// PC GAMER — GAMING
Should you start a new character and world for Valheim 1.0?
Advice from the developers and PC Gamer on how to play the completed version of Valheim.
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Valheim 1.0 is here, so that sound you hear in the distance is scores of eager Vikings stringing their bows, sharpening their axes, and piling onto their longboats to explore the open world survival game's final biome: the Deep North.
But before you set sail for some chilly thrills in the frosty new biome, you might be wondering if you should create a new character and generate a new world for Valheim 1.0, or just keep playing with your current Viking and world. Veteran Valheimers will know that updates can conflict with existing worlds: any areas you've already explored, for example, won't be overwritten with new terrain and features, which can sometimes cause problems.
"As usual, your world will receive new content even if it was created before the update, although biome generation will only work properly on areas that have not yet been explored," says developer Iron Gate in its Valheim 1.0 FAQ. "However, we always recommend that you start the game over from scratch to get the best possible experience."
In other words, if you've already explored the areas to the far north of your world, those areas won't generate updated terrain and features of the Deep North. That's why starting a new world is in your best interest if you've already taken a few trips to the upper edge of the map.
There are other things to take in consideration for 1.0, says Iron Gate:
"The achievement system will begin to track statistics from the moment you download the 1.0 version. This means that an achievement connected to killing Eikthyr, for example, will require you to kill Eikthyr again, even if you’ve already killed him 500 times previously."
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Starting from the beginning has an additional benefit that's a bit of surprise, story-wise: