Don’t Starve is hard enough, challenging players to gather resources, exploring areas from their home base, and fending off the many dangers that lurk in the shadows and underground. The Reign of Giants DLC further adds to the madness with new creatures and other features, and as we experienced at PAX East, it not only raises the difficulty of surviving, but it’s also fun and hilarious.
Two characters, Webber and Wigfried join the cast in the DLC. Webber has the ability to befriend spiders as a result of having an incident with a spider. Wigfried only eats meat and has the spirit of a Viking warrior. Both have their own abilities, just like the other characters, which adds more fun to the mix.
In the past, the game only had two seasons, but Reign of Giants will feature all four seasons. The new seasons, spring and summer feature heavy rain and strong fires, which should change the strategy of some players. There are also new biomes such as a deciduous forest and badlands. In addition there are now “safe” biomes at different times of the year. For example the Volt Goat, which lives in the desert biome, becomes aggressive when hit by electricity, so their area is not the best place to be in during the spring, but in all other seasons, it’s a very calm creature.
Challenges are more frequent this time around to force players to keep moving around to find a new habitat and resources, but the elephant in the room are the five big giants in the game. There are four unique giants for each season. During the playthrough we encountered a large and aggressive firefly that burned everything in its path. There is also a fifth giant that is bigger than the rest and can come in at any moment. All of these giants can be beaten in other ways than combat. For example, feeding the badger honey will keep it calm. There are also new craftable items to stay on top of every obstacle such as the Ice-Fling-O-Matic, which works like a fire extinguisher when put in the middle of burning crops.
Even with these new additions, Reign of Giants stays true to the original. The additions feel natural and work well with the base game by adding more terror and more challenges, to make surviving a little harder. For those who have mastered the original game, prepare to take on a new challenge, and for those who have yet to survive past a few days, good luck.
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