Why I am addicted to Don’t Starve Together? Don’t Starve together is a standalone multiplayer survival game from Klei Entertainment. It is the expansion of the original game ‘Don’t starve’, which was already addictive I presume. What is the game about, you ask? Well, the title of the game says it all: you have to make sure you survive by any means possible. Fight enemies, work together with others, build a camp, and most importantly, don’t starve!
A little background on Don’t Starve Together
Let me gently ease you into my obsession. In the world of Don’t Starve Together, your character is abducted from the ‘normal’ world and lands in a strange world full of heavy weather conditions. and dangerous creatures. However, in this world darkness is your biggest enemy. An enemy named Charlie creeps around in the dark, snatches you or your campfire, and leaves you defenseless. The game could have easily been called ‘Stay in the light’ or ‘Got Fire?’ Or how about ‘Look out for Charlie!’
You start out with Wilson and unlock characters as you go. Each character has perks. You play as a sturdy lumberjack, a boy scout with a loyal dog, a girl arsonist, and many more. My favorite character is a blond girl named Wendy. I did not (just) choose her because she is blond like me. Yes, she loves banana popsicles and flowers, and hates warm weather just like myself. But I picked her based on her perk: Wendy has a magic flower that summons her dead twin sister’s Abigail. Abigail protects Wendy from attacks. And well, she keeps you company with her ghostly presence. Do you want to know what makes people choose different gender in games? We did a poll and asked a group of ladies ‘What gender do you prefer to play?’ and here’s what they answered!
What makes Don’t Starve Together appealing?
Why do I (and 40.000 players other players) play DST? Why is it so appealing? I will give you 3 reasons!
1. The art style
Reason number one is the art style being rich and appealing. Which is more important than some people think. Even though this is a survival game in a world where everything wants to kill you, the cartoonish look and feel of the game are so damn cute. So you get the thrills, but not the nightmares, which is a big bonus. This offsets many near-death experiences that I, or rather Wendy, have had in this game.
2. The diversity of the game
The main goal of the game is survival. But there are a lot of ways you can play. You can focus on building and perfecting your camp. Grow a vegetable garden, invent new dishes, have pet birds and decorate your camp. Soon you will have made a perfect home in a forest or on a field surrounded by piggies or bunnies. But never assume you are safe. Stay alert or have another camp ready to jump ship in case of an attack. Remember, the game looks cute but everything will try to KILL you.
More adventurous gamers might explore the many different areas of the world on the mainland, in the caves, and even at sea. Believe me, I have been playing for a long time and have yet to discover every area this game offers. Mostly because I die a lot… Exploring can be pretty dangerous when you suddenly find yourself being attacked by giant worms, bunnies and shadow monkeys down in a cave. Even at sea you aren’t safe. But adventuring is worth risking starvation, frostbite, drowning, catching on fire, being stung by bees, vicious hounds chasing you, quicksand, being hit by a meteor, etc. Right?
3. The amount of (side) quests
If you are all set with your base camp, a spare camp, and maybe another spare camp just to be sure, there are many quests to pick up. Try to defeat Krampus and his minions, play games at the lunar event, and earn prizes or befriend the hermit crab Pearl on a deserted island that is in love with the Crab King. And the beauty of Don’t Starve Together is… there are always new quests or special timed events added to the game. This keeps the game interesting, even for old-timers like me. plus, if you take a break from the game and come back you will find that there are always some new things do to!
How does one become a DST addict?
Okay, so not everyone who plays this game will become addicted. And I do not get addicted to every survival game I ever play. There are a few things that got me hooked on this particular survival game. PerziaN introduced me to the game. She played Willow (the arsonist) and I was Wendy. We didn’t do very well at first. I think she had to resurrect me 4 times within a timespan of a couple of game days and then died of low health and we had to start all over again.
I can get a tiny bit competitive, and perfectionistic. And I can’t stand dying a lot in a game. But sadly We died a lot. Every new danger that came along got us killed. We would die, make preparations, and somehow die even harder. Things started to get obsessive. I remember sometimes playing until 4 in the morning and only stopping to get some sleep before work. Our only goal was to outlive the previous gaming session.
Eventually, the obsession was paying off. We survived longer and learned new ways to protect ourselves. And fast forward to now, we have a running game in which we survived for over 1100 days, build multiple shortcuts, have multiple camps, and tried to kill a lot of the game’s big bosses. One time we both died and had to fly in a friend to resurrect us before our spirits got released to the spirit realm and the game would reset. With this level of dedication and with all the new challenges, I can’t imagine ever giving up this game. The only real challenge is to maintain a balanced schedule, and not play the game into the deep hours of the night, and sacrifice sleep.
Tell us about your addiction!
You know, addiction can come in different forms. For example, not long ago Ivey told us her story about what her addiction looked like and why she had to stop playing Animal Crossing. Do you currently have any game addictions or obsessions? Please let me know in the comment section below!
