To start, I should say that I am good at video games, if I put my mind to it. I stopped playing Dark Souls II in part because it was too easy (and the other part the bugs on PC...). I was top in the 5% restoration shamans in the world during the Uldir raid in World of Warcraft. So I feel secure saying that, given a reason and opportunity, I can become very good at a video game.

Anyways, Valheim is an early access game about being a viking in the viking equivalent of purgatory, and I like it. A lot. It is the game I've played the most on Steam, past Mount and Blade: Warband, Dark Souls, Satisfactory, and Stellaris. Recently the latest content patch was released, giving purpose to the Mistlands biome in the game. I haven't quite reached that part of the game yet due to starting anew (and how impossible it is to find a Yagluth altar) but I'm getting close to it. And something that I'm noticing is that the game seems so easy now. After 300+ hours playing I've reached the point where I get the game. I block enemies instinctively, I don't need to watch my stamina because I *feel* where it's at, hell I even *dream* of the game occasionally.

And yet despite arguably approaching mastery of the game, I feel... sad? I look back and thing of how far I've come, and how much my perspective has grown. The firsts that I will never have again; fighting the first boss Eikthyr and the adrenaline of not knowing what was coming; stepping foot in to the Black Forest for the first time and running away from Greydwarfs; dying over and over again to Bonemass because I didn't know how to manage my stamina. Now all these former milestones pass by me with nary a thought; Eikthyr is a pushover, Greydwarfs are just an annoyance, Bonemass is trivial now that I know how to parry. Going in to the Plains I've started to just wade in to fuling villages, sword and shield in hand, searching for any feeling of a challenge. Bonemass power up, aggression is the best defense to get the enemies staggered, and if they start to encircle me the atgeir M2 is always close at hand to knock them back. The game rewards knowing when to go slow and when to push your advantage.

I've found a Yagluth vegvesir today though, so soon I'll fight the Goblin King and move on to the actually new content. Will I find my challenge there? Or will I be left in a purgatory to match the one my viking is in?

Maybe I'll take up farming. That is an honorable way to spend the afterlife...