Valheim’s next biome is Ashlands, the ‘land of the dead’

Just yesterday, developer Iron Gate AB updated its online blog to reveal the next biome for Valheim – the Ashlands. It’s a volcanic region where the dead roam freely. The developer teased that since this biome sets itself “at the far south of the map, rather than small islands spread out over the world,” it will provide a markedly distinct experience from what fans have grown accustomed to.

With this upcoming biome, the team aims to reveal much more of the development process compared to what was showed with the Mistlands DLC before release. Iron Gate felt that, although the secrecy of the Mistlands DLC led to a better sense of discovery for players, the approach ultimately lacked transparency. This time, the developers will allow players to see the biome in its early stages so that they gain a better sense of the team’s current progress. Potentially, this means that fans could see aspects of the biome that will ultimately not appear in the final build.

Valheim – Ashlands is still early in development

The blog post kicked things off by revealing two concept pieces depicting potential enemy designs that could appear in the biome. The first of these showed a trio of skeleton or zombie-like enemies called the Charred, each one armed with a different weapon. The second image, on the other hand, showed off Morgen, a bizarre creature standing on all fours with its bony limbs and skulls stuffed inside what looks like its gaping maw.

To tide players over until the biome’s release, Iron Gate has worked on adding other notable features to Valheim: Mistlands. These include additional difficulty settings as well as Hildir’s Quest, a small update that comes with a new NPC and the option to change the hair style of the player character. The developers emphasized that Hildir’s Quest will not distract much from the Ashlands biome’s development.

Image via Coffee Stain Publishing