Saturday, May 25, 2013

Don't Starve - An Addiction We Can All Enjoy

Like many of you I have a busy life.  Full time job, hobbies, chores, family, etc.  One of my guilty pleasures is indulging in video games.  My favorites are Civ V, WoW and GuildWars 2, with a few mobile games like PvZ rounding out my on-the-go entertainment.

I'm in the process of getting a novel published (the beginning, looking for an agent portion of the process).  The last thing I need is another time sink.  Enter my loving spouse who insisted I try Don't Starve.  I was hooked!

You initially play Wilson, waking up in a strange world.  You run around, gather materials, make tools and prepare for night.  Rinse repeat.  Sound fun?  Believe me, it's so addictive!

You have to keep an eye on your tummy meter (so you don't starve), your sanity meter (if it gets low you start seeing things) and your health meter (so the spiders don't kill you).  Different resources keep one or more of these up.  You can craft increasingly complex devices.  Exploration is important to locate resources and dangers.

If you survive long enough you unlock other characters.  I won't ruin it for you by saying any more than that.  The great joy and frustration of this game is discovery.

A final note on the graphics - they're fantastic!  Creepy and well done, cartoony with a dash of Nightmare Before Christmas flavor.

My recommendation - support an indie game that's cheap, fun and won't nickel and dime you to death with in app/game purchase options.  Oh, and there's no subscription fee :)

2 comments:

  1. I'm going to have to try this game!

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  2. Going to check this game out.

    If you ever want to bum around in GW2 or conquer the world in Civ V, well, I play both religiously.

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