Frequently Asked Questions

No — it's a paid game from Klei Entertainment, but its major content updates, including the A New Reign and Return of Them eras, were released for free to all owners.

Yes. Despite the name, you can host a private world and play entirely alone. The game simply also supports multiple survivors on the same server when you want company.

Don't Starve Together is built for multiplayer and has its own roster of survivors, bosses and systems — most notably the entire ocean and the late-game raid bosses that the single-player game never received.

You become a ghost rather than getting a game over. Ghosts chill nearby living players and can be revived through a Touch Stone, Meat Effigy, the Florid Postern portal, or by a living friend — usually at the cost of maximum health.

Endless mode is the most forgiving, with easy self-revival and no world reset on a wipe. It's the best place to learn before moving to the higher-stakes Survival mode.

Not at all. Everything in the Curio Cabinet is purely cosmetic. A rare character skin survives exactly as well as the default look.

Have resurrection structures ready before they're needed — a Touch Stone or Meat Effigy — or carry an item like the Telltale Heart so a living player can revive a ghost on the spot.

Spend day one gathering flint, twigs, grass and wood, build a Science Machine to unlock recipes, and make a campfire or torch before nightfall — the dark itself will kill you. From there, keep an eye on your hunger, health and sanity meters and start preparing for winter long before it arrives.

Most players recommend Wilson or Wendy. Wilson is perfectly average with no drawbacks and a beard that helps in winter, while Wendy fights alongside the ghost of her sister Abigail, which makes early combat much safer. They're the kindest survivors to learn the game on.

You cook by placing up to four ingredients into a Crock Pot, which turns raw food into far more nourishing meals. Each dish is decided by the mix of ingredient types — meats, vegetables, fruit, filler — so learning a handful of reliable Don't Starve Together recipes like Meatballs early on keeps a base well fed.

After the farming rework you till a patch of soil with a hoe, plant seeds, and tend the crops by watering them, pulling weeds and clearing pests. Care for a plant well and it can grow into a Giant Crop — a huge, efficient source of food for a settled team.

There are two kinds of fishing. A freshwater rod lets you fish ponds for small catches, while the Sea Fishing Rod, cast from a boat with the right lures, lands the big ocean fish added in the Return of Them era. Fishing is a steady, low-risk way to feed a base.

Those standalone combat and cooking events have been retired from the live rotation. They return only on the rare occasions Klei brings them back, so they aren't always available.