Key Takeaways
- Trollheim: Gnomes was officially announced on October 14, 2026, by Off-Leash Interactive, Trollheim Studios, and Fireshine Games.
- The game supports up to 8 players in co-op PvE survival crafting set in a procedurally generated Nordic Dark Forest.
- Players take the role of Spryg Gnomes who were banished by Odin and must survive the mysterious Dark Forest.
- Base building is wildly flexible — you can set up home in treetops, hollowed logs, rock crevices, or beside forest lakes.
- The Väsen, mythical beings rooted in Swedish/Nordic folk belief, are central to the game — some hostile, some friendly.
- Combat requires smart tactics, including trapping enemies like trolls before engaging them.
- The game launches on Steam Early Access with a full 1.0 release to follow — no release date confirmed yet.
- Trollheim is an entire transmedia IP spanning books, games, collectibles, music, and planned film expansion.
Alright, fellow survival game addicts — drop whatever you’re grinding right now because something just got announced that deserves your full attention. On October 14, 2026, a brand-new open-world co-op survival game called Trollheim: Gnomes got unveiled, and honestly? My wishlist has never felt more crowded. Developed by Off-Leash Interactive and Trollheim Studios, and published by Fireshine Games, this thing is going straight for the throat of the survival crafting genre — and it’s doing it through the eyes of tiny gnomes living in a dark, ancient Nordic forest. I’m genuinely here for it.
What Exactly Is Trollheim: Gnomes?
So here’s the setup. A group of Spryg Gnomes has been banished from their homeland by Oden himself and forced to find a new home. Their journey brings them deep into the Dark Forest, a mysterious and ancient wilderness that’s equal parts beautiful and terrifying. It’s not just an empty sandbox — this forest is alive, full of mythical creatures, hidden dangers, underground cave networks, and creatures that might help you or flat-out try to kill you.
You play as one of these gnomes, either solo offline or alongside up to 7 other players in co-op. The goal? Reunite with your gnome companions, build a shelter, gather resources, cook food, survive the cold, and figure out the secrets that the Dark Forest is hiding. Simple on paper. Probably brutal in practice. You know how these games go.
The world itself is procedurally generated, meaning every playthrough will throw different layouts and challenges at you. That’s always a big W for a survival game, especially when you’re playing with a full squad and everyone’s exploring different corners of the map at the same time.
The Väsen — Mythical Beings That Could Make or Break Your Run
If there’s one thing that sets Trollheim: Gnomes apart from the usual “chop wood, build house, kill wolves” formula, it’s the Väsen. This is the Swedish word for mythical beings, and they are front and center in everything this game is trying to do. We’re talking trolls, faeries, sirens, and other creatures pulled straight from Nordic and Scandinavian folk belief.
Here’s the part that actually got me hyped though — not all of them want to kill you. Some of the Väsen are friendly, and they might even lend a hand if you play your cards right. That means the way you approach each creature could actually matter. Do you try to befriend the giant creature lurking near your camp, or do you set a trap and take it down for resources? That kind of decision-making is exactly what good survival games are built on.
Speaking of traps — the first trailer showed a brief but very telling moment where players are attacking a troll that’s already caught in a trap. So yeah, going in swinging against a creature ten times your size probably isn’t going to work. You’re a gnome. You’re small. You’ll need to be clever. That honestly reminds me a lot of how Grounded handled the whole “tiny creature vs. massive world” thing, and I’m absolutely into this direction.
Base Building That Actually Sounds Creative
Now let’s talk about the part that’s really making rounds online — the base building system. In most survival games, you find a flat patch of ground, slap down some walls and a roof, and call it a day. Trollheim: Gnomes is going a very different route.
The developers have confirmed that you can build basically anywhere in the forest. Treetops. Hollowed-out logs. Rock crevices. The misty banks of forest lakes. The trailer already showed some genuinely impressive and creative player structures — mossy walls, tiny bridges between trees, low-lit cozy dens tucked into the forest floor. This isn’t just a box you slap together for protection. It’s actually a home that fits into the world around it.
The game also features vertical traversal, which means those treehouse builds aren’t just for show — you’ll actually be climbing and navigating them. Combined with cave networks and underground exploration, the whole world feels like it has real depth both above and below the forest floor.
For those of us who spent way too many hours obsessing over base layouts in games like Valheim or Sons of the Forest, this kind of freedom in placement is a massive selling point. If the building system delivers even half of what that trailer showed, survival game fans are going to go absolutely wild with their creations.
The Trollheim Universe Is Bigger Than Just a Game
Here’s something a lot of people might not realize yet — Trollheim isn’t just a game IP. It’s an entire transmedia universe that’s been in development, kind of like how The Lord of the Rings has Middle Earth as its foundation. There’s already a fantasy novel called Trollheim: Tale of Sýstir that takes place within this same world, and the team behind the IP has made it clear they’re planning to expand into other media including music and film.
That’s actually a big deal for a survival game. It means the lore and storytelling behind the Dark Forest and the Väsen isn’t just window dressing thrown together to justify a game mechanic. There’s actual worldbuilding behind it, and that could make a serious difference in how immersive the experience feels once you’re actually in it.
The developers — which include ex-Mojang devs by the way, yes the people who made Minecraft — have said they want to build the game alongside the community, which is exactly the kind of approach that works well for Early Access survival games when the developers actually stick to it.
What’s Confirmed for Early Access?
No hard release date has been dropped yet, but Trollheim: Gnomes is confirmed to be heading to Steam Early Access sometime in 2026 before a full 1.0 launch. The Early Access build is actually pretty stacked from what’s been confirmed. Here’s what players can expect when it launches:
- Core survival gameplay with all the basics — food, warmth, danger
- A wide variety of biomes with unique challenges in each
- Several unique Väsen to encounter, befriend, or fight
- Multi-tier crafting, cooking, and processing systems
- Treehouse building and vertical traversal mechanics
- Cave networks and underground exploration
- Full solo offline play and co-op multiplayer for up to 8 players
That’s honestly a pretty solid EA package. A lot of survival games launch in Early Access with barely enough content to justify the price tag, but this sounds like a genuinely playable and content-rich starting point. The developers have also said more details and plans will be revealed in the near future, so expect a proper roadmap to drop soon.
Should You Wishlist Trollheim: Gnomes?
Okay, real talk — if you’re someone who sinks hours into games like Valheim, Grounded, Green Hell, or Sons of the Forest, then yeah, you should absolutely wishlist Trollheim: Gnomes on Steam right now. The combination of Norse folklore aesthetics, intelligent Väsen encounters, flexible base building, and 8-player co-op hits a lot of boxes that survival fans have been asking for.
The gnome-scale perspective gives it a unique angle that separates it from the crowd, and the Väsen system — where your relationship with mythical creatures can swing between ally and enemy — adds a layer of depth that most survival games don’t bother with. Combine that with a proper transmedia IP backing the lore, ex-Mojang devs on the team, and a publisher like Fireshine Games behind it, and this is shaping up to be one of the more interesting Early Access launches in the survival genre in a while.
Keep your eyes peeled for more updates. The developers have promised announcements are coming, and given how well this reveal has landed, I’d expect a full gameplay deep-dive to drop pretty soon. In the meantime, you can check out what else has been happening in the gaming world — like Xbox Free Play Days running October 15–18 with NBA 2K27 and Crusader Kings, or the recent controversy around Total War: Shogun 2 Complete Edition getting delisted amid AI backlash. Busy week in gaming, honestly.
But Trollheim: Gnomes? That’s the one to watch. Don’t sleep on this.
