BENGALURU: Why am I playing ‘Don’t Starve Together’ a full seven years after its initial release? I told myself that it was because I had only ever played its single-player predecessor ‘Don’t Starve’, but if I’m honest there’s really not all that much difference between the two.
Both versions are wilderness survival games, throwing me into a universe where I control a character, from up high in my isometric perch. From here on, I have just one goal, to keep this delicate character alive by feeding them and keeping them safe from the horrors that surround them.
The days are relatively straightforward, but packed. I calmly guide the character through a variety of spine-chilling hurdles to scavenge for food and resources. A few of these hurdles include hordes of bees, families of frogs, and a tree that’s upset because I tried to axe it down. Food is the main goal.
Apart from the occasional carrot or berry bush, a vegan diet in the game is unsustainable. But before we can hunt, we need a spear. And to build one, I need twigs, rope, and flint, all of which I need to find as well. Not to mention the wood for my campfire, which I need to set up before nightfall. After dark it’s a different story, but I’ll let you experience that for yourselves. And then this all happens again the next day. This time, we set out to hunt beasts for meat. The aim of the game is, after all – to not starve.
It’s the regular rhythm of the day and night cycles that is the actual genius of the game. It’s what hooks you. It makes you say, “Why not just one more night. I can build that Alchemy Engine, so that I can create an Opulent Pickaxe to smash down bigger rocks!” And with a tree of items to build, there’s something that you’re working towards every day and every night. It’s a game you can spend an embarrassing amount of time on. I would know.
But this doesn’t answer my first question. Why am I playing ‘Don’t Starve Together’ seven years after its initial release when it’s not really that different from the original?
Nostalgia perhaps. I hadn’t played the game in a while, and I wanted to know what it felt like. It could be all different now, like walking back into your primary school decades after its all over. But not much has changed. So what? Who needs unpredictability and fresh experiences when you can seek comfort in friendly, pixelated landscapes!
Not that it’s exactly the same. The game has gotten bigger. ‘Don’t Starve Together’ now has a staggering selection of characters. When I first played the game, there were hardly three characters to choose from. And their “stats” were not significantly different from one another to create unique experiences every time I played it. But now, there are 20. Ranging from WX-78, an automaton that can upgrade itself but dies in the rain, to Warly, who has portable cookware and starter vegetables to keep himself stuffed, but hates anything that isn’t gourmet. Some of them are more challenging to master than others, but on the whole, provide a varied experience to keep people coming back to the game.
If I am being honest though, none of these are the real reason I bought the game this week. As I write this article, ‘Don’t Starve Together’ is priced at the lowest it has ever been, with a 66% discount on the Steam store. It is now only `156. Buying a single game allows you to gift it to one other person, who you can convince to play the game with you. You should, it’s a fun game with friends. If the PC version is not for you, ‘Don’t Starve Together’ is now on almost all consoles — including the Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.