Alongside the release of the update, the studio has also released an animated release trailer to celebrate. The trailer features the same Viking trio from the game’s Hearth & Home trailer last year. Check it out below.

Iron Gate notes that, after installing the update, the new biome will only be generated in areas of the map that haven’t yet been discovered by players. This means that you might have to start a new world to be able to partake in the new features of the expansion sooner rather than later if your current world has been explored heavily enough.

The Mistlands update has been available for players to check out in Valheim‘s public testing version. For complete details on the update, check out the patch notes below.

UPDATE NOTES:

New content:

New biome – Mistlands:

• New mechanics
• 9 new creatures + Mistlands boss
• More than 20 new crafting materials
• 2 new crafting stations, 3 crafting station extensions, and 3 other resource/crafting constructions
• 15 new food items
• 3 new potions
• More than 25 new craftable items (weapons, armours & tools)
• More than 35 new building/furniture pieces for building, decorating and defending your base
• New type of dungeon
• New lore stones
• New dreams
• New music

Misc:

• Fishing update
• 12 new emotes
• 9 new hairstyles and 7 new beard styles
• Enabled Yule seasonal items (Yule tree, Yuleklapp, Yule wreath, Yule garland and Mistletoe)

Fixes & Improvements:

• Various console command improvements
• Multiple animations have been updated and improved
• Multiple VFX have been updated and improved
• Various other tweaks

Since this isn’t the live version, the update will require more patches for balance improvements and bug fixing. The Mistlands are only generated in unexplored areas, so players should create a new world to have a chance to discover it. As for what one can expect, nine new creatures, over 20 new crafting materials, two new crafting stations and three crafting station extensions are included.

Three new potions, 15 food items, over 25 new weapons, armor and tools to craft, and 35 new building/furniture pieces also await. There’s also a new dungeon type, 12 new emotes, lore stones, dreams, and more to check out. Check out some of the patch notes below for more details and full patch notes here.

Patch 0.212.5 – Mistlands! (Public Test)

New content:

New biome – Mistlands

• New mechanics
• 9 new creatures + Mistlands boss
• More than 20 new crafting materials
• 2 new crafting stations, 3 crafting station extensions, and 3 other resource/crafting constructions
• 15 new food items
• 3 new potions
• More than 25 new craftable items (weapons, armours & tools)
• More than 35 new building/furniture pieces for building, decorating and defending your base
• New type of dungeon
• New lore stones
• New dreams
• New music

Misc:

• Fishing update
• 12 new emotes
• 9 new hairstyles and 7 new beard styles

Fixes and Improvements:

• Various console command improvements
• Multiple animations have been updated and improved
• Multiple VFX have been updated and improved
• Various other tweaks

Detailed Patch Notes:

New content:

New mechanics:

• Wisplight (Move the mist out of your way using stationary wisplights or one that follows you wherever you go)
• Magic! (Eat foods with Eitr in order to use magic staves, and develop the new skills Elemental Magic and Blood Magic)
• Mushroom farming (The new Mistlands mushrooms can be grown from the comfort of your own home)
• Poultry (Get eggs, hatch and raise chickens, take care of your hens and get more eggs!)
  Friendly/unfriendly NPCs (They’re on your side as long as you don’t upset them!)

New creatures:

• Enemy: Seeker
• Enemy: Seeker Brood
• Enemy: Seeker Brute
• Enemy: Gjall
• Enemy: Tick
• Creature: Hare
• Creature: Hen (and Chick)
• NPC/Enemy: Dvergr (Rogue and Mage)
• NPC: Munin – raven of lore
• Boss: The Queen

It’s teasing “long-forgotten secrets” that only the “brave and resilient” can discover. There are also spoilers, so for those who want to go in blind, it’s better to wait until the update launches. We know that the ruins of strongholds and homes from past civilizations will be present, though their overall design is still being finalized.

Interestingly, in addition to hares, Iron Gate teased “another kind” of inhabitant. Time will ultimately tell what that is, but hopefully, a release date for the update is also coming. Valheim is available on PC via Steam Early Access and Xbox Game Preview. It’s also playable on Game Pass and coming to Xbox in Spring 2023.

While aiming for its 1.0 launch in 2022, Grounded could end up missing the same. In the latest episode of GrubbSnax on Giant Bomb, Jeff Grubb said, “Grounded may go 1.0. Now that I think about it, pretty sure I checked in on that, and Grounded might actually not go 1.0 this year.” Of course, the key word is “might.” It’s possible that it could still hit its full release before the year is up.

At worst, it may need a short delay for the sake of more polish and additional features. A release in January 2023 may not be impossible, especially if Microsoft is focusing on heavy-hitters like Redfall and Starfield. We’ll have to wait for more details in the meantime.

Grounded is currently available for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC along with Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass. It’s crossed 10 million players since release.

Obsidian Entertainment’s Grounded is set to enter early access in Spring 2020. However, it’s planned for most than just Xbox Game Preview or Game Pass. The co-op sandbox survival title has appeared on Steam Early Access with the developer outlining what will be initially available. It’s also targeting a full release sometime in 2021.

When it enters early access, players can expect “roughly 20 percent” of the full story, three major biomes, base building and the first two tiers of armor and weapons. Single player and co-op will both be supported along with crafting and something called “Arachnophobia Mode” (which could be a more hardcore experience).

The full version is planned to have more bugs, biomes, crafting recipes and “additional features and updated systems to improve the entire experience.” Obsidian also said that it will gradually increase the game’s price as more content is added in early access so you might want to get in from the outset. In terms of communicating with players, there are already several methods planned. “Whether it is our development blog, discord server, or monthly dev diaries, we will be listening, discussing, and incorporating your feedback from start to finish.”

Grounded is currently slated to release for Xbox One and PC. Stay tuned for more details, especially with a panel planned for PAX East 2020 next week.

While The Outer Worlds has been a success for Obsidian Entertainment, response to the studio’s upcoming IP Grounded was a bit mixed. Though it was made clear that the co-op survival title is being worked on by a small team, one has to wonder what the rest of the studio is up to. The answer is: More games, specifically in the role-playing game category.

Speaking to Eurogamer, programmer and Grounded director Adam Brennecke said that, “Just like with Outer Worlds we have big RPGs being worked on right now. We have a lot of stuff being worked on right now.” When quizzed about how many games were in development, studio head Feargus Urquhart (who notes that he’s not the CEO anymore) responded, “More than one, less than forty. We’re working on a number.”

Interestingly, the team behind The Outer Worlds is still busy with the game. Though Urquhart didn’t outright confirm it, there seems to be a plan for continued support, perhaps some post-launch content. “What’s always been interesting about the independent developer before was: who was going to pay for support? If I’m not being paid for support by the publisher then […] we have this weird thing of how do we do it?

“In the Microsoft world, we get to run a studio based on what makes sense for the franchises and I’m not having to make these day-to-day decisions so much. People are obviously loving Outer Worlds and we made it because we love it, so now we get to keep on doing things to help support [it],” said Urquhart.

In the meantime, Grounded will be hitting Xbox Game Preview for PC and Xbox One soon. The game thus far seems to focus on crafting, base-building and survival while playing as a bunch of shrunken kids beset by all manner of danger. A full release is planned for 2020.

After The Outer Worlds, there was a fair bit of hype around Obsidian Entertainment’s next IP. The studio finally revealed what that was at X019 – Grounded, a survival title. Developed by a relatively smaller team, the premise sees kids shrunken down and facing off against real-world threats like spiders.

Apparently in development before Obsidian was purchased by Microsoft and featuring co-op support, Grounded will release in Spring 2020. Before that, it will hit early access with Xbox Game Preview for Xbox One and PC. This will allow players to provide feedback during development like with the studio’s Pillars of Eternity games.

While certainly not something anyone was expecting, Grounded should be an interesting game to watch. Obsidian usually specializes in role-playing games so a survival game is certainly something new. Stay tuned for more details and updates from X019. Rare also announced a new IP with Everwild which looks pretty gorgeous though it doesn’t have a release window.

Crea-ture Studios’ Session, a realistic skateboarding title that’s currently available on Steam Early Access, has been delayed for Xbox One. It’s now slated to release in November or early December at the latest. In a recent Facebook post, the development team stated that it needed “more time to port Session to Xbox One”.

“We know this sucks and we totally understand as we know you have been waiting to play the game on console for a while now. We know it’s not great news to hear, but it’s not particularly fun to announce either, especially for a small studio like ours.

“It is never easy to make such decisions as we know it can have an impact on several levels, so these decisions are never taken lightly. We thank you for your understanding and hope you will stick around for the Xbox One release!”

Session was announced for the Xbox One last year at E3 but seemingly faded into obscurity shortly after that. It would arrive for Steam Early Access in September 2019 and was dated for Xbox Game Preview. The game itself is fairly open-ended, promising realistic skateboarding and True Stance Stick controls for mastering different stances.

You can even film different sessions and edit them together with an in-game editor, create montages to share with others. We’ll have to wait and see if Session is a worthwhile experience on Xbox One and how it involves in the future but there is potential. Stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

Announced shortly before PDXCON 2019, publisher Paradox Interactive’s Surviving the Aftermath is now in early access. It’s available on the Epic Games Store and for Xbox One through Xbox Game Preview, retailing for $19.99. Check out the trailer below to see some of the gameplay.

Surviving the Aftermath will launch fully by late 2020 – it will be coming to PS4 and Steam by then so don’t worry. The early access launch is to ensure that players are involved with the development process ASAP. As Paradox Interactive lead producer Nikhat Ali states, “With Surviving the Aftermath we want to get our players involved as early as possible so we can make sure we’re making the game they want to play. We have an ambitious content schedule ahead of us that includes monthly updates where we will incorporate feedback from our players and we’re confident the team at Iceflake is the right team for the job.”

Lasse Liljedahl, who is CEO of Iceflake Studios and lead designer, said, “Surviving the Aftermath is the game we’ve always wanted to make. When we pitched our plan to Paradox, they recognized our passion and commitment to making this game the best survival colony builder it can be. We’re beyond thrilled to finally share our dream project with the world and to have the support of one of the industry’s leading publishers.”

As the name indicates, you manage a colony of survivors after the end of the world. Constructing settlements, catering to colonists’ needs and much more is necessary to get back on your feet. There are also plenty of other natural disasters to deal with as well along with bandits and other threats.

With six biomes, a procedurally generated world and over 46 Specialists to recruit and send out into the wild, Surviving the Aftermath has a fair bit going on. Mods are also supported so players can introduce their own features into the game. Stay tuned for more details on the title in the coming months.

Bohemia Interactive has confirmed on the recent Inside Xbox that version 1.0 of DayZ will be releasing for Xbox One on March 27th. The title has been in development since 2012, and only recently launched in full for PC in December 2018. It’s been in Xbox Game Preview since August 2018 though.

To celebrate the occasion, the developer released a new cinematic story trailer, which touts “Every day is a new story.” As such, DayZ doesn’t have an actual storyline and focuses on survival as players scrounge for food and water in Chernarus while avoiding the “Infected”. Servers support up to 60 players, as everyone tries to survive for as long as possible.

Of course, it’s possible to either work with or against other players in the process. There’s no word yet on when the PS4 version will release, but it can’t be that far off, especially in light of the Xbox One release date announcement. As always, stay tuned for more information.