Don't Starve VS Don't Starve Together - A Buyer's Guide

Thinking about purchasing a Don't Starve game but aren't sure which one to get? Confused by the different bundles and titles sold on the various platform stores? Well this video is for you! In this Buyer's Guide to the Don't Starve Franchise, I review all the different purchase options, and give several recommendations based on common factors people are likely to consider when buying the game. And the good news is that they're all pretty fantastic, so whatever you choose, you're bound to have a great time!

CONTENTS:
00:00 Introduction
01:26 Understanding the Different Versions
02:19 Vanilla Don't Starve - the Original Game
03:25 Reign of Giants - the First DLC Expansion
04:20 Shipwrecked - the Second DLC Expansion
05:49 Hamlet - the Third DLC Expansion
06:56 Review of Single-Player Don't Starve
08:12 Console Versions and Bundles
09:18 Pocket Editions for iOS and Android
10:08 Don't Starve - Newhome
10:38 Don't Starve Together
12:06 DST Character - Same, but Different
13:14 Review of Don't Starve Together
13:43 Recommendations Intro
14:26 Biggest Bang for your Buck
15:08 Best Bang for Lowest Cost
15:35 Steam (Computer) vs Console
16:13 Playing with Other People
16:41 Best Solo Experience - Personal Recommendation
18:33 Counter Points for DST
19:06 Final Thoughts and Outro

As for which game is actually "better", I personally think that's a silly question to ask, and is kind of like asking what's the best flavor of ice cream. Yes, sometimes a new flavor of ice cream with lots of ingredients and toppings is fun to enjoy, but sometimes you just want a tried and true, rich and creamy vanilla, especially when you can enjoy it with fresh strawberries, or chocolate syrup, or caramel, or a mix of all three!

Be sure to check out the rest of my Don't Starve guides and content, and watch for livestreams as (usually) posted each week on my community page:

And if you want to join the House of Drak Discord Server and hang out and even game with a growing community of pretty chill people, here's an invite link!

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Game footage for this video is from Don't Starve and it's DLC expansions, Reign of Giants, Shipwrecked, and Hamlet, and Don't Starve Together, the delightful action-adventure sandbox survival games by indie developer Klei Entertainment. Interested in trying them out? Visit these links to learn more and/or purchase!

Music is from the Don't Starve Soundtrack, and was arranged and composed by Vince de Vera, Jason Garner, and/or Emmett Hall. Tracks featured in this video are "Reign of Giants Trailer", "Main", "D.R. Style", and the Hamlet track when working during Humid season, the fight music for the Eye of Terror from DST, as well as my own version of "Spring Cleaning" which I titled "Abigail's Waltz". Game footage, graphical assets, soundtrack, and sound effects used consistent with Klei Entertainment's "Player Creation Guidelines" as stated on their website:

Nothing in this video is sponsored by Klei Entertainment, and the commentary and information in this video do not represent the opinions or positions of any other entity whatsoever. Though if I could somehow get a kickback from Klei for all purchased made after watching this video, I would gladly accept!

[Crackgearson]

To stop the lagginess especially in Offline Mode in DST, you currently have the option to turn off Lag Prediction, which was the whole reason it existed.

[cyberwolfx]

Great video but you forgot to add that Don't Starve Together (at least on steam) comes with an extra copy as a gift. That adds a lot of extra value to DST specially when it's on sale.

[eevee]

One of my favourite experience with this series is that even after a LOT of hours in DST and beating all bosses in that game with a friend
Once I got to Shipwrecked and Hamlet, I was back to being a total noob, feeling extremely lost and confused, having to learn the way of the game all over again

[Gowly_]

If you’re lagging in dst while playing solo, consider using the “dont starve alone” server mod found in the workshop. Completely removes lag as long as it’s a singleplayer world.

[croteaumce]

I didn’t mean to spend twenty minutes watching your video, but it was edited for maximum helpfulness, and I really appreciated it.

[xray]

Minor footnote: the Switch Version is the least updated version of DST, on launch on Switch it only had every update until the Webber Character Refresh (which was the first version of DST Switch), then came everything up to the WX refresh like Klei said, but Wolfgang's Mighty Gym is bugged, and finally we got the "A Little Drama" update, while the Maxwell Rework is on every other version

[yanikkummerow]

A good thing about DST is, if u buy it on steam, u always get a extra copy of the game so u can gift to a friend. That makes DST kind of 7, 50EUR/$ per Person if u plan on playing with friends anyways. Very educational video :D <3

thank you for the well organized and detailed overview. i've collected all the games/dlcs over the years, but have always been confused over which version i ought to be playing, especially since i prefer to play alone, and for the longest time i thought i was impossible to play DST solo.

[EDreyer]

Exceptional quality content and video for such a small channel. Well done mate!

I have played both games and had this question many years ago, but without this video I just bought both, lol!

[everettgaspar]

This is such a comprehensive guide and I think it will help a lot of people!

[Spenstatzboi]

I always wanted one of the games because I like terraria but I never knew which one to buy, great video!

[gaminninja]

Honestly, with how good the development team has been with this game and the game being as good as it is and the passion, the team puts into the work they do I would just fall on say by both I’d say they well earned their dollars which is something I would not say about most video game industries in this day and age

[sunshepherdnow]

I don't really play any game beside a casual mobile game, but when I saw volx(?) dont starve gameplay, I decide to give it a try in 2015, and that was when I fell in love with the game. they have everything I wanted in a game: survival, sandbox, and really unique! also, I really like the game design, they're cute but has a horror touch on them, and that is amazing! I must say I'm not really good at boss fighting and spend most of my time to build a mega base, but that is why I love dont starve, you can just leave alone the bosses and fighting them later whenever you're ready. not to mention the dst content is top tier with their story line, the short animated videos, everything is *chefs kiss.

[elementochannel]

was thinking of what version to buy, but your video made it a easy decision. As there is an steam summer sale going on I can get the Mega bundle under $10. So, I bought it. Thanks for the great video

[ocean]

For anyone who is new when watching this video, just to let you know, don’t starve is SO WORTH IT. If your new, I HIGHLY recommend the vanilla and then RoG (Reign of Giants) for the first. It will be difficult but if your struggling, watch sale drakes guides as they are really helpful and gives good advice and info. This game will take hours out of your day (I have a day 340 world and if you do the math, that’s 45.33 hours and that world aside, I probably spent over 100 hours on Dont starve, IT IS SO WORTH IT

[datoneboog]

Another big thing to note when chosing, if you buy DST, it comes with a second game copy that you can gift to a friend so you technically get 2 copies of DST for $15 (w/o a sale)

[kylepro]

Love your videos! Especially the reign of giants guide, I saw many guide but its always on Dst, made me a little bit confused of their difference, made me happy that I found a guide about Rog

[readermcrose]

I've only ever played pocket edition and wanted to experience the best this game has to offer, but all the options had me overwhelmed. Thanks for making this video simplifying everything, it helped a lot!

[xeir_on]

I played dst as my first one, and after 2k+ hrs in ds overall, I can comfortably say that I couldnt pick a better one, dst is still my favorite ds, simply because its definitely the one with most content, and its kind of a mix of all ds dlcs, so when I started playing them, I quickly got hang of them, cus I already knew the base mechanics of them from dst (altought they still were pretty different)

[drunkcpa]

This guide is fantastic, well laid out.

As someone who has all versions on steam, Xbox, and a few of them on switch and PS4, I want to add 2 things -

If you are console ONLY, console versions of the single player games have some glitches that were patched on PC years ago, but the console ports weren’t fixed for (there’s a seasonal glitch that happens with caves). It’s a huge pain late game but you can still get 100s of hours without having the problems. But, for console, DST doesn’t have those glitches, so I’d suggest DST if you’re going console only.

The lag in DST he mentions IS a thing but you wouldn’t even realize it’s there most of the time unless you played solo for a while and switched. It’s more like input delay, just the tiniest bit always there, but he is right, the solo games are just a smoother experience. But the seasonal events in dst are great and the developers constant updates are great too.

Fantastic video recap