Game profile
Don't Starve
In a darkly drawn wilderness, food, sanity, and survival must be balanced against monsters looming night after night. The distinctive Tim Burton like style and unforgiving world keep tension constant.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is Survival / Sandbox, set in a fantasy world. Visually it is deliberately stylised rather than photorealistic, and the overall tone stays dark throughout. The world is open, so wandering off and ignoring the main path is part of the deal. It rewards long uninterrupted stretches more than quick check-ins.
It is genuinely demanding, and repeated failure is part of how it is designed. Story exists mostly as background texture rather than a reason to keep going. Co-op is supported, so you can bring someone along. It is available broadly, on 5 platforms. It sits in the budget bracket.
What stands out
- dark art style
- day night survival struggle
- high difficulty
This fits you if
- exploring for its own sake is the point for you
- you actually want to be scared
- you would rather build something than be told what to do
- you can sit down for a proper long stretch without interruptions
- you like getting lost and ignoring the main objective for hours
- you want real resistance and are fine with dying a lot
Look elsewhere if
- you want to relax and not be punished for mistakes
- you only ever get short bursts of play time
- you want something light and easy going
How long is Don't Starve?
About 40 hours in total. At three evenings a week and two hours each, you will be busy for roughly 7 weeks, or 20 sessions.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 79 out of 100, which puts it above 25 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 904 overall. That is the lower end of this database, critics were more reserved here than with most titles. The number does not tell you whether a game is exactly right for the right evening, though.
For comparison, Survival averages 80 points across the database, so this one is right in line with its genre. The figure rests on 396 collected ratings.
Released in 2013, which makes it 13 years old. A genuine classic, and worth checking how the version you buy holds up today.
The facts
- Release year
- 2013
- Genres
- Survival, Sandbox
- Playtime
- approx. 40 hrs.
- Difficulty
- Demanding, punishing
- Story weight
- Background flavour
- Play with
- Solo, Co-op
- Setting
- Fantasy
- Visual style
- Stylised
- Price bracket
- Budget
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, Mobile
- Critic rating
- 79 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Don't Starve | 2013 | approx. 40 hrs. | 79 | Budget |
| Vintage Story | 2018 | approx. 80 hrs. | 88 | Budget |
| Hytale | 2026 | approx. 60 hrs. | 85 | Mid price |
| Palworld | 2026 | approx. 60 hrs. | 81 | Mid price |
If you liked this, try these
- 88/100 Vintage Story Shared: Survival, Sandbox, Fantasy, longer
- 85/100 Hytale Shared: Survival, Sandbox, Fantasy, longer
- 81/100 Palworld Shared: Survival, Sandbox, Fantasy, longer
- 90/100 Valheim Shared: Survival, Sandbox, Fantasy, longer
- 80/100 RuneScape: Dragonwilds Shared: Survival, Sandbox, Fantasy, longer
- n/a Soulmask Shared: Survival, Sandbox, Fantasy, longer