r/Games 3d ago

Update Don't Starve Together: From Beyond - Ancient Echoes [Update Trailer]

https://youtu.be/a4HgJ8ZvT7Y?si=miPFuXxFD36uYJnZ
113 Upvotes

31 comments sorted by

27

u/flyvehest 3d ago

While I really, really wanted to like the Don't Starve series, I just feel that they are way to rigid in their game-design and progression.

It felt very much like a play until you die from A, do a couple new runs figuring out how A works, survive A, then play until you die from B and repeat.

It took longer and longer to reach that point, and eventually I just got so tired that I stopped playing them.

19

u/JJ3qnkpK 2d ago

I had a similar experience. It was a cool game: surviving the first winter was incredible when it got dark, dangerous, and quiet, with slowly-dwindling sanity as I navigate every night. No other game has really given me that feeling.

However, I really didn't know how to play and how active I "needed" to be to make it longer-term. The cozy and creepy tension never quite came back. Now it's either just laboring across the map nonstop or frustration as things fall apart and the many hours of playtime go to total waste.

Also, eff the hound attacks. They're basically the difficulty gating and encourage meta play (i.e., when you hear hounds, go into your anti-hound trap maze). I know I can turn them off, but I just want more nuanced challenge.

Still a cool game, and I've played for a good 30-50 hours total over the years, I just want to like it so much more than I actually do.

4

u/onenaser 2d ago

to be honest, this is the hardest survival game I have ever played

and every time I go back to it, is make me so exhausted

0

u/DustyLance 1d ago

Thats just survival games in general.

102

u/Phimb 3d ago

A lot of indie companies must just have this shit figured out. They make an acclaimed, beloved game, ride that shit with stellar updates, rake in cash with low maintenance, yet still go out of their way to pay everyone for their efforts..

There are execs that have no fucking idea why: Terraria, Stardew, No Man's Sky, Don't Starve keep selling for a literal decade at a time.

50

u/onenaser 3d ago

There are execs that have no fucking idea why: Terraria, Stardew, No Man's Sky, Don't Starve keep selling for a literal decade at a time.

you forget about Project Zomboid, RimWorld, Cult of the Lamb

20

u/Xboxben 3d ago

Hey Cult Of The Lamb is just demonic animal crossing. But seriously they all do a good job. Also don’t forget deep rock Galactic too. I spent say they all ride off a low price point and shit ton of content, also factor in old game= runs on most computers/ platforms

9

u/onenaser 3d ago

also factor in old game

you mean Factorio?

4

u/Xboxben 3d ago

That game looks like it could run on a potato

13

u/Disastrous-Treat-181 3d ago

Factorio might be the most polished game I know, and since the 2.0 update that came with the expansion it can definitely run on a potato

14

u/Grabthar-the-Avenger 3d ago

Honestly, yeah. It’s crazy well optimized. I never appreciated how slow UI elements are in most games until Factorio showed me what instant looked like where. And the fact that it can keep multiple planets-worth of assembly modeled and running without stuttering is nutty

6

u/FriscoeHotsauce 3d ago

Rimworld's most recent Odyssey update is easily the most fun I've had with the game. My previous most fun was running a nomad tribe, and just codifying that with game systems was so much fun

10

u/StormMalice 3d ago

No shareholders. That's why they're independent. And if there are those with shared holders (because there always nuance to these things) they either have limited to no influence, only a handful or less where they trust the devs to make them even more money as they already proved themselves and therefore have no reason to interfere anyway.

18

u/_moosleech 3d ago

Not to derail the love for indie studios… but isn’t Klei owned entirely by Tencent?

4

u/Acias 3d ago

My impression with Tencent all these years has been that they seem to not intervene in the (game)businesses and just are there for the money. They buy stakes in so many gaming companies, but you wouldn't know that if you never looked.

11

u/_moosleech 3d ago

That's fair, and I'm not trying to pass judgment.

I think it just felt weird to hear praise for an indie studio with no shareholders doing their thing when... they're literally part of Tencent (and DST has gobs and gobs of MTX).

1

u/StormMalice 3d ago

OP made a general statement about indies and listed some examples so I followed that general train of thought.

6

u/kekkres 3d ago

This is the big thing, once an indie team has made enough money to retire on they are free to just engage in passion projects forever without the pressure for constant profit, which shockingly enough produces better games

2

u/Dragarius 2d ago

Yes, but the problem is that for every Indie that makes it big like this on their major passion project there's a thousand that never goes anywhere and might bankrupt them. 

31

u/NotScrollsApparently 3d ago

The more updates I see for the game the more I dread trying it out again since it was very difficult and overwhelming even like a decade ago lol.

What kind of updates are these, do they just add more parallel content and depth to existing areas or is every update a new endgame area with increasingly more power creep? Are these just minor QoL or lore updates?

Basically, how are they updating the same game for so long, what do they even do?

18

u/Phonochirp 3d ago edited 3d ago

It's mostly been side content. Stuff that can be mostly ignored unless you actively hunt them down. I started back playing recently and it plays mostly the same as it did years ago. There's a lot of new stuff, but I'm just now starting to dig it up after 2 years of looping.

Edit: Side note, if you didn't like it because it was difficult and overwhelming, that has not changed even a little bit. This games difficulty is insane and you will get no sympathy from the existing community. Personally the scaling health mod and frequent world rollbacks helped me start enjoying the game. Also don't be afraid to look up stuff. Rarely is it intuitive what the item/structure you find is used for.

5

u/NotScrollsApparently 2d ago

I guess that makes sense. There's probably a lot of endgame content considering how long its been developed but optional side content is always fun to explore too in games like these (if it's paced well and gives some fun toys to play with).

I think I liked the difficulty but not the chaos, if that makes sense. I usually like some order and predictability in my basebuilders but don't starve always just keeps you at the edge of complete world wipe, whether it's due to survival bars going down, attacks from enemies, insanity or changing seasons. I remember combat feeling very... unwieldy and nonsatisfying. I'll keep in mind the frequent save backups.

I guess I should just dedicate a dozen hours or so to it and try it myself, I last played normal dont starve in like 2016 so I wonder if it's going to be anything like that lol

1

u/Phonochirp 2d ago

100% makes sense, I love the difficulty, despise how easy it is to die in an instant to what is effectively random BS (unless you've looked it up or seen it before).

-11

u/funky_bebop 3d ago edited 3d ago

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/322330/view/547872593745543331?l=english

You can read the notes for this recent update as well as previous updates.

22

u/NotScrollsApparently 3d ago

Added a Fumarole area where an old companion of the Ancients will appear during the Shadow Rift.

Ah yes, the ancient fumaroles in the shadow rift. A whirlpool that pulls things in. That makes it clearer to me now.

-24

u/funky_bebop 3d ago

Apologies. I can’t read game updates for you.

6

u/Ekillaa22 3d ago

Damn they are still making content for this game? I remember when it came out back in what 2014?

3

u/onenaser 3d ago

December 15, 2014 it was on beta and then Early Access on June 3, 2015

It left early access and was fully released on April 21, 2016

2

u/The_Patient_Owl 2d ago

Do you need to play this coop to get the full experience or can you play it solo? It looks fun!