Don't Starve, a short review

Ronin Storm

Administrator
Staff member
Was in the need for something to take my mind off the world for a few hours so I could get some rest. I'd picked up Gnomoria the other day for being not too expensive and reminiscent of Dwarf Fortress just easier but it turns out my tired brain was finding the open ended planning a bit too much.

So, that option out of the question, another that had made my list was Don't Starve. I hadn't picked it up 'til now on the ill-justified belief that it'd be somewhat twee and that the soundtrack would annoy me. Now, the soundtrack isn't my cup of tea, but I didn't actually turn it off (though I did turn it right down). But it isn't twee. And it's hugely absorbing and fun.

It's a game of survival, at least so far as I've gotten. For your first game, you play Wilson, the Gentleman Scientist, who (inadvertantly?) made a deal with the devil for forbidden knowledge and the devil has transported him to this uncharted wilderness (world?) where he must now survive. To what end, I don't know, but the surviving has been great fun so far.

I died, of course. Seventeen days I survived, and I didn't die of starvation, though there was a point about three days in where that was a distinct possibility, and a resurgent threat again around eleven days in. There's some hard choices to be made. You're hungry and you're carrying a carrot. Sure, you can eat the carrot, but that's the cheap and trivial win. You can cook the carrot, which is certainly an improvement. Or you can build a trap, leave the carrot as bait, and catch a rabbit instead. Which you can kill and cook and eat. I haven't checked the balance of play, but I think the cooked rabbit beats cooked carrot beats raw carrot. That's a pretty simple trade, but it doesn't always work out so simply.

There was a turkey hiding in the bushes and it rushed out and ate the carrot and dashed off (being much too big for the trap). I, of course, chased that bastard turkey for almost two minutes before it was obvious that I'd never catch it. So, no turkey, no rabbit and no carrot... one day, I'll catch that bastard turkey and he'll pay!

By day seventeen, I had a little camp with a fire pit surrounded by a wooden stake fence. I'd reinvented two devices from my laboratory for inventing new stuffs and I was carefully cultivating the one plot of farmland I had manure for; fortunately, some previous off-screen demise had left that manure for me. I had a spear, a backpack, and I was planning on capturing some bees for their honey. Unfortunately, that didn't go my way. I rushed a beehive and was immediately set upon by a swarm of bees and died almost instantly.

Seventeen days of survival, often through intrepid exploration, eating berries off bushes as I went, grabbing twigs and grasses and cutting down a tree or two to make sure I had something to make fire with come the night. Honestly, I don't know what happens at night, but I know this: when it gets dark, it gets properly dark and I hug my campfire like my life depended on it. I have this feeling that it does. Add to the fun that a proper storm makes you fire burn out faster... it's pretty tense.

My reward for seventeen days? I can start again but this time I can start as two other characters in addition to Wilson, each with their own odd perks and foibles. I'll be taking Wilson out again, though. He grows a beard, which he can shave (once he's rediscovered how to make a razor). He can then keep his beard hair... yeah, I don't yet know what for, but I do know you can use it as fuel for your fire if it's an emergency!

It's quite, quite mad, but thoroughly engrossing and far better than I was expecting. It also appears to be under some level of ongoing development as there's some addition to do with caves turning up in a week or so.

Single player, stylised hand-drawn graphics, kooky soundtrack, very atmospheric, and unmitigatedly brutal, but still offering some hope that if you can call it right you might just survive.

Oh, did I mention the ravenous dogs? Forget I said anything... ;)
 

Nanor

Well-Known Member
I was thinking of picking this up when it comes out on sale. Seems a bit like Project Zomboid but a bit kookier. Can you build anything in terms of structures?
 

Ronin Storm

Administrator
Staff member
I was thinking of picking this up when it comes out on sale. Seems a bit like Project Zomboid but a bit kookier. Can you build anything in terms of structures?
Hmm, I'm not sure the Project Zomboid comparison works for me, though my last experience of PZ was 18 months ago or more. From a rudimentary perspective, I guess they share the same mechanics of "find stuff, combine stuff, make new stuff, hopefully survive better". DS feels more slick, though, as the building is more based on recipes and the trick is discovering the items to create new recipes to build new stuffs.

You can build, though I can't comment on more than walls, chests, your strange research devices, farms, and firepits. I think there's more but I haven't built them yet. I know that Fae has played DS far more than me so she might confirm, though I'm also partly trying not to spoil you first play through beyond what is hinted at in trailers. I enjoyed the experience of "hey, here's the world... your mission? don't starve!" and not knowing anything much helped make that first play work for me really well. I kinda refuse to go look up more information. ;)
 

SwampFae

Super Moderator
Staff member
Guten Abend!
You can indeed build und research a myriad of things. One thing I can recommend is having a crockpot at your home base, as well as any other base camps you build. having a firepit in the middle of your camp is a huge plus. I'd also recommend for winter; rabbit earmuffs as well as a heatstone.
I can confirm the items Ronin spoke up in the post above =^.^=

Longest lifetime in-game: 35 days survival before insanity got me JUST before sunrise XD

If anyone would like more info, feel free to poke me!
 
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