Well met, vikings! The year is drawing to a close and we have reached the final dev blog for 2023. We know that a lot of you have been asking about when the Ashlands update is due to be released, and we now want to officially confirm that it will be released sometime during the first half of 2024! Like with all our updates, it will hit the PTB first and then the live version a short while after that. But for now we want to leave you with a little something over the holidays, so we’re going to share with you the first of a short series of “Walk & Talk” videos, in which community manager Josefin, artist/generalist Robin and programmer Jonathan chat about some Valheim and Ashlands topics. It’s not unlike the Fireside Chat videos we have previously made, but in a slightly different packaging: [previewyoutube=R9sTRrG1wwg;full][/previewyoutube] Just in case you missed it, we have also shared another interview with one of our freelancers. This time it was [url=https://valheim.com/news/introducing-lee-williams]Lee Williams[/url], the writer behind a lot of Valheim’s lore, who got to introduce himself and his creative process! And now, as usual, over to the teasers! Since it’s almost yuletide, we wanted to show you some of the tasty-looking dishes we have cooked up in the Ashlands kitchens. May we tempt you with some Mashed Meat, a Piquant Pie, or perhaps a Spicy Marmalade? [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33695701/19b2c5e4b06ca1e900812de73eb65bb3d4f8dd88.png[/img] Of course, you can’t cook without ingredients. Not much can grow in the hot and arid landscape of the Ashlands, but some plants are resilient enough to still thrive there. We thought we’d give you a glimpse of what they will look like: [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33695701/79a0a40b882a5b4f81eab5e16997056de6cbee26.png[/img] And last, but the very opposite of least, we want to show you a hint of how absolutely badass you’ll be able to look in the Ashlands: [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33695701/f446e83b3db2bcdc82fde959bb2c3ee77cf5cb47.png[/img] [h3]Build of the Month[/h3] The final Build of the Month for 2023 we would like to award to [url=https://twitter.com/paddy_fr/status/1728551656931926432]paddy_fr[/url] for this base in the snowy Mountains! If you want your creation to be featured in this section, use the hashtag #ValheimBotM on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook. Due to changes in the tagging system on Facebook and Instagram, please also send us a DM with a link to your entry as well as using the hashtag if you post there! You can view previous builds in [url=https://steamcommunity.com/app/892970/discussions/0/3185738591087375226/]this thread on Steam[/url]. [img]https://clan.cloudflare.steamstatic.com/images//33695701/9141f6ad48c568f8137511be996af75361383d84.jpg[/img] A merry yuletide and a happy new year to you all! /The Iron Gate team [i]If you’d like to discuss the content of this post, please visit our Discord, or our forums on Reddit and Steam, or make a comment on social media![/i]