Don't Starve

Each time I play it, I learn new mechanics. Each time I die in a new, unexpected way. Really, there are so many things going on it looks like you could never finish it. Then you realize there are several DLCs that add yet more content to it and you almost feel overwhelmed. The graphics are gorgeous, the music is in perfect tune with the settings, I took the game on sale and it was the money best spent in my life. Literally. If I have to make a criticism, I don't like the combat system. It makes the game very punishing, especially because it implements perma-death. I'd prefer to just focus on the survival aspects, instead of having to fight each now and then, although I reckon it only adds more depth to the game. Surely one of the best games of the last decade available on GOG. Definitely a must-buy.

This game is super hard and will kill you a lot when you first start playing it. It has structured crafting which is great. You'll see the things you can craft and what you need to craft them but you have to research most of them first. The title is very appropriate. Despite all the enemies and various hazards hunger is your biggest enemy. It can be hard to find a reliable food source and even when you do, you'll have to keep your food from spoiling. There are different characters with different traits to play and the worlds are proceedurally generated so there's tons of replay value here. Not a game for anyone who prefers a more guided experience. But for anyone who likes to sandbox it up a bit, it is worth every penny. Also important to note that the game gets frequent updates and the developers listen to their fans.

There's a lot of things in this game that are fairly non-intuitive that are important to know, else you'll get ruined. Why did this particular super powerful thing show up and kill me? Oh it is something to do with some hidden game logic because I killed too many of this one thing. I can appreciate that they were trying to make you consider the consequences of your actions and balance your survival techniques, but they take it to such an extreme that I'm constantly having to look stuff up. Not my kind of survival game. It's like watching a movie with non-nonsensical plot twists.

the two stars are for the premise and the artwork which are great. the rest of the game play rots. If you enjoy starting over and over and losing whatever work you just hammered out as you 'learn' the game then this annoying game is for you. It ends up being just a learned sequence of activities that get you to survive the longest, dont stray from that plan or expect to start over and redo all the steps over again right to where you left off, then play for another 5 minutes before you run into something new .. which kills you ...then start over.... repeat ad nauseum. really dont understand the personality that finds repetition fun. do yourself a favor and watch a 'lets play' and see if its for you. i didnt and bought into all the 5star hype reviews, a common problem with gog.

I've been a gamer for more than 20 years now, and of late have been more and more underwelmed with the dumbed-down, me-too clone nature of most modern games. So I got "Don't Starve" on a promo, expecting it to be a little thing with simple graphics but "hey, it's on promo so let's give it a try and support an indie developer". What a great surprise: - It's huge: every time you play a new world gets generated; the developers keep adding new content (for free!); everytime you think you figured out The Trick (to beat the game) it throws you a surprise; it has layer after layer of objectives and goals and suprises and ways to use items and things to beat in this game. - The graphics are just right: simple yet highly satisfying, with the right look mixed in with the right music to create a self-mocking, creepy and dark-humour-filled atmosphere. - The game manages to get the right balance between challange, frustration and reward, pulling you back in again and again to give it another try. It's basic mechanics might look simple at first glance and yet there are A LOT of unexpected ways to use items and tools which open up whole new venues to try and beat the game (only to be surprised yet again when the game world takes an unexpected turn) Don't Starve is quite a breath of fresh air in the stale world of gaming, more so with a group of developers that actually care for their customers and just keep improving and growing the game for free, a rare thing nowadays.