Valheim's new Mistlands concept art has my Spidey-sense tingling

Valheim Mistlands concept art webbed lair entrance — (Image credit: Iron Gate Studios)

In Valheim, the Mistlands is an unfinished biome that originally featured tall trees covered in massive webs which heavily implied the existence of some sort of, for lack of a better word, megaspider. Gross.

But that was the original concept. Since then, developer Iron Gate Studios has gone back to the drawing board and has been redesigning the Mistlands. Recent reveals show no giant trees or cobwebs but instead wet, grassy terrain and jagged boulders shrouded in a heavy fog. Or, as some might call it, mist. Nothing that implies massive spiders at all.

Today, Iron Gate posted a new Mistlands image and I'd have to say ginormous spiders are back on the table once again. The image is concept art of an onyx staircase climbing to what appears to be a lair entrance covered in thick, glistening webs. Along the walls outside the lair there are also what looks like giant seed pods. This is all feeling very spidery to me.

Or maybe not! Spiders aren't the only possibility. Is this really webbing? It could be ropes of hardened slime, too, which could imply something more like a giant slug or snail. Maybe a massive grub or an enormous caterpillar made them? Salamanders produce slime, too, so maybe some sort of giant amphibian lives inside. I dunno. Still gross, though.

Sounds like we've still got some time before we find out. "Designing a new biome is a large undertaking, with many pieces that need to slot together before it can become the complete experience it needs to be, and it will require a lot of iterations and testing before it’s done," Iron Gate says. "The biome is quite some time away still, but we are excited for it and we believe the result will be well worth the wait!"

Valheim crossbow — (Image credit: Iron Gate Studios)

Along with this webby (or slimy) lair door, Iron Gate revealed a picture of a new weapon, a crossbow—not something Vikings were really known for. But then again Vikings also weren't known for fighting sentient blobs of tar or having their trash incinerated by Thor.

Another new bow, one that appears to be created from the spine of some unlucky creature or person, is also shown being modeled in a video on YouTube. After seeing that lair entrance, I'll take as many weapons as they're willing to give me.

Chris started playing PC games in the 1980s, started writing about them in the early 2000s, and (finally) started getting paid to write about them in the late 2000s. Following a few years as a regular freelancer, PC Gamer hired him in 2014, probably so he'd stop emailing them asking for more work. Chris has a love-hate relationship with survival games and an unhealthy fascination with the inner lives of NPCs. He's also a fan of offbeat simulation games, mods, and ignoring storylines in RPGs so he can make up his own.