Here are some of the wackiest Valheim builds so far

Valheim's been out for a whole three weeks, so of course that means players have already constructed many outrageous builds that make my longhouse look like a garden shed. Although the Viking survival game places an emphasis on crafting old Scandinavian architecture, that hasn't stopped players from creating some seriously sci-fi structures - along with towers so enormous they seem to defy the laws of physics. So here's a round-up of some of the best and most outrageous builds from over the past few weeks.

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On the topic of things that probably don't belong in Valheim, spaceships are almost certainly one of them. The sci-fi building trend has been going strong, with a Millenium Falcon build earning itself the top spot on the Valheim subreddit, and an equally-impressive "USS Valheim" representing Star Trek. I'll be honest, I'm not sure these would manage to exit Valheim's atmosphere, so it's probably just as well they're staying grounded. Or supported by trees, at least.

While Valheim's building pieces are inspired by Scandinavian architecture, it seems they also lend themselves quite nicely to Japanese castles - as you can see from some of these posts. If only Valheim had a cherry blossom season.

Something that seems to make a little more sense in Valheim is Lord of the Rings-inspired architecture, particularly given J.R.R. Tolkien was a professor of Anglo-Saxon and would have studied the period during which Vikings were raiding Britain. So far someone's had a decent stab at Minas Tirith, but perhaps even more impressive is the vast version of Barad-dûr - the fortress of Lord Sauron. I'm a little mystified as to how the eye was constructed - it appears to be made out of floating torches and a bonfire - but you can actually download it on Nexus Mods if you want to take a closer look. Oh, and you'll need a couple of extra mods to prevent it all collapsing - you can find them on the requirements section on the mod page.

Let's keep the fantasy theme going by moving onto everyone's favourite Valheim neighbour, the humble troll. It seems players have been having a bit of fun with these creatures (likely by harpooning and trapping them), with trolls put into moats as guards - or simply put on display in "Trollasic Park" and a Valheim zoo. How they got a sea serpent into that enclosure is beyond me.

Now for something a little more practical: portals. Or rather, the very impractical rooms players have built in which to store their portals. The most outrageous portal hub I've seen so far has been built by Necrotex, who constructed some sort of demonic tree that wouldn't be out of place in The Witcher 3. Don't destroy that one. I'm also a fan of the more compact version by Amsix, while some players have discovered that hiding portals behind walls can create a very cool lighting effect in your home's corridors. Now you're thinking with portals, indeed.

Ok, now for something actually practical, as a number of players have created working sundials to help them tell the time in Valheim. Of a sort - you're not going to get precise hours, but as you can see from Broote's creation, you can make a little post to mark dawn. To make your sundial a little more visible, you can also stick it on a post. Perhaps with a little netting, it could also double up as a basketball hoop. What to use for a ball? Hmm, well about those trolls from earlier...

At this point I've run out of category themes, so I'm just going to finish up with some builds I really like: namely, this extravagant wizard tower, which creator Khrynn said is about "19 or 20" reinforced iron beams tall. It's not just about the height, however - every room in the tower has been designed with purpose, and it's well worth watching the whole crib tour.

And, finally, here are some more traditional builds in the form of Stave churches: medieval wooden Christian churches that were built in north-western Europe around the 12th century. I don't think Odin would be very happy with these Christian structures being built in the 10th world - but then perhaps that's why all these Valheim players haven't gone straight to Valhalla.

If all this has made you green with envy, remember there are plenty of mods and console commands for Valheim that allow you to turn the game into a sandbox, and some of these featured builds have likely been created using these methods. So don't feel too bad about your humble vanilla shacks - Valheim small builds are lovely in their own right.