A survival game on Steam is so good I’m ashamed to have only paid €1.49 for it

MeinMMO author Dariusz Müller is a fan of shooters and survival games. He’s also incredibly stingy, which is why he bought Don’t Starve Together for just €1.50 in an offer on Steam. But he likes the game so much that for the first time he has the feeling that he paid too little for a game.

I love survival games. Games like ARK or Sons of the Forrest fascinate me. The constant sense of threat and the need to build a safe haven make me a fan of the genre. I prefer titles in the first-person perspective because I appreciate the greater immersion.

That’s why I avoided Don’t Starve Together for a long time. Despite the fairly cheap price, I could never be tempted to buy it because I thought the game lacked aspects that I value in survival games. And oh my god, I was so wrong.

I knew the game was supposed to be good and had a lot of praise, but I just couldn’t imagine myself enjoying the design even if it only costs €15.

So, after much hesitation, I decided to buy Don’t Starve Together on sale. It was reduced from €14.99 to €1.49 until May 05, 2023. In parts of Germany you don’t even get a scoop of ice cream for that. If I don’t like it, it doesn’t hurt the wallet – or the cheapskate who owns it.

But I wasn’t disappointed. On the contrary, I was impressed. Don’t Starve Together is fantastic – in his own way. In fact, I like the game so much that I’m ashamed that I paid so little for it. It is worth significantly more than 1.49 euros.

The cranky lumberjack and his first steps

My hope with Don’t Starve Together was that I’d play the game for a few minutes while waiting for my fellow players before we jump into shooters like Rainbow Six: Siege or Overwatch 2. That’s how my first session came about.

Without really reading in, I chose Woody as my first character – an odd bearded man with a lumberjack look who has a particular dislike for trees.

Shortly thereafter I strolled off and was immediately captivated by the atmosphere and the background music. My oddball lumberjack also turned out to be the perfect choice for me, because what survival gamer doesn’t happily go off to collect tons of wood?

So I cut down one tree after the other, grabbed a carrot or berry here and there to satisfy my hunger and explored the first few meters of the map. My attempts to hit one of the swift birds with the ax failed and so I soon went into battle against a bee.

However, this nasty bee was not alone and, despite my beloved axe, I was comparatively weakly armed and even less protected. So there it was, my first death. He wasn’t long in coming.

Woody’s death turned out to be permanent and because I was playing alone on the server it went straight to a newly generated map. Let’s go for the second attempt.

New Woody, new luck?

Curious as I am, I set out again with Woody and his ax to explore the vastness of the forest – and died again. However, I don’t remember what exactly killed Woody this time, because there were several more failed attempts to learn about the dangers of the map.

There is so incredibly much in Don’t Starve Together that can make you feel – much more than just hunger. As I was able to discover, the darkness is also one of them.

So I was once again on a reconnaissance tour and now knew some dangers that I should avoid. The first day passed and before I knew it, night fell on me. “Okay,” I thought, and spontaneously wanted to light a torch or a campfire – but by then it was over for me. In a matter of seconds, Woody was torn and another respawn was imminent.

Bit by bit I got to know the surprisingly many facets of the game. Progress came only through failure, accompanied by a variety of sound effects and melodies that reflect my tragic attempts at walking in Don’t Starve Togehter.

Over time, I tested other characters as well, but returned to the lumberjack. While Woody didn’t get up again when he fell, he always indulged his fascination with chopping wood. And the survival player in me did the same.

In a sudden end in the cold winter

Eventually Woody and I even made it to winter. Although it brought a deadly cold, it looked good that we would survive the icy season. We were well prepared and thought of everything – except for problems that we didn’t know about.

Let me put it this way: I’ve been caught off guard yet again by this ruthless game, and while you’re reading this, Woody and I are probably starting afresh. Winter didn’t end as planned, but that makes Don’t Starve Together a special experience and a bargain purchase that I don’t regret.

I now also know what MeinMMO editor Maik Schneider was talking about when he said Don’t Starve Together broke him.

Rock hard survival game broke me while it looks like it’s for kids