Don't Starve is an indie survival horror game developed by Klei Entertainment. Starving is the least of the player's problems when everything, up to and including their character's own mind, is trying to kill them. Many resources are finite and the random attacks become stronger as time goes on. There are two variations to the game, each with its strong suits.
The base game, often referred to as Don't Starve Alone, is a single-player game with its own DLCs to connect with where solo players try to survive as long as possible. The multiplayer version, Don't Starve Together, has its own slew of unique features. Following the story of the base game, it canonically takes place under the control of the darkness itself and has expanded the world to be even more dangerous than that of the first.
10 Base Game: Expansive DLCs Enhance Replayability
Reign of Giants added more seasons, difficult bosses, and an entirely new mob to help with sanity that only appears during the full moon. The DLC was eventually ported over to Together, but some features still are exclusive to the base game. The other two DLC packs, Shipwrecked and Hamlet, are both still exclusive to the base game and add more parts of the Constant to explore.
Shipwrecked allows the player to explore a whole archipelago and try to survive in a much more unforgiving world with its own seasons and dangers, including wetness and poison. Hamlet takes the player to the home of the Pigs, an area that has been far more cultured and developed than anywhere else. It allows for the player to build their own house and interact with society again while understanding the moon's curse on their new friends.
9 Together: Consistent Updates Keep The Gameplay Loop Fresh
Due to the fact that the game can be played across long distances with friends or strangers on the internet, Don't Starve Together is wildly popular. It makes sense that the developers chose to add more features and continually update it to appeal to its larger player base.
There are new refreshes to characters, features, and methods of survival that just aren't present in the base game. It also gives a little more control over the world's generation and customization options to the host, and bugs are much more quickly addressed than in the base game.
8 Base Game: Mobs Are Easier
In order to account for the fact there are more players, Together ramped up how hard every one of the monsters is to fight. Something that can be easily tanked in the base game requires the aid of friends, or else some really good kiting skills.
If a player isn't as fond of fighting, Together can be a lot less fun than the base game where monsters aren't as plentiful or difficult. It makes it so base game players have to worry a little less about the danger of the monsters and focus more on evading the darkness, keeping sanity where it needs to be, and of course, not starving.
7 Together: Can Be Played Solo Or With Friends
Just because it's marketed to groups doesn't mean that Together has to be played with them. Many players prefer the updated character refreshes, mechanics, events, customization options, and the unique spread of monsters that feels more complete than those in the base game. It also automatically includes most of Reign of Giants, negating the need to buy that DLC.
Additionally, it can be played in groups with friends and family as long as there's an adequate internet connection to the host, making it so many players can enjoy each other's company through the game, which is always a major draw of multiplayer games. In fact, it even encourages this by granting everyone who purchases the game from Steam a code to gift to someone else and bring them along for the fun.
6 Base Game: No Internet Connection Required
Games that rely heavily on an internet connection, including Together, make it so that players with shaky internet aren't able to play reliably. The base game of Don't Starve negates the need for a constant internet connection, intended to be played in isolated comfort.
Of course, the initial download and any patches require an internet connection, but that's a small price to play in the modern world where so many games demand a constant connection.
5 Together: Players Can Apply Skins
Every day that the player logs into the game, they're granted a daily gift, usually some form of clothing. Playing the game will result in a gift occasionally as well, and participating in Klei-sanctioned external events can also grant new looks for the characters or the items within the game. These can even be unwoven to grant more spools to use to purchase things the player might actually want, including brand new characters exclusive to Together.
Alternatively, most of them are available for purchase, with sales being frequent for already cheap transactions that are never required or shoved into the player's face.
4 Base Game: Old Bell And Bigfoot Are Major Boons
The biggest thing missing from the Reign of Giants port in Together is the inclusion of the Old Bell, an item used to summon Bigfoot. Bigfoot, a literal giant foot, can do massive amounts of damage to unfortunately placed players and mobs, level forests, and crush bases. That being said, it would be rather unfair to include in the multiplayer variation.
The Old Bell can be found as a blueprint by mining Glommer's Statue and has the unfortunate requirement of needing the drops from the bug itself in order to fashion. Killing Glommer generates enough naughtiness to immediately spawn the Krampus, but if he happens to die from a trap or a hound wave, they can be safely collected to gain access to the ridiculously powerful Bigfoot.
3 Together: The Updated Farming Mechanics Are A Must-Have
The updated farming mechanics in Together are something to cherish. Instead of one seed per plot, more effort has to be put in and thus each plot can hold even more plants. There's also the chance of growing large crops that will drop extras if the garden is taken care of well, as well as some new tools to make and help out around the place.
The best part about this is that most of the new plants can even grow in the winter, making for a reliable source of food, fillers, and materials that the base game just doesn't have to the same extent.
2 Base Game: Adventure Mode Enhances The Experience
Finding the story in either of the Don't Starve games can be a little difficult, but Adventure Mode in the base game shows, with terrifying clarity, why the Constant and Maxwell are the way they are.
Adventure Mode is a collection of multiple worlds to run through with increasing difficulty in order to face up against the main antagonist himself, who's locked onto a Nightmare Throne waiting for an unfortunate soul to take his place. This is also how the player can unlock Wes and Maxwell as player characters, and dying within Adventure Mode just kicks them back to the Constant to try again instead of clearing the file.
1 Together: Aiding Other Players Adds A New Dimension
While the base game has the ability to pause and Together doesn't, there's the bonus benefit in the multiplayer game of helping other people who had to step away from the keyboard for any reason. There's nothing worse than needing to go to the bathroom, forgetting to pause the game, and coming back to a "You Died" screen. This is totally avoidable in Together with the help of other players.
Other players can feed an idle character, hand them items, or split up their time to each gather resources in the horrifically short daylight hours, utilizing each character and player's individual skills to help or hinder the group as a whole.