After more than 400 hours of Valheim in early access, I love the jour…

I'm back on my bullshit, and by bullshit I mean sinking another delightful 100 hours into Valheim—the Viking-themed survival crafting game that sits among my top five most-played games on Steam. With the launch of 1.0 and its new biome, the Deep North, now is the best time to round up your friends and return to ye olde old sea fortresses and swampy castles. A lot has changed in Odin's purgatory.

Or even better, forget your old worlds and start anew. The Deep North's endgame is its biggest draw, sure, but from start to finish, Valheim is a much better experience with boss reworks, small UI tweaks, and a few new cutscenes for a lovely pinch of world-building. You don't get a good look at the big picture by booting up old saves, and after diving into Valheim 1.0 with nothing but a wooden club and tattered leather loincloth, I can confidently say I don't regret it one bit.

Perhaps some of that is thanks to skipping last year's Call to Arms update—the patch where Iron Gate dramatically reworked the buffs received from slaying Valheim's giant gods—but now I'm glad I waited. As my total Valheim playtime rapidly approaches the 500-hour mark, I can't help but be impressed by how good a handful of small changes and new items make progression to the endgame feel.

Some of those changes stood out as soon as I entered the cozy Meadows of Valheim's starting zone, and I guarantee any survival-crafting, base-building menace like myself will be just as thrilled as I was to see Iron Gate's reworked building UI. Instead of endlessly scrolling through a sea of furniture, walls, and decor, I can finally search for and favorite individual pieces as a shortcut or create entire categories dedicated to my go-to tools. It's the first time in years I've enjoyed Valheim without a slew of QoL building mods.

I've already made biome-specific building collections for every zone too, and even have pared-down versions for quick access in emergencies. We're all guilty of picking fights with Fulings that we can't handle, but I like to pull the ol' Fortnite on 'em. That's code for building a box around myself and crying for help, by the way. Is that not how Fortnite works?

First-time Vikings or lapsed players like myself will also appreciate Valheim's smooth transition from the early-game Meadows to the fiery end-times hellscape of the Ashlands. With all of its pieces in alignment, you don't need your nose in a wiki or a posse of seasoned friends to figure out the next steps of the adventure.

There's a clearer big-picture path to Valheim we just didn't have before, and I'm finally comfortable recommending it as a version-complete build without all of the early access caveats.

The boss reworks from last year pair especially well with the breadcrumb directions added in 1.0's cutscenes, too. I won't spoil the whole thing for you, but historically, Valheim didn't do the best job of teaching its Vikings how to play. And I mean, it still doesn't deliver its secrets on a silver platter, but that's more fun when you've got a vague hint about where to go next and a series of boss buffs that all feel viable. Back in my day, we had seven boss buffs, and only one (or maybe two) of them felt viable.

Iron Gate also heard us loud and clear on the stingy storage space and how miserable navigating the foggy marble cliffs of the Mistlands felt. The Deep North update comes with upgradeable pocket space and a nifty grappling hook for safely traversing one of Valheim's most hostile zones—or so I'm told. You may be surprised to learn I've mostly used these upgrades for holding more decorations and slingshotting my Viking between taller building projects. What goes on in the Mistlands is none of my business.

This is all before you get to the Deep North, mind you. There are still plenty of secrets hidden in Valheim's last chapter, but it would be a shame to remember the journey to that point only by its early access builds. So whether you're playing for the first time or a seasoned Viking, I vote you all start the same way: naked in the Meadows, wielding a stick.

You can check out Valheim 1.0—out now on Steam.

I have not been able to stop thinking about Big Walk since I finished the game alongside six of my friends last month. What I had anticipated to be a relatively okay, quick-dirty-fun co-op game unfurled itself into one of the most thoughtful videogames I've ever played, and easily my favourite of 2026 so far. I cannot even begin to explain what a fantastic job developer House House has done at creating an incredibly special, unreplicatable experience that has had me and my pals continuing to talk about it in the weeks since we rolled credits.

While so much of its exceptionality lies in its puzzles (and all of the little moments in between), one of the biggest things I fell in love with was its music. It's a surprisingly sporadic facet of the game—Big Walk doesn't have a soundtrack that accompanies you everywhere, and you can go some real chunky stretches of time without hearing any music at all.

But in the little pockets of the world where it reveals itself, having it cut through the silence makes the moments you spend with it feel even more special. Spread across almost 30 tracks, Australian duo aksfx play around with these delightfully ethereal, pulsing beats and jumping vocals that sound like they should be mildly unsettling on paper, but the execution leads to this delightful feeling of exploration and airiness.

Tons of Big Walk's music is scattered across radio stations that you have to go and seek out, or simply stumble across as you're exploring and shooting the shit with your pals. These are some of my favourite locations in the game—the radio stations are fully immersive, spatial audio experiences thanks to each one being surrounded with speakers that let you really hear each and every component.

Not only are they moments of respite to bask in for a bit, but they're the perfect backdrop to punctuate cute moments with your pals. Coming across a radio station right as the sun is rising and taking a second to watch it happen as the notes delicately echo around you feels like something straight out of a slice-of-life anime's penultimate episode, the one that makes you bawl your eyes out.

And you can even take these pieces of music around with you if the silence isn't quite your thing. Big Walk lets you strap the radios to someone's backpack, turning them into a walking boombox/audial beacon. It's a lovely little choice on House House's part—I took great pleasure in carrying one such radio around with me for hours, and when we finally deposited it I actually felt a little bit sad.

For me, though, aksfx's magnum opus comes from Big Walk's theme itself. It's the first thing you hear when you boot up the game—jumping vocals evoke this odd sense of nostalgia before you've even ventured into the lobby for the first time. And when you've rolled credits 10 or so hours in? It hits even harder, and has me tearing up just a little bit every time I listen to it.

The cosiness it adds to the overall experience, and the fact that just a few vocal chops can get the waterworks going? Well, that's what videogame music is all about, isn't it? Making us feel things, both in the moment and even detached from its original context thanks to the memories it brings along with it.

There are so many reasons to love Big Walk, and its music is certainly up there as one of my biggest. Much like the game's concept, puzzles, and little three-blobbed players, the game's soundtrack may be simple at first glance, but its execution brings so much depth that I hadn't anticipated.

I lobbied to make Promise Mascot Agency the best cozy game in our 2025 Game of the Year awards, which means I'm only (checks calendar) a little late in getting it added to my list of best cozy games this week. I adore its silly story and open world exploration and got to thinking about how much fun it is to full throttle my kei truck right off the side of a cliff and press a button to sprout wings so I can soar peacefully around Kaso-Machi island.

It isn't even the only game with flying on the list now. It is in fact the third on that list of ten. I think I have a real soft spot for flying in cozy games.

There are as many definitions of "cozy game" as there are cozy gamers, but freedom is a really common element. There's freedom to build in life sims or freedom from time constraints in puzzle games. What is flying but complete and total freedom of exploration?

In the years since Breath of the Wild we've been spoiled for open world games with gliders, but a game with proper flying is even better. In Promise Mascot Agency I can hit my kei truck's boost thruster, nudge its nose up to gain altitude, and bank into a turn for a second pass over the rural sprawl below. It's the most open an open world can be and the freest I ever feel exploring one.

What are your favorite cozy games with flying in them? Bonus points if they really are flying, not gliding. Here are mine:

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