You are going to die.
A lot.
Once you have accepted that fact you won’t get so frustrated as you play Don’t Starve. At least that is what I liked to tell myself as I played Klei Entertainment’s new survival game. It’s a game that just plopped me down in the middle of a wilderness where the sole objective was to survive for as long as I could.
As Wilson, the starting character who is dropped in the wilderness by Maxwell the demon, I realized that there was no manual or any other kind of help. Quickly I discovered that I had to follow the three “E’s” in order to survive for as long as possible: Eat, Experiment, and Explore.
In the game food is essential. It was vital that I have a steady supply of sustenance otherwise my character would starve to death (an indicator showed me how hungry I was). From collecting berries to killing rabbits and eventually growing my own crops I had to do all this in order to keep my belly full and prevent myself from dying. But it isn’t as easy as it sounds. Why? Because everything isn’t safe to eat.
That’s where the experimentation comes in. While there were some items I came across that would fill my belly, they would also decrease my health (a second indicator showed how much or how little health I had). There were times where I was so desperate that I would eat things that I knew would hurt me but, having no other options, I would have to eat them anyways.
But various and potential foodstuffs weren’t the only things I had to experiment with. Collecting all kinds of materials and running into various creatures are also part of the game and that is where exploration comes in. Each map I played on was randomly generated so that exploring the area was crucial in order to determine the kind of resources I had at my disposal.
Some resources, like rocks, are limited and I had to plan ahead on how I would use them while other assets like gold nuggets, wood, and food sources could be unlimited (you’ll have to figure out how to get an inexhaustible supply of gold nuggets by yourself). But what to do with all of these natural resources?
Obviously to build things! So, in order to increase my chances of staying alive, the game has a crafting system with three tiers. Each one is unlocked by a special machine that could be constructed so that I was able to, in turn, build useful things such as gardens, beehives (death by bee stings happened quite a bit), animal traps, a drying rack for making jerky, a lightning rod, weapons, and even various hats.
Collecting and exploring is easy enough but I had to watch out for various hostile mobs and nighttime. Especially nighttime. I discovered to my horror that I must not travel anywhere at night without a source of light. There were things in the dark that would attack and kill me. And if that wasn’t enough my character’s sanity would lower when it was nighttime.
Oh…did I forget to mention that your character could go insane?
In addition to the two indicators that showed my health and food level there is a third that showed my sanity level. It would drop when it was nighttime or I would encounter certain mobs, or in some areas, or even digging up graves (what’s wrong with digging up graves). And when it got to a certain point I would start to see things. It was then when I found out that if my sanity dropped very low some of those hallucinations could then attack me and even kill me.
So not only did I have to worry about keeping my stomach full but also make sure that my sanity didn’t drop too low.
With the huge emphasis on keeping my stomach full, and making sure my sanity doesn’t drop too low, the game is hard. Especially if the map you play on is lacking in certain resources or mobs (manure and stone are very important to me). I especially found it difficult, at times, to survive in the Summer season and thought it couldn’t get any harder.
I was wrong…
It wasn’t until I experienced my first Winter that I found out how ignorant I was. Food became scarce, the nights were longer, and even the cold would kill me if I couldn’t find a way to stay warm. The difficulty had gone up to another level.
While Don’t Starve is tough and punishing it is a lot of fun. While I raged at my many deaths I was also rewarded for my failures. Every time I died, and would have to start a brand new game, I received experience points to increase my level. Gaining such xp unlocked other characters that I could play aside from the starting one; each with their own unique abilities, traits, and challenges. And dying also taught me the things I should or shouldn’t do.
Like underestimating bees…
In regards to the game’s graphics it has a gothic, Tim Burton-esque look to it that matches perfectly with the tone of the game. Even the soundtrack is fantastic and a great companion to when I was exploring and dealing with all kinds of situations.
With its point-and-click control scheme, the gameplay is very simple. However, when building walls and structures I found myself becoming a little frustrated. If I wanted to plant a straight line of trees, bushes, grass, saplings, or chests it wouldn’t work so well. It became difficult, or impossible, to do so and made me wish there was a way to make the process easy and efficient.
While the game is fun and very challenging, I did find myself becoming bored at times. While experimenting, exploring, and learning from my failures kept me entertained it just wasn’t quite enough. Since there is no interaction of any kind, let alone a story aside from a demon dropping me off in the middle of the wilderness, it started to feel a little pointless.
I enjoy a challenge as much as the next person, but there is something missing in Don’t Starve. It would be nice if there was a cohesive story or mystery involved. Or even a multiplayer mode where I and someone else could try and survive together.
All in all Don’t Starve is a game I would recommend to anyone interested in a survival game that is tough and punishing wrapped up in a quirky aesthetic that will make you want to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Review copy supplied
Tested on PC
8.5/10
Author’s Note: Originally written and published at Press2Resey on 04/2013
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