I remember when Klei’s self-explanatory classic Don’t Starve came out, survival-crafting games as we know them now felt new and novel. “Surely this is a passing fad,” I must have thought. Well, my adolescent hot takes aged about as well as a Beefalo steak in the hot sun—Don’t Starve Together is bigger than ever, having just hit a new all-time concurrent player count peak on Steam, according to SteamDB.
The last time this happened was in 2023, when a steep discount caused the game to go from around 50,000 players to around 100,000. It’s a similar story this time, as right now the game is available for less than $2, and peaked earlier today at 122,662 players all not starving simultaneously.
As I write this, it’s settled down to around 68,000 players, which is still absurd for a game of its tenure—DST originally released in 2016. Its singleplayer counterpart is still on our list of the best survival games on PC, and its hand-drawn art style has probably helped it along; the game hasn’t visibly aged a day in all that time.
If you’re unfamiliar with Don’t Starve, the title could serve as a full instruction manual. I think the kids these days might think of it as “wikislop,” given how deep the rabbit hole goes on its various crafting systems and secrets, but that’s half the fun.
Unlike some other survival-crafts, which quickly bloom into creative sandboxes, Don’t Starve is more about adding as many years as possible onto your best time, trying to stave off hunger, monsters, and insanity for as long as you can. You can get to a point where it’s possible to explore at your leisure, but you’ve got to fight for it.
Given that the original, solo-only Don’t Starve only has a few thousand people playing it on Steam right now, it makes sense that the upcoming Don’t Starve Elsewhere is focusing on co-op as well—the series’ transition to multiplayer has clearly been a huge hit. Here’s hoping that new game lives up to the hype that ferments in a decade.
Read the full article here
