Platform: PC / Mac / Linux

Developer: Klei Entertainment

Publisher: Klei Entertainment

Release Date: April 23, 2013

Genre: Action/Adventure

Nerd Rating: 8 out of 10

Reviewed by Kitters

By now I’m sure many people have played this game. It’s build has a lot in common with the more popular game Minecraft. Although this game has a better look to it by the art style it’s relatively the same. You build and craft items, eat, stay warm, and don’t starve. The point of the game is to see just how long you can survive in this harsh universe, avoiding starvation, insanity, and hostile enemies. You can also play in an adventure mode, which is where you find a door in sandbox mode that leads you to challenges that are insanely difficult for you to complete.

When the character dies, an amount of experience is received depending on the number of days survived, eventually unlocking other playable characters. Each has their own perk but some are only unlocked in adventure mode therefore unattainable by gaining experience through survival. The game has a very fast clock so you’re literally struggling to collect things you need and explore before night arrives. If you do not have some way to make a fire the darkness will overwhelm you and you will be dead in the darkness.

Now the thing that really interested me was the new mod called ‘The Screecher‘ which I believe is referring to the creepy sounds you can hear at night if your light goes out when you die. It has a bit of a Slender feel to it where you run around in the dark collecting notes and trying to get to a helipad. You read the notes and slowly realize what’s going on. The length of the mod depends on how much time you want to spend in the scary dark woods with weird sounds and a flickering flashlight. If you want to explore and hunt down all the notes or just walk as fast as possible and get out.

Another thing I really like about this mod is that the graphics of it look a bit better than the actual game and the handling in general is looser. You’re not struggling to twist the camera, you’re not forgetting that you can twist the camera, it’s just a nice comfortable feel. The mod really brought back the game for some though, because Don’t Starve was slowly slipping into the territory where not many were discussing it anymore and it is a really good game if you are into those craft and survive games. It has a lot to it, like the ability to build walls and fight off tons of creatures. The crafting ability alone is very large and ranges from cosmetic outfits to necessities.

There are some things that would make this game a lot better, for example: personally I think a bit of a walkthrough would help, because I found the very first time I played it I was more or less mashing random buttons until I figured out what did what. I didn’t even find out about the camera rotation until just recently and I have no idea what the sanity is for or why I need any sanity at all. Who wants to be sane in a big scary world full of wormholes and pig people?

So just to kinda cap things up here, this is a game that can be as long as you make it, and hopefully they will continue to make mods for it. They have some workshop items you can find useful in the Steam Workshop such as regenerating health and sanity, which again I have no clue what it’s good for. I do have some quick tips on how to make it in the scary don’t starve world though and will get to those in just a moment. A little more on the mods, they are sometimes very useful in the game, such as the regeneration mod I spoke of earlier, there are also backpack mods and a mod to let you stack items in your inventory up to 99 or so, which is very useful.  

Now I’m going to give the 10 tips on what you should do to make it through the first few days. This isn’t necessarily what you should do, it’s just what helped me my first few days.

1. Pick as many carrots and berries as possible.
2. Get as much twigs, flint, and the yellow grass tufts.
3. Make an axe and get some wood.
4. You will need a fire for night. Every night.
5. Do not try to fight anything at all unless necessary.
6. Try to set up base by the Beefalo.
7. Do not attack the Beefalo.
8. If you see pig men do not have a weapon out.
9. Don’t go through random doors unless you have a good feel of the game.
10. DON’T STARVE! AND HAVE FUN!

Reviewed by Kitters