress. It’s presumably going to be one of the hardest places for players to get past in Valheim, and the developer has teased siege engines for players to overcome the fierce enemy resistance in the castle. Similarly, an update for the Deep North could embody this premise, especially since ice castles have been a popular gimmick in fantasy.
The Deep North Needs to Lean into Its Icy DNA
Although it’s challenging to imagine getting past a fortress without the traditional fire-based power that comes with siege weapons, Iron Gate could develop an ice-themed approach for the Deep North to go with the atmosphere. A solution could appear in the form of ice hooks to scale walls, as well as individual frozen weapons and gear for storming the stronghold. In the Ashlands update, Valheim will reportedly match the previewed Charred warriors and the Lava Blob with armor sets based on flames, and it would make sense to expect the Deep North to follow the same pattern.
Instead of the fields of fire and heated atmosphere surrounding the Charred Fortress, frozen lakes, snowflakes, and glaciers can be expected to dominate a prospective Valheim Deep North update to fit in thematically with the biome’s premise. The mechanics would also have to do a complete 180 as well, since the Ashlands brings unique features such as the fire-spreading world modifier and the boiling hot oceans surrounding the volcanic land of the dead. It would be a nice change of pace to the current meta to see ice slowly creeping across other biomes akin to an Ice Age formation, so employing the dynamics of the Ashlands with an icy twist could yield a ripe harvest for Valheim.