With the announcement of the Don’t Starve DLC Reign of Giants hinted to be coming out in August, perhaps a more in-depth look at the base game is needed for those unfamiliar with it. The game, recently released for the PlayStation 4, is also available on Steam for $14.99.

Don’t Starve is a survival adventure game, where you must forage, gather, and hunt for resources. You start out as Wilson, a scientist, and over the course of the game you can unlock different characters, each with their own set of skills or items exclusive to them. On day one, the main objective is to gather enough wood to last the first night. Crafting tools from branches and stone is not too difficult, so you should be alright for a while. Yet, if you let your sanity deteriorate, the shadows will come after you. So not only are you fighting off hunger and beasts, you must always be wary of the tricks that the mind can play upon you.

There are three things that you have to keep track of; your hunger, your sanity, and your health. Seeing monsters, eating particular foods, and being in the dark will drain your sanity; while fire, certain foods, and picking flowers will help restore it. Health is affected by, of course, getting hurt and can be healed in a few ways. If you kill a spider or destroy a spider nest, you can get spider glands which, on their own, will heal a bit of health. However, if you craft the glands along with 2 Ash and 1 Rock, you’ll get a salve that will greatly heal your character. There are a variety of weapons and traps you can craft in order to catch different types of food to keep your belly full through the harsh summers and long winters, such as bird traps and fishing poles.

If you like gathering, crafting, building, fighting monsters, games with dark humor, and just overall good games, I would definitely suggest you pick it up. Plus, there will soon be DLC for the game, introducing new elements that you must survive against. Reign of Giants is going to add new seasons, monsters, and items to the base game. There is no official release date as of yet, though it has been hinted to drop sometime in August, but a select few are beta testing it right now. Instead of just Summer and Winter, Autumn and Spring are thrown into the mix, adding more difficulty to the game as each season will undoubtedly feature their own unique setbacks. There are four trailers out for Reign of Giants, each focusing on a new season.

So gather your wits, sharpen your spear, and, above all, don’t starve!

Review Copy Info: A digital copy of this game was purchased by RealGamerNewz for the purpose of this review.