Not Having to Worry About Hunger and Thirst
The biggest thing I hate about survival games is that you always have to manage some sort of arbitrary meter to keep your character alive.
Don’t Starve is probably the most egregious example of this, requiring you to manage thirst, hunger, and sanity, which can absolutely kill you if you let it drop below a certain threshold.
While it is still important to consume food in Valheim, the focus on eating and drinking isn’t as pronounced, and gives players more leeway to focus on the things that are actually fun: crafting, building, exploring, and fighting.
Yes, there are some irritating factors that come into play with Valheim’s food system. For instance, your character can’t eat the same thing twice within a period of time. But considering that you don’t necessarily have to eat to survive, this becomes less of a concern.
The only time you need to worry about eating is when you’re going exploring or fighting a boss; eating food will increase your max HP and stamina, and also improve your HP regen, which makes combat easier.
But outside of combat situations, unless you’re deep in enemy territory, eating food isn’t a huge concern, and it makes Valheim feel very freeing as a result.
