REVIEW: Don't Starve: Giant Edition

REVIEW: Don’t Starve: Giant Edition

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Let’s get this out of the way. Don’t Starve: Giant Edition is fantastic. It’s one of the most challenging and rewarding games I’ve ever played and it’s imbued with copious amounts of charm. The art style is unlike any other title out there and while it has some issues when it comes to selection controls, overall it’s quite a remarkable achievement in the survival genre. As the title suggests, the goal is to not starve. Well, at least the most basic goal. The game is much more complex than that.

Don’t Starve: Giant Edition starts you off in the middle of the wilderness with no supplies. You must collect materials and scavenge for food to make sure you maintain your hunger meter. Sound simple, right? It’s not. There are other attributes like sanity you must worry about. There isn’t a way to teach someone to play Don’t Starve: Giant Edition. In my opinion it involves a lot of trial and error and exploring the crafting menus. You can watch YouTube videos and read about the game but I feel that defeats the purpose of the title. The goal is to become that much smarter and knowledgeable about how to survive so on your next run you can use that to your advantage.

For example, in my first couple of playthroughs—death is permanent just so you know—I went in completely blind. I had no idea that there were monsters lurking in the darkness so it’s best to keep enough materials for multiple campfires and torches. Each death was a learning experience that prepared me for my next playthrough. At the moment of writing this review I’ve managed to keep my character alive for almost a month. I consider that quite an achievement.

Don’t get me wrong, this game is very hard. Initially it seems quite easy because scavenging resources is enough but as you progress through the title, it becomes harder and harder to find enough food. You have to come up with new ways to find nourishment for the body and mind. I would recommend spending a few minutes at night when you’re close to a campfire exploring the menus and looking at all the items you can craft and unlock. This will give you a good idea of what to acquire during the daytime. Daylight is a limited resource and venturing out at night not only exposes you to monsters but it can also lead to you freezing to death.

Trees and wild animals aren’t the only inhabitants of the area you’re left in. There are houses with graves you can dig, giant pigs with fancy homes…the list goes on and on. You also find odd contraptions lying around which may give you additional abilities. The game is filled with mystery and intrigue and has its own twisted sense of humor. It will keep you busy for dozens of hours if you want to experience everything it has to offer. Every playthrough is randomized so the area feels fresh each time. You can also unlock additional characters the more you play.

Another great addition to the package is the Reign of Giants expansion. While Don’t Starve on its own would’ve been enough, the developers combined it with what I consider to be a substantial amount of content. Not only are there seasons and biomes, but there are also terrifying new creatures and giants. However, the game becomes a little too difficult if you enable the expansion. I thought I had gotten the hang of Don’t Starve and then I created a new game with the expansion pack enabled. This proved to be my undoing because the difficulty spike is considerable.

Another important aspect of the game to note is that it runs at a smooth sixty frames per second. This is important because you engage in direct combat with monsters in the game at times and fighting those pesky spiders would be very difficult if the input response wasn’t instantaneous. I never encountered any stutters or slowdowns. It’s a welcome change from the titles I’ve been playing recently.

There are a few elements that Don’t Starve: Giant Edition can improve on. For starters, the difficulty of the game is rather steep and maybe incorporating a thorough tutorial would bring new players to the game. It would also serve as a great way to reduce some of the frustration that sets in trying to figure out everything at the start. It’s a rather daunting task and giving players a complete introduction on how to do well would’ve been a nice gesture.

Now comes my biggest issue with the title. The menu system which is used for selecting different items to craft and use seems twitchy and somewhat odd. You press left trigger to bring up the crafting menu and use the right stick to select items in the usage menu. However, to use them or perform other actions with them you have to use the D-pad. This is definitely an awkward design choice that takes a while to get used to. Surely there could’ve been a better way to design it.

Summary

Overall, Don’t Starve: Giant Edition is a fantastic addition to the Xbox One catalog. It provides a rather hardcore survival experience for fans of the genre. If you’re into games like The Flame in the Flood, definitely check this one out. It’s a very unique experience with humor, vast content and superb gameplay. While it’s challenging and requires a significant investment of time to master, it’s very rewarding when you do succeed. I can’t recommend this title enough.

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