There are a lot of things that appeal to Don't Starve as a game, but at the end of the day, the original driving force is survival.

In Maslow's hierarchy of needs, needs are divided into five categories, namely: physiological needs, safety needs, love and belonging, respect, and self-actualization.

These five needs form a pyramidal structure, with physiological needs at the bottom and self-actualization needs at the top.

The more basic the need, the easier it is to achieve, but it is also the most urgent and urgent.

That is, if a person lacks food, safety, and respect at the same time, then in general, his need for food should be the strongest. Safety and respect are not so important in comparison.

That's why people take risks in the face of extreme hunger, to fight big beasts (to give up safety), or to grovel to power (give up dignity).

Maslow's hierarchy of needs is widely used in a wide range of fields, and the field of gaming is no exception.

Many game designers use this theory to build a complete Maslow hierarchy of requirements in their games, which is used to drive players to chase and indulge in the illusory data in the game.

As a simple example, some games with "selling combat power" as the core selling point highlight the two needs of security and respect.

For a weaker player, he is at constant risk of being killed by the stronger in this kind of game, so he feels a strong sense of insecurity, and this feeling will drive him to spend more money or time in the game, to become stronger, to maintain his own safety.

And those more powerful players, after having the attribute of security, they will turn to the pursuit of respect and self-fulfillment, such as competing for the king, forming a grand guild, leading the younger brothers to participate in national wars, and spending a lot of money for these virtual sense of honor.

Generally speaking, very few games can use the "physiological needs" level, as it is relatively cumbersome to do, especially since many game mechanics don't support it.

In fact, people's physiological needs are very simple, nothing more than food, water, health, reproduction, and so on. But in general games, characters are generally not asked to run for food and water, and there is no concept of hunger, because the game content is limited, and there are many more content that players can experience.

"Famine" grasps this blind spot very well and shows the theme of "survival".

Moreover, Don't Starve is not just a simple game, if you dig deeper into its spiritual connotation, you will find that it actually has a depth that some great games do not have.

Unlike many protagonists with a great mission, Wilson's meaning of existence is existence itself, he doesn't need to save the world, he doesn't need to save others, his only goal is to live well, everything he does in the world of "Don't Starve" is for one of the most basic goals: to live better.

Don't Starve is a highly stylized game with a very mature core of thought.

The world of Don't Starve is not a known historical setting, and it is even full of settings that are completely detached from reality. Its whole style and music are full of black humor, but in the face of death, it is extremely real.

This sense of absurdity and reality runs through the game Don't Starve, and is greatly reinforced by the game's coexistence of technology and magic.

Moving machines, inhabited pigmen, tombstones in the forest, the remains of predecessors, terrifying monsters...... At first glance, all kinds of thoughtful and terrifying settings seem to have no influence on each other, but there are inextricable links behind them.

The whole world background is highly unified, forming a unique magical realist world.

The playability of Don't Starve comes from its rich setting, which seems to be a simple 2D game, but in fact it is far more playable than some big games.

The types of monsters are very complex, each type of monster can provide unique food, resources, and the protagonist can make use of the rich construction system to create fires, barbecue grills, pots, traps, and more.

Moreover, the protagonist also has a wealth of interactive actions, such as empty-handed gathering, cutting, digging, ignition, planting, etc., all props, including the surface itself, can be interacted, and those precious props can also be used directly as fuel at critical moments.

There are also different ways to obtain resources, if the player wants to get the pigskin, they can go to the pigman to face the pigman, or they can find abandoned pigman huts and altars to scavenge for materials, or they can plant spider eggs next to the pigman village and wait for the spider and the pigman to tear them apart and reap the profits themselves.

When players have already achieved something, lost interest in survival mode, and the need to survive is no longer enough to motivate players to continue playing, players will also find adventure mode to open up new challenges.

Moreover, it is also an extremely ruthless game, and in the face of survival, any negligence can cause irreparable consequences.

But because of this, the meaning of survival itself is becoming more and more precious. When you're hungry, you'll find a pig-man village full of carrots and berries, and you'll feel great for the moment.

After playing Don't Starve, many players will understand how happy it is to be "full".

It's for these reasons that Don't Starve can attract both novice players who are interested in survival games, as well as hardcore players who will keep playing the game for years.

Because every Don't Starve journey will be different.

And, like many sandbox games, mods are the timeless charm of Don't Starve.

In addition to the officially developed DLC, the mods created by the players also bring a lot of fun to this game.

In terms of character mods, there are One Piece characters such as Zoro (who comes with knives, can chop down trees, road idiots, and all maps are always black), Ace (who comes with fireballs, and returns spirit points next to the fire); In terms of auxiliary mods, there are display values and building geometry; Functional mods with permanent tents, expansion backpacks, and ......

In addition, there are super-sized mods, such as Dark Heroes, one mod alone is enough for many players to play for half a year, and this super-large mod is almost equivalent to a new game.

Of course, Chen Mo just picked a few mods that are more commonly used and do not affect the balance, and as for the other mods, it is good for players to develop them themselves.

Sandbox games are just like that, and the potential of the game can only be fully exploited if the player is fully engaged.