The December 2021 Nintendo Indie World Showcase presented a number of already popular games coming soon to the Switch alongside new title reveals such as Pikselnesia’sAfterlove EP. For example,Chicory: A Colorful Talesurprise launched on the hybrid console today, andOmoriwill hit the platform in spring 2022. Another game releasing in spring 2022 isDon’t Starve Together.
While the originalDon’t Starvealready released on Switch in April 2018,Don’t Starve Togetheris essentially an entirely different experience. It’s a standalone multiplayer component, but one with so many additonal expansions and new mechanics that it’s hard to compare the two.Don’t Starve Togetheralso allows up to six players at once, making it more robust than the average co-op game. As a result,Togetheris worth checking out on Switch even if someone has played the original, and its release is just one piece ofDon’t Starvegetting a resurgence it deserves.
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What Makes Don’t Starve Special
Don’t Starveis an isometic roguelike survival game first released in 2013. While this put it a few years behind the mainstream surge of indie game popularity through titles likeBraid,Super Meat Boy, andThe Binding of Isaac,Don’t Starvecould arguably fit into this category. Developer Klei Entertainment had made something of a name for itself through titles likeShankandMark of the Ninja, butDon’t Starvewas its breakout success - to the extent that Wilson is a mascot for the studio to this day.
What setDon’t Starveapart from contemporaries is its art style. Klei essentially made a playable Tim Burton film reminiscent of twisted stop-motion works such asThe Nightmare Before ChristmasorCorpse Bride. Its Victorian aesthetic looks sketched and hand-drawn, andDon’t Starvepresents a world full of creepy imagery and conjoining forces of both science and magic that players must navigate after they’re dropped into the unforgiving wilderness.
Like some of the best survival games out there,Don’t Starveasks players to track a lot of information while looking for recurring elements to survive in each randomly generated world.Every playable character has unique skills, such as Wilson growing a beard that insulates him from the cold or Wendy summoning the ghost of her dead sister. They also all have varying stats; players have to track their health, hunger, and sanity; and other potential drawbacks like being afraid of the dark or limiting food options.Don’t Starve Togetheronly adds to the chaos with more characters, monsters, and objectives all its own.
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Don’t Starve’s Legacy Lives On
Though the developer has moved on to other projects that also garnered acclaim, like the sci-fi survival gameOxygen Not Includedor the deck-building roguelikeGriftlands,Don’t Starve Togetheris still receiving updates. The most recent was asurprise collaboration betweenDon’t StarveandTerraria, headlined by the appearance of Eye of Cthulhu (or Eye of Terror) inDon’t Starveand Deerclops inTerraria. This “An Eye for An Eye” content released on November 18.
Don’t Starve Togetheris available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It releases for Nintendo Switch in spring 2022.
