Valheim rules. Exploring is fun, building is fun, kiting trolls around islands while crying quietly to yourself as you tap dance on the razor’s edge of death is fun. But nothing is perfect, especially not early access games. So I don’t think we need to kid ourselves here: Valheim’s inventory sucks ass. Praise be to Odin for modders.
Though the bewilderingly popular survival game’s mod scene is very, very young, modders have already gone hog bonkers with quality of life improvements. That’s good because Valheim’s inventory, especially, is constrained and finicky. Some of this—its small size in particular—is deliberate, encouraging players to congregate at communal bases and work together to build items like carts to haul more supplies.
But other elements just don’t make any sense. Armor, for example, stays in your inventory even when it’s equipped, taking up precious space and forcing you to stop and chuck resources into the woods every five minutes to compensate. And chuck you must, because you can’t just destroy items that you don’t need. This, too, is a pain: Say you’re back at your base and realize you have some superfluous resources or gear. Do you clutter up your group’s chests with them, trudge away from your base and drop the items on the ground or annoy everybody by dropping items on the floor in your base (this one is me).
Thankfully, a handful of inventory mods can alleviate all of these problems. First, there’s the “Equipment and Quick Slots” mod by RandyKnapp. It gives equipped items their own separate inventory segment, and it also provides you with a few additional hotkey-able quick slots—useful for potions and the like. If you still find yourself running out of space (and you will), then the “Discard Inventory Items” mod by Aedenthorn is probably your best bet. It allows you to select items and permanently delete them. Be warned: This does mean they will disappear forever, so choose wisely.
If you want to stretch a little further outside the game’s intended bounds, there’s also the “MoreSlots” mod by Fang86. It gives you more inventory slots, with the caveat that “you do not lose the items on death.” That’s a bit of a cheat, so you might be opposed to it if you’re trying to play pure. If you just want to bring your unhinged architectural dreams to life, though—rest of the game be damned—then knock yourself out.
I’ve only scratched the surface of already-available Valheim mods. If you want more general quality of life improvements, the “Valheim Plus” mod by NX_ is a must. It improves building and allows players to tweak stats. If you’re in the market for something a little less practical, you could also take the first-person mod by Kailen_ for a spin. Finally, you can see Greydwarves’ horrible little faces (and your overstuffed inventory) up close.