Rated 95% already, survival game classic Don't Starve Together just got better

Before The Forest, before The Long Dark, and back when Project Zomboid was still in its infancy, there was Don't Starve, the pioneering survival game by Klei. 12 years later, the original is still a Steam icon, boasting superlative reviews and thousands of daily players. But Don't Starve Together, the standalone multiplayer spin-off, is even more popular. Cruel, tough, and wonderfully stylized, one of the biggest icons of the entire survival genre is now even better thanks to a fresh, free update, which adds a new boss, ties off a long-running questline, and makes controller inputs much better.

The world of Don't Starve Together is as hostile as it is varied; between deep caves and freezing ice bluffs, endless deserts and verdant islands, the procedurally generated environment is lethal and lustrous in equal measure. Defeat monsters, farm resources, build shelters and amenities - today, we take these mechanics for granted, but Klei pioneered an entire genre, and Don't Starve Together, eight years since its first release, is still one of the best and purest expressions of the survival game.

The stats, of course, speak for themselves: a 95% positivity rating, based on more than 340,000 reviews, and a daily concurrent player peak of some 50 to 60,000. But if you haven't tried Don't Starve Together yet, or you're a long-term player eager for some fresh challenges, Klei is launching the Hostile Takeover update today, Thursday June 12.

As well as new skins, Hostile Takeover introduces a tweak to combat by allowing you to hit every enemy with the electrocution state. Having been trialed in previous test builds, the Wandering Trader is now a full part of Don't Starve Together. He'll randomly appear in various parts of the map, and you can speak to him to exchange resources and gear. Every couple of in-game days, the Wandering Trader's inventory will also be refreshed, so he should have new items each time you return.

The sprawling Lunar questline, which has so far carried us all across Don't Starve Together's map, comes to a conclusion in Hostile Takeover. There's also an intimidating new boss, though I'll let you discover it for yourself. Lastly, Klei has added a number of controller schemes, giving you different presets to use depending on your preference. As a reminder, when you buy Don't Starve Together on Steam, you also get a complementary second copy that you can gift to a friend. If you want to try it out, just head here.

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