Description
Don't Starve is a 2013 action-adventure video game with survival and roguelike elements, developed and published by the indie company Klei Entertainment. The game was initially released via Valve's Steam software for Microsoft Windows, OS X, and Linux on April 23, 2013, with a PlayStation 4 port the following year and further versions for the PlayStation Vita, iOS, and mobile phones under consideration. Downloadable content titled Reign of Giants was released on April 30, 2014, and a multiplayer expansion called Don't Starve Together was announced in May.
The game follows a scientist named Wilson who finds himself in a dark, dreary world and must survive as long as possible. Toward this end, the player must keep Wilson healthy, full, and mentally stable as he avoids a variety of surreal and supernatural enemies that will try to kill and devour him. The game's "Adventure" mode adds depth to the sparse plot and pits Wilson against the game's antagonist, Maxwell.
Don't Starve was Klei's first foray into the survival genre, as Klei tries to experiment with a new genre for each release. Conceived during the height of a game industry trend of dropping players into a world with few instructions and a goal of survival, the game was influenced by Minecraft, which spearheaded this trend, as well as by filmmaker Tim Burton. The game received positive reviews from critics, which commended its original art style, music, and variety of ways for the player to die, although its high level of difficulty and implementation of permanent death were less warmly received. Within the calendar year 2013, it sold over one million copies.
The game follows a scientist named Wilson who finds himself in a dark, dreary world and must survive as long as possible. Toward this end, the player must keep Wilson healthy, full, and mentally stable as he avoids a variety of surreal and supernatural enemies that will try to kill and devour him. The game's "Adventure" mode adds depth to the sparse plot and pits Wilson against the game's antagonist, Maxwell.
Don't Starve was Klei's first foray into the survival genre, as Klei tries to experiment with a new genre for each release. Conceived during the height of a game industry trend of dropping players into a world with few instructions and a goal of survival, the game was influenced by Minecraft, which spearheaded this trend, as well as by filmmaker Tim Burton. The game received positive reviews from critics, which commended its original art style, music, and variety of ways for the player to die, although its high level of difficulty and implementation of permanent death were less warmly received. Within the calendar year 2013, it sold over one million copies.
Gameplay
Don't Starve is an action-adventure game with a randomly generated, pseudo-3D open world and elements of survival and roguelike gameplay.Combat is handled by pointing and clicking with the mouse, while other activities are controlled by the keyboard.[5] The goal is to survive as long as possible, with a count of the number of days the player has survived shown onscreen. The game keeps few records of player progress besides the total number of experience points and the playable characters unlocked. Wilson is the main playable character, but the first character, Willow, can be unlocked with 160 experience points—the player receives 20 each in-game day and keeps them after dying—while Wickerbottom, the last, requires the game's limit of 1,280. As is common among roguelikes, death is permanent, barring the use of an item called the "Touch Stone," which is single-use, is difficult to find, and respawns the player in a vulnerable state.
The game relies on a day/night cycle that causes meaningful fluctuations in gameplay style. During the day, the player spends most of their time exploring the large 3D world; gathering food, firewood, and other items; discovering "recipes" to combine available items; and avoiding enemies. With nightfall come lower temperatures, which the player must stay near a fire to be safe from, and more dangerous enemies. Crafting, which uses recipes, allows the player to create weapons like axes and shelters.The player is omnivorous, able to gather and farm plants as well as hunt animals for sustenance; food can spoil, however, so the player cannot keep it for too long. Each in-game day takes about 10 minutes of real time.
Wolfgang, an unlockable character, runs from a cadre of giant spiders and their young at nighttime.
Death can occur in a variety of ways. The player has three gauges displayed on the game's heads-up display, which respectively track hunger, health, and mental stability. Hunger and mental stability worsen by default, but they can respectively be replenished with food and mentally stimulating activities. When hunger and mental stability get too low, they begin to chip away at health, which will eventually result in the player's death. A large variety of creatures can attack; these include giant one-eyed birds, tree monsters, tentacles whose owners are not shown,and even small, weak frogs that will nonetheless try to accost and eat the player. Additionally, at low enough mental health, figments of the character's imagination become corporeal and able to attack the player.
The game's bulk occurs in Sandbox Mode, but there is a second mode, Adventure, which the player can access by finding a location called "Maxwell's Door." Adventure serves as the game's campaign, and consists of five levels that pit the player against Maxwell, the antagonist of Don't Starve. The player loses all items and recipes upon entering, and can only pick four to keep upon completion of each chapter. Death or completion of all five chapters results in being returned intact to Sandbox Mode.
The game relies on a day/night cycle that causes meaningful fluctuations in gameplay style. During the day, the player spends most of their time exploring the large 3D world; gathering food, firewood, and other items; discovering "recipes" to combine available items; and avoiding enemies. With nightfall come lower temperatures, which the player must stay near a fire to be safe from, and more dangerous enemies. Crafting, which uses recipes, allows the player to create weapons like axes and shelters.The player is omnivorous, able to gather and farm plants as well as hunt animals for sustenance; food can spoil, however, so the player cannot keep it for too long. Each in-game day takes about 10 minutes of real time.
Wolfgang, an unlockable character, runs from a cadre of giant spiders and their young at nighttime.
Death can occur in a variety of ways. The player has three gauges displayed on the game's heads-up display, which respectively track hunger, health, and mental stability. Hunger and mental stability worsen by default, but they can respectively be replenished with food and mentally stimulating activities. When hunger and mental stability get too low, they begin to chip away at health, which will eventually result in the player's death. A large variety of creatures can attack; these include giant one-eyed birds, tree monsters, tentacles whose owners are not shown,and even small, weak frogs that will nonetheless try to accost and eat the player. Additionally, at low enough mental health, figments of the character's imagination become corporeal and able to attack the player.
The game's bulk occurs in Sandbox Mode, but there is a second mode, Adventure, which the player can access by finding a location called "Maxwell's Door." Adventure serves as the game's campaign, and consists of five levels that pit the player against Maxwell, the antagonist of Don't Starve. The player loses all items and recipes upon entering, and can only pick four to keep upon completion of each chapter. Death or completion of all five chapters results in being returned intact to Sandbox Mode.