Don’t Starve: your January survival guide

Say pal, you don’t look so good. You better find something to eat before the night comes!” This is the closest you get to a tutorial, or even a storyline, in the aptly named Don’t Starve, a fantasy survival simulator from Klei Entertainment (Shank, Mark of the Ninja). These words emanate from the thin, pallid lips of a sharply dressed ‘Maxwell’, shortly before he dissolves into the ground. With Maxwell gone, you (aka. ‘Wilson’) now find yourself completely alone in an expansive wilderness of evergreens and berry bushes. This game gives a fantastic first impression. It has a very striking art style; a sinister, sepia-toned world inhabited by dark, mysterious characters akin to those in a Tim Burton film. In the corner of the screen there is what appears to be a clock, ticking down the minutes you have until the sun drops below the horizon. Below the clock is a health meter and a hunger meter which, along with the game’s title and Maxwell’s one pearl of wisdom, subtly suggests one objective – try not to starve.

I spend the first few minutes scrabbling furiously to collect supplies for the night; collecting berries because they’re probably edible, collecting flint because it’s probably useful, and collecting flowers because they’re… well, they’re just there! With pockets now full of rocks and twigs, the clock’s hand shifts into the darker region – night time. All of a sudden the world takes on an eerie, purple hue. It’s not too dark though, so I presume I can stay up chopping trees ‘til dawn; how dark could it go, really? The answer to that is VERY! Before I know what’s happened the screen turns black. In a panic, and with the few supplies available to me, I manage to fashion a torch. This illuminates the area just in time for me to see a spider hurtling my way. If Pokémon has taught me anything it’s that fire and bugs don’t mix, so armed with my mighty torch I take on my assailant in a gruelling fight to the death.

As I finally defeat my eight-legged adversary, the sun begins to rise over my own little colosseum. As the darkness retreats, I spot my late foe’s loot – weird purple meat. It’s only now that I realise how the fight has taken its toll; my hunger is low and my health even lower. If there was a time to dip into my meagre supply of food it was now. The few berries I have fill my hunger-meter just enough to take the pressure off. My health however is still worryingly low, so I decide to eat the mysterious spider meat. With that, everything I once held so dear showers down around me in a beautiful fountain of petals and pine cones. The computer informs me: “You are dead!” Note to self – don’t eat whatever it is spiders drop.
This process repeats itself several times. I collect supplies during the day; make a fire at night, maybe surviving a few days longer each time until, like clockwork, I find a new thing that can kill me. Now this may sound a little repetitive, maybe even frustrating, but every time I find myself back at the main menu I’m itching to try again.

Not only because I know how to survive that little bit longer now, but because with every play through, I discover a whole host of new creatures and items. Around day 3, I usually have enough materials to build a ‘science machine’. This allows me to research better tools and armour, animal traps for food, and even a range of hats that Team Fortress wouldn’t be ashamed of. The amazing thing is that this isn’t even the full game yet (expected release date: March 2013). Every fortnight or so, the game is updated with the latest enemies, items and game-play mechanics cooked up by the scheming minds at Klei Entertainment. They are allegedly considering the introduction of seasons, and an Amnesia style sanity-meter to push even the most veteran survivalist to their mental and physical limits.

Like even the strongest chain however, this game inevitably has its weaknesses. The most predominant flaw for me personally, is the current lack of end game. I like a game in which you can see yourself making progress towards an ultimate objective; a journey with a clear, unequivocal destination. In Don’t Starve however, once you’ve researched and made one of every item, and killed and eaten one of every creature, there isn’t really a lot left to do. If you’ve not starved for one night, you’ve not starved for them all. If, as rumour has it, seasons are eventually introduced, this will certainly increase the game’s replay value; but the core game still remains, with its one, monotonous, unrewarding objective. Maybe this will be changed in the final release, but until then, it’s this game’s one major downfall in my book.

The second issue on my list is the small inventory size. Now I know this will have been carefully calculated and planned out, but I find it detracts from the exploration aspect of the game. Yes, it can be increased by wearing a backpack, but then you can’t don your favourite amour without leaving behind the stacks of feathers and fangs you’ve collected on your latest outing. Who knows, maybe I’ve just been spoilt by the colossal pockets of Skyrim’s Dovahkiin and Minecraft’s Steve.

Finally, this may not be a bad thing, but the man vs. nature theme of the game makes me feel like Don’t Starve is preaching a green, eco-friendly message; but who cares? Once I’ve completely destroyed this once thriving ecosystem, I can just spawn another.

In a genre which has (arguably) been popularised by games such as Minecraft and Terraria, Don’t Starve certainly has a firm foot in the door.

Pre-purchase now, and get instant beta access on Steam or dontstarvegame.com.