Don't Starve is a wilderness survival game from Klei Entertainment originally released in 2013. Initially only available on PC, it has since been released in several other formats since 2013 including WiiU, XBox One, PS4, PS3 and PS Vita.
The game stars a number of different characters who have all been transported to a strange world by a demonic creature known simply as Maxwell. The player takes on the role of one of the stranded characters and must survive from day to day by foraging for food and supplies, forging equipment and dealing with the various perils of the Don't Starve world which include changing weather and seasons, environmental hazards, and physical and supernatural monsters, all whilst trying to keep healthy, well fed and mentally stable.
Don't Starve features a strong rogue-like element, with perma-death and little in game help or instruction making surviving the game's randomly generated wilderness both tough and unforgiving. It's relatively well known for an Indie game, mainly thanks to a number of lets-plays on Youtube, and features a unique Tim Burton-inspired gothic-cartoon art style.
After the success of Don't Starve several expansions have since been released:
Reign of Giants is the first expansion, adding new characters, items and environments to the basic Don't Starve game, but increasing difficulty and adding giant seasonal monsters. Both this expansion and the base game were also released together as Don't Starve: Giants Edition on several games consoles.
Don's Starve Together is a standalone multiplayer version of Don't Starve, featuring all the content of Don't Starve and Reign of Giants but with the ability for several players to play together either cooperatively or competitively online. Several tweaks were implemented to try and balance the game for multiple players.
Don't Starve Shipwrecked is another expansion for Don't Starve, featuring more new characters, items and environments, and is set in a sea/desert island biome.
Don't Starve: Pocket Edition is a iOS port of Don't Starve: Giant's Edition.
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's everything in this game feels like you're going to break it the second you touch it.
- The Deep Nest Biome is a personal gripe, but yeah, compared to the AI games, no, they're like 10 out of 10 anyway.
- I don't like tiny epic galaxies. I think it is boring and dull as ditch water.
- I had to mod the game for arachnophobia mode.
- Feast of Odin has no business on my shelf.
- This is literally just Feast of Odin with a few extra tweaks.
- I'm sorry it pales in comparison to AI. the AI games, AI and the Will of the Wisps and the Blinded Tree or whatever it's called. I forget what the first one was called. Um those two games are just the benchmark in the Metroid Vania style um platforming games.
- But we're definitely going to have to try and one in one out at most.
- I would be more happy if the collection only had a hundred games and I was playing those 100 games.
- So, I'd be perfectly set.
- Thanks for your support. Thanks for your get well wishes, you know, thanks for keeping me um you know, morale up, you know, whilst I was recovering, you know, thanks for your nice comments.
References (from this video)
- Based on popular video game of same name
- Cooperative gameplay
- Themed mechanics (scavenge, craft, survive)
- IP-based games can feel derivative of source material
- Survival without resources
- Post-apocalyptic wilderness
- Challenging survival narrative
- Don't Starve video game
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Card Crafting — Use scavenged items to craft tools and supplies
- Combat: Dice — Fight enemies using dice rolls
- Cooperative Game — Players work together to survive and complete missions
- cooperative play — Players work together to survive and complete missions
- crafting — Use scavenged items to craft tools and supplies
- Dice combat — Fight enemies using dice rolls
- Mission Completion — Fulfill specific mission objectives to progress
- Player Elimination — Players can go mad and starve, creating dramatic failures
- scavenging — Players move out and gather resources from the environment
- Survival Penalty — Players can go mad and starve, creating dramatic failures
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- It's a boss fighting game with QR codes. In this game, you're going to get pick one of four heroes and then mix it with one of the four classes
- Every other page in the rule book has this info about how the mechanisms in the game relate to real life
- It's a dice placement game by Stefan Feld. What else do you need to know?
- It's basically trick taking game with a lot of things around it
- If you lose an auction, you also get some rewards
- Let us know which ones are you most excited to try down in the comments