Difference in atmosphere between DS and DST

[Waoling]

Shipwrecked and Hamlet have a very noticeable change in the atmosphere and setting, but in DST the atmosphere has changed it's not very noticeable at first but as I play through the game, it started to feel more epic, more adventurous, more mystical, more mysterious, more adorable.

And maybe that's just me but I feel like, something in the atmosphere has changed.

What do you think causes the change in the atmosphere?

[minespatch]

"Don't know" and "Indifference" because I can see they're really set apart. The first game was a Eldritch quest to figure out who ran the Constance only to be on a fools errand.

 

Don't Starve Together is a isekai that you could either simulate being a conqueror with a fancy kingdom or go on the side quest to help a magician's assistant get her sanity back while she causes shenanigans.

[LiamAshvinn001]

DS, has a better dark atmosphere, DST has deeper atmosphere that continues the story of DS. For example: DST seems brighter and more colourful, which i guess is given cuz Alter and moon has to be light. Though we haven't seen much new content thats more darker tone, like look at the more darker and grim parts of DST. Most of them are from DS, apart from stuff like the Telltale Heart. Like just look at the Waterlogged trailer and look at Hamlet trailer. Hamlet, while more exotic and larger, still keeps a fairly darker atmosphere, Waterlogged is a bit too colourful for me. Obviously its a matter of opinion, but I do feel like Alter is really cool and stuff like Lunar power corrupting the Hounds and such make DST's atmosphere better, since it has DS in its DNA, just had to make it just a bit more appealing to the average person. Im hoping theres more folklore adaptations that are twisted to fit into the Constant, like Klaus. Ppl know him as the guy in red who gives gifts, in dont starve hes the guy in red that slashes you

[minespatch]

37 minutes ago, LiamAshvinn001 said:

Im hoping theres more folklore adaptations that are twisted to fit into the Constan

The ancient Guardian rework seems to be returning to form.

[Mike23Ua]

You can’t really compare Shipwrecked & Hamlet to DST though, because DST is Dont Starve & Reign of Giants.. and you can get this experience in DS or DST- but the DLCs aren’t in DST, at least not yet they aren’t but given how popular they keep getting in demand, Klei will probably eventually port more and more of that into DST.

Now as far as which game has a darker more grim tone: Certain things are darker in both games: Horror Hounds, Lunacy effect, I mean in DS I never not one time do I recall an area of that game where ghost like entities float about on a Colorless Blue-ish Grey biome that requires the player to literally go insane to see the biome in color.. Gashalts may not be these menacing threats your hoping for: but they’re still floating ghostly spirits, and Pipspook? Sure they’re all cutesy or whatever: but at the end of the Day those are Childrens ghosts… that even Maxwells Quotes when inspecting them make you say “Damn.. that’s pretty dark.”

Wendys Quote for looking at Moon Glass JUST THIS ONE QUOTE.. should send up red flags that “Hey maybe children under the age of 13 should NOT be playing this game without parental permission?”

DST looks bright and cheerful on the surface, sure: But it’s not.. nor was it ever intended to be rated E for Everyone.

And that’s funny, because Minecraft a game that actually IS Rated E for Everyone has a “NetherRealm” that is the literal Minecraft version of Hell.

[Waoling]

Wow I couldn't have predicted this outcome, for people who has voted why do you voted that answer?

[SinancoTheBest]

Well I answered yes to both because DSA and DST play very differently, resulting in hugely different atmospheres, which I find fitting for the multiplayer social adventure game that DST is going for. DSA (with reign of giants) is much more grim and dreadful with a more crude gameplay, inaccessible cardboard cut-out seas, much less world regrowth, limited resources, instant irreversible death and the adventure mode.

In contrast DST quickly draws a more creative cooperative atmosphere where you can quickly thrive with everyone cooperating and contributing to the base with their projects, some planting berry bushes, some farming, some doing carpeting; more players give comfort and social satisfaction. Characters add their special flavour to the experience, it's easier to thrive and have more safety nets, thriving in DST sees more pens, organized pathways, above average trees and boat bridges... And when you're thriving, unlike DSA which you mostly just try to stay alive for longer or go through the adventure mode with consecutive untouched worlds, DST sees you preparing for raid bosses or working on one or both of the story questlines, as such the game feels much more triumphant and adventurous than survivalist. Shipwrecked and Hamlet does have more of the adventure aspects but still nothing can come close to the difference in atmosphere created by surviving alone in DSA versus surviving with many friends, acquaintances or strangers all around the world in DST.

[Guille6785]

DS to me feels like a dark and mysterious survival game, DST gives off more sandboxy and social vibes and it doesn't take itself super seriously by contrast so I think the change in atmosphere suits the gameplay differences

[Mike23Ua]

13 minutes ago, Guille6785 said:

DS to me feels like a dark and mysterious survival game, DST gives off more sandboxy and social vibes and it doesn't take itself super seriously by contrast so I think the change in atmosphere suits the gameplay differences

You can still play DST completely Alone, 95% of my playtime with the game is spent Alone, you can explore the game at your own pace & it still feels just as dark, grim & lonely as it ever has- Adding more players to the experience shouldn’t change that..

”Mentally” for YOU as a Human..? Maybe, but for the characters trying to survive in this world? Sure having friends make you feel safer: but it doesn’t make the world any less than what it was.

State of Decay 2 is a game where you can recruit people into your community and have a huge Sims like roster of characters to choose from you can even invite other players into your game to play with you, but it doesn’t suddenly turn a Zombie Survival Horror Game into Zombie Golf & Bowling with your Pals..

To make this claim about DST is to judge the game BECAUSE of what you and other players can do.

And that would be like me and my friends getting together to play Halo which is meant to be a semi serious futuristic war shooter: But instead we build a huge race track and race Humvees around goofing off.

PLAYERS don’t Change the GAMES Atmosphere… it’s still the Harsh world it’s always been.

And Klei’s developers would do well to remember that: hopefully they’ll tone way down on the Mario Party mini-games simulator and reinstate some of the Uncompromising Wilderness Survival the series is known and loved for.

[Baark0]

There being multiple survivors changes the atmosphere a lot

[Guille6785]

56 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

You can still play DST completely Alone, 95% of my playtime with the game is spent Alone, you can explore the game at your own pace & it still feels just as dark, grim & lonely as it ever has- Adding more players to the experience shouldn’t change that..

”Mentally” for YOU as a Human..? Maybe, but for the characters trying to survive in this world? Sure having friends make you feel safer: but it doesn’t make the world any less than what it was.

State of Decay 2 is a game where you can recruit people into your community and have a huge Sims like roster of characters to choose from you can even invite other players into your game to play with you, but it doesn’t suddenly turn a Zombie Survival Horror Game into Zombie Golf & Bowling with your Pals..

To make this claim about DST is to judge the game BECAUSE of what you and other players can do.

And that would be like me and my friends getting together to play Halo which is meant to be a semi serious futuristic war shooter: But instead we build a huge race track and race Humvees around goofing off.

PLAYERS don’t Change the GAMES Atmosphere… it’s still the Harsh world it’s always been.

And Klei’s developers would do well to remember that: hopefully they’ll tone way down on the Mario Party mini-games simulator and reinstate some of the Uncompromising Wilderness Survival the series is known and loved for.

hi mike I think this is the first time you reply to one of my posts

[Naveil]

I'm not quite sure if it's a matter of the two games' atmospheres being substantially different or if I'm being influenced by my first experiences playing Don't Starve, vs. entering Don't Starve Together having known a lot more, but...

Original DS' atmosphere was almost indescribable unless you broke it down. It was dark, harrowing - inherently so for a survival game where the goal is survive in an unfamiliar, hostile world. But it also felt lighthearted in ways - the animated artstyle, 20th century-inspired music, and, in many ways, it felt like the game wasn't quite taking itself entirely seriously. At the same time, it managed to incorporate horror elements. Like, when I was playing for the first time and dusk fell, signifying night not long after, I was scared. That's not to mention Charlie, insanity, the caves, and so on. Don't Starve was a mishmash of a bunch of different genres, but they intersected so well that you could hardly notice.

And DST is... still that. They added a bunch of new content, but the core of the game is still there. Ya gotta build a fire before night or else the scary shadow lady gets ya. I think the introduction of the multiplayer element is what dramatically changed the atmosphere for a lot of people - the world no longer feels entirely hostile, you have friends! That part by itself radically changes the feeling of the Constant. There's not really any helping that, that's just inherently what DST is.

I will note though - Don't Starve - and by extention, Don't Starve Together - are both games that lose their atmospheres the more you understand and dissect them. Really, most survival games are like that. By the time you're a veteran you're already thinking of endgame content while the newcomer is still trying to build their first base. Maybe that contributes to atmosphere change too?

[planetearth]

Yeah I like the atmosphere of DS a lot better. I think DST still keeps a lot of the horror elements with the danger, "Moon Madness", and subtle creepiness of the lunar island. And boats can be scary but I think thematically more could be done there. But other than that...

And the fact that they're in a group should change the atmosphere to be brighter, but I think the brightness should be contrasted with darkness more.  And there is the fact that the majority of the survivors are not mentally stable people and that it is still a hellish land to survive.

[BezKa]

I think some of the creepy atmosphere of DST is overshadowed by how fun it is to run around with your friends screaming, excitedly waiting for new updates, and doing the events which bring a lot of optional, fun stuff. Can't exactly feel grim picking up candy from Pig King. 

Even without those things, DST would have a different vibe. DS is very mysterious in that the characters know nothing, and we knew nothing back then too. It was just player on an island. And somewhere out there, was a guy in a suit who them there. Some ruins, a sour monologue, a lady in the dark. And now we have a very complicated and evolved story that makes it all feel quite differently.

[CaptainChaotica]

In DS you're alone, there's less cute things around (such as pets) and the mechanics make it closer to being a proper roguelike--there's no rollback or endless mode.  Also the idea that this world is all literally a stage controlled by a mad magician is made more evident by the weird cardboard waves...

(okay so the hole and the cat there are both from mods, but you get the idea)

The "no science machine challenge" run.  Spoiler alert:  I died pretty soon after this.

DST does have super-deadly end bosses with HP like you wouldn't believe, but it does NOT have the soul-crushing terror that is...
(shudders)

Adventure Mode

Spoiler

(I was gonna put a screenshot here, but apparently when I reinstalled Steam because I thought I HAD to, to get it to connect ever again, I lost all my older DS pictures.  :()

But trust me, if you're a sucky-at-combat player like me, Adventure Mode just kicks you in the face repeatedly.  Whereas DST has...

holidays...

...and cute fluffy pets that follow you around, especially this year.  But of course, with the right settings and/or mods you can make it as colourful...

(actually except for the cherry trees, everything in this picture is canon game-content)

Spoiler

 

...but a lot of what makes this picture so colourful is SKINS, another thing DS doesn't have.  Customize your own fashion sense?  HA HA HA HA HA that's a good one.  YOU'RE IN THE JUNGLE CONSTANT, BABY!  YOU'RE GONNA DIIIIIIEEEEEE....

(I have no idea why I decided to quote Guns 'n' Roses there.  It just seemed appropriate at the time.)

 

...or as gloomy as you want...

...but when it comes down to it, DS will always be a bit more hardcore, mechanics-wise, than DST--simply because you CAN perma-die and lose your world, and because there's nobody around to help you.

...unless you count the Wiki.  : P

(and again, I draw your attention to the soul-stomping depression* that is:

Adventure Mode.)

...Notorious

*for bad-at-combat/slow-reflexes players like myself, anyway

[hhh2]

Single player has better themeing IMO. I still play RoG just for the cool ass cave gen and nostalgic stage prop water. DST's content espeically after ANR feels especially new age, like the complicated fishing and new farming, and the synergies between characters. Like other posts, I agree that DST feels more like the sandboxy and more casual than Singleplayer, you know, since you can play with other players, how rollbacks are part of the base game, endless mode, seasonal events, skins, etc... DST also has a pretty epic quest line unlike RoG being aimless besides not getting ur base smashed by deerclops each year, or maybe clearing the ruins.

Oh and maybe you might not have noticed dusk is much much darker in singleplayer and i think that contributes to the atmosphere of single player, apart from making nightmare creatures impossible to see on forest turf >_>

[Waoling]

People who voted indifference do you really feel that or you just has no strong feeling at the time?

[Mike23Ua]

15 minutes ago, Paoling said:

People who voted indifference do you really feel that or you just has no strong feeling at the time?

I didn’t bother to vote: because they are quite literally the same game with the same atmosphere- You can’t count DLC skins because that’s something You (the player) add to your world. DST is still DS Reign of Giants.

There is newer updates to DST with all the updates we’ve been getting since 2019 that makes it into a different game, but it wasn’t always this way.. it was just DS Reign of Giants but with a friend or two.

Now with that said: the starting animation for DST as well as certain content inside of DST leads you to believe that the Constant models itself after the person currently occupying it: For example, the Florid Postern now has roses coiling up around it to indicate “Charlie’s” Presence

Which would ultimately explain why things like Lunar Moths look cutesy & girlish.. and why the world now has “roses” popping up all over everywhere.

However, Charlie herself does not have full and complete control over EVERYTHING in the constant, so sometimes nasty not so pleasant things slip out like Horror Hounds or Horror Pengul

Etc.. of course NONE of this is confirmed and is all just my own head canon.. but I do strongly feel this to be true.

[Waoling]

I voted it's good: I love cutesy games with some thriller elements and DST is perfect for me, it has that cutesy art style with a colorful cast of characters and a world of full wonder and beauty yet so full of scary foes who wants to kill you but at the same time you can make a lot of allies who will aid you on your adventure.

A lot of new biomes have that mystical feel to them like lunar islands and waterlogged biomes and a lot of new mobs look so cute and cool, while DSA has none of that.

Friends do change the mentality of the character more of you means less work, less dying, more food, more invention, more idea, more strong, to say adding more character into the same world wouldn't change that is an understatement, some of them quote even change.

[CaptainChaotica]

1 hour ago, Paoling said:

People who voted indifference do you really feel that or you just has no strong feeling at the time?

In my case it means they're different but I still LIKE both. In different ways.

...Notorious

[Notecja]

1 hour ago, Paoling said:

People who voted indifference do you really feel that or you just has no strong feeling at the time?

They are barely comparable, as DST is multiplayer so anyway has no chance to get same feeling of being lost and alone.

[Waoling]

Do the air in DST smell different than the one in DSA?

This is a legitimate question I want to know.

[FourthLess]

 

37 minutes ago, Paoling said:

Do the air in DST smell different than the one in DSA?

This is a legitimate question I want to know.

It does, at least for me. 

Dst is all about colorful events(not always in a good way. I mean, just look at beefalo skins and Carnival design), skins building bases and fighting raid bosses. Even the DST's 2021 gameplay trailer presents the game like a fun sandbox where you can do stuff like building a base with a cool farm, sail in the sea with friends while just fighting raid bosses in the meantime. The game simply focused on different things.

Even when we got something not as colorful and cheery, that was grotesque lunar mutated mobs which quickly just got cancelled and we got only 2 proper transformed creatures (I don't count moon storm birds, they look way different) 

The change in atmosphere is also represented in animated shorts. I'm sorry but new trailers simply look... worse than old ones("The inevitable" animation from 2016 looks so out of place in a good way amongst all of the recent trailers). But I think the change in atmosphere wasn't the only factor because Klei need to release a new trailer every month now. 

And while I don't think game changing the tone and atmosphere is a necessarily bad thing(and some might even call it unavoidable), I really do miss old Don't Starve sometimes. 

[Waoling]

53 minutes ago, FourthLess said:

I'm sorry but new trailers simply look... worse than old ones

The old one barely has any animation.

[FourthLess]

32 minutes ago, Paoling said:

The old one barely has any animation.

There are more than one trailer. And I'll always take quality over quantity. Although, it's more about preference in style rather than an actual quality in animation.