Return of Them Initial Reaction

[TheLuckDuck]

I came walking into this update with weary steps and plenty of caution. I personally have negative beef with Klei's latest Don't Starve inclusion, the Hamlet. However, I was surprised to feel the tides turn toward a game struggling from being too dry, and I can't help but smile since the content they planted has a tidal wave of potential.

Ocean exploration was something I never knew I needed in multiplayer form, and despite being presented on a buggy and unfinished platter, there are a lot of things done right with this first splash. Although clumsy to control, the rafts are a prime example of the word "Together" present in the game's title. The charm of controlling a rickety mini-base along the seven-seas is quite fun, especially as a team. The adventure screams the words "We are all in this together", and I believe a majority of that voice is tainted by the lingering threat of the raft collapsing. Of course the new slice of exploration has its fair share of bugs, those ranging from being unable to move for no reason, being able to walk on water like Jesus, and of course the rather inconsistent repair system. Otherwise, and to state it bluntly, the water exploration is awesome!

Ocean exploration is quite fun, however, the simple act of drifting aimlessly isn't interesting without a destination. And luckily there's quite a big destination that comes to mind, and that is of course, the Lunar Islands. These are the lands where sanity is upside-down, and many of our beloved and classic Don't Starve creatures have met a strange fate to lunar mutation. It all sounds intriguing on paper, but at the moment it's quite underwhelming compared to the journey to the island. Despite that, it's refreshing to have a few new weapons and items at our disposal, and an interesting new location to set up camp.

This new content is just a small seed of the imminent bigger picture, so to conclude I think I'd like to nurture this seed with some "advice" for the coming months of development. First and foremost, I believe that the sanity system on the lunar islands could use some depth. At the moment, having high sanity has a flat/boring penalty, and the only gain is being able to "admire" the new Hound variant. What makes normal sanity interesting in my opinion, is the dynamic threat that it poses for the player. Low sanity means you get attacked by nightmares, but this also can be utilized to obtain nightmare fuel, a highly valuable substance. I believe this type of dynamic could benefit the lunar sanity mechanic greatly. Furthermore the ocean could use a bit of spice as well. It would be cool to see potential treasure or dangerous allures on the survivor's ocean expeditions. I could imagine a field of perilous surface rocks with a powerful resource at its center, or maybe a drifting chest that would spawn a few hounds if opened. Stuff like that I found interesting in the shipwrecked singleplayer expansion, and I believe it could utilized here to a similar effect.

I am more than eager to see where Klei takes this new expansion, and I applaud them for doing a fantastic. Though I want to know how you guys feel about the debut of  "Return of them". What's your favorite piece of the new content? What's you least favorite piece? Let me know below.

 

And I think that wraps things up... I have been staring at this screen so long I've given myself a headache -_- aaaaaaaa