Daedalic Entertainment is now offering the promised Early Access on Steam to Valhalla Hills, Funatics Software's Viking-themed civilization-building strategy game. This carries a first-week 20% discount for the standard, Premium, and Contributor editions of the game, and while Linux and OS X editions are part of the eventual plan, for now only the Windows version is offered. The game is expected for full release by the end of this year, and in the meantime they offer a new video diary and the following explanation for why they are going the Early Access route: "We decided to share "Valhalla Hills" with our players in an early stage of development, so we can get feedback and suggestions right away and continuously improve the game with their help. Eventually, we want the game to be as enjoyable as possible, for as long as possible. So, we encourage players to get in touch with us and tell us their ideas and also - or rather, especially- what they don't like. We're looking forward to that!" Here's a bit on the game:

Valhalla Hills is about a Viking Clan struggling to survive in a harsh mountain region as they attempt to build a "Valhalla on Earth." Valhalla Hills challenges players to build a new Viking civilization worthy of Odin himself, while surviving near-daily peril.

The Early Access release of Valhalla Hills is fully playable (and great fun!), but will be continuously optimized and enhanced until final release in the fourth quarter of 2015.Currently, only a Windows PC versions is available, with Mac and Linux coming later.

“This is a very good day for strategy fans," says Carsten Fichtelmann, CEO and Founder of Daedalic. “We are very proud to present a very high profile and cleverly crafted game to players worldwide. We, as well as the talented developers at Funatics, will use the early access phase to garner player feedback as we continually improve the game before release.”