Just wanted to make a quick note here that I have completed the Mistlands in Valheim.

You know, for all the people complaining about the Mistlands, I found it surprisingly… fine.

As the name suggests, the entire region in shrouded in fog all the time. Your original access to the biome is soft-gated by your ability to craft an accessory that clears a 10m bubble around yourself to let you see where you’re going. After felling the first Yggdrasill sapling, you unlock a recipe for creating a sort of wisp-based standing torch that clears out a 20m bubble wherever it is dropped. Maybe this torch was buffed for the 1.0 release or something, but its existence – and my extensive experience playing Minecraft – meant the mists were simply a matter of spamming the torches everywhere. So, I did. And it was fine.

In fact, I would say it is more than fine: the Mistlands has been fantastic. It might even be my favorite biome thus far. You have obviously been able to see the giant roots of Yggdrarsill in the sky since Day 1 in the Meadows; in the Mistlands though, you can tap its very roots. You scavenge the petrified bones of ancient giants, cracking open their skulls to mine their Soft Tissue (i.e. brains) so you can feed it into a woodchipper-like machine to distill its essence to make magic gear. Their enormous helms and swords can be broken down for Copper and Iron too. The Gjall legit evoked a primal, Silent Hill-level of fear with its fog horn warning cry in the distance.

Look at those screenshots.

Anyway, I will say that the Queen fight was some outrageous bullshit. I have the death penalty set to the lowest level, which means I get to keep any equipped gear. Even then, it took like twelve deaths across five in-game days to make any meaningful progress. I can’t even imagine running around naked, chased by 30 bugs, trying to retrieve your corpse on the 3rd floor or whatever. Several times I got pushed into a corner with the spit attack, which then spawns a bunch of grubs, which prevented me from leaving said corner. Then I died. It is possible I should have been using the 2H hammer or whatever, but I literally had zero skill in the weapon, so I stuck with magic and 1H hammer + shield.

Anyway, I eventually won. And now onwards to the Ashlands.