What Is the Difference Between Don’t Starve and Don’t Starve Together?

Don’t Starve and Don’t Starve Together are two different games developed by Klei Entertainment. However, the two look quite similar to each other that new players are even confused about which is which.

At the same time, there are enough differences between the two that set them apart from each other.

So without further ado, let’s have a look at those differences so you can tell which of them you should play.

Don’t Starve Vs. Don’t Starve Together – Which is Which?

There are many expansions for both games, and that only makes it even more confusing for players who want to try out any of them.

So for the sake of clarity, we’ll just be comparing the two in their base forms.

Long story short, Don’t Starve is the core game that offers a single-player experience. It’s a survival game where you try to survive for as many days as possible while trying to battle the horrors that come your way.

On the other hand, Don’t Starve Together is some sort of an expansion that provides multiplayer survival experiences. Basically, it’s the version that allows you to play with your friends and/or other players.

Don’t Starve was released back on April 23, 2013, followed by Don’t Starve Together a year later on December 15, 2014.

With the basics out of the way, let’s dive right into the various aspects that set the two games apart.

Different Game Modes

Game modes are designed solely on personal preference. However, both games offer a variety of game modes that you can use to spice up your gameplay even by a little bit.

For Don’t Starve, you have Adventure, Lights Out, and Sandbox. Meanwhile, Don’t Starve Together has Endless,  Lights Out, Relaxed, Survival, and Wildness.

Each of these game modes offers varying levels of difficulty. However, the default will be at Adventure for Don’t Starve and Survival for Don’t Starve Together.

That said, you have enough options to choose from if you want to amp up a game’s difficulty or choose to play in a more relaxing manner.

Don’t Starve Together just happens to offer way more options for you.

Character Selection

Both games offer a selection of characters to choose from. However, there are key differences in the way you choose those characters.

For Don’t Starve, you’ll have to unlock other characters by completing certain tasks in the game. Meanwhile, Don’t Starve Together allows you to pick from their selection at the start of a campaign.

However, other characters are only available in one game and not in the other. For example, Don’t Starve features characters like Woodlegs and Wheeler who are not in the multiplayer version.

On the other hand, Don’t Starve Together features purchasable characters that are not available in the single-player version.

All of the characters are unique enough that they will change your gameplay and even create different experiences with each playthrough.

Available Content

Perhaps the biggest factor that can help you decide whether you should play Don’t Starve or Don’t Starve Together is the available content.

The single-player version features three major DLCs with a bunch of content updates that make the game far more different from the multiplayer version.

It also has an actual story mode.

Sadly, Don’t Starve Together doesn’t have that. Instead, it has a ton of updates that aim to provide a lot of content for multiple players to enjoy such as Return of Them and Cave and Ruins, among others.

Also, one key difference in their gameplay is that Don’t Starve actually lets you pause the game. You won’t get this liberty from Don’t Starve Together since you are playing with other players. Time will always run in the game.

Moreover, the bosses in Don’t Starve Together will respawn over time whereas in Don’t Starve, you have to create a new map if you want to fight bosses once again.

With such major content differences, it can really be hard to compare the two games as they’re vastly different in the experiences that they offer to players.

Which is the Better Game

With all that said, which game is actually better? Well, it mostly depends on your preferences.

If you want to play solo, pick Don’t Starve, but if you want to play with friends, Don’t Starve Together is the obvious choice.

Nonetheless, we still recommend that you try out Don’t Starve first as it lets you experience it first-hand before you share the experience with your friends.

But personally, the better choice would be to just get both games and play them to check them out for yourself.

They’re running massive sales on Steam right now which makes them dirt cheap to get.

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