Valhalla Hills

Valhalla Hills is a 2015 city-building and strategy title from German developer Funatics Software and publisher Daedalic Entertainment. Players guide a Viking tribe in constructing and managing a settlement, aiming to reach a portal at the top of a mountain to gain entry into Valhalla. The game earned mixed reviews at launch; critics appreciated its visual style and presentation, but found fault with the execution of its gameplay mechanics and limited replay value.

In the game, players oversee a village of Vikings who automatically gather resources and fight enemies. The player’s role is to choose and place buildings, balancing the settlement’s needs for raw materials, food, and defense. Enemies can be dealt with by constructing military structures that require weapons from mined ore, or by building temples to pacify them, each with their own resource demands. A Campaign mode gradually introduces new buildings, upgrades, and systems, while an Open mode unlocks all features from the start at a higher difficulty. Maps are randomly generated, offering varied terrain, resources, and challenges, and efficient planning is crucial to keep the Vikings fed, housed, and supplied while preparing to reach the mountain portal, which is often guarded.

Funatics Software, led by CEO Thomas Häuser—who previously worked on *The Settlers II* and founded the studio in 1998 to create the *Cultures* series—aimed to make a "classical building game" similar to those earlier titles. A team of nine developed *Valhalla Hills* from January 2015 using Unreal Engine 4. It entered early access in August 2015, with an October update adding the Open Game mode. The full release followed in December 2015, including additional modes and bug fixes. Two downloadable content packs, *Fire Mountains* and *Sand of the Damned*, introduced new locations and enemies, and were compiled into a Definitive Edition published on 28 February 2017.

Review aggregator Metacritic rated the game as "mixed or average." Critics of the early access version noted its charming, well-lit visuals and peaceful pace but pointed to a lack of longevity, replayability, and player agency, as well as obscure villager behaviors. Later reviews praised the presentation and relatively complex systems but cited missing features like a story-driven campaign, multiplayer, or map editors, which limited content breadth.