The Loss Of Dark Atmosphere

[Hungry French]

On 01.05.2026 at 04:15, Ev1l said:

I don't like this argument at all. Dst is a sequel to ds. Shouldn't it keep the core of the game while building on top of it?

No. DST was never be a sequel. This is the multiplayer version of DS.

DST is not unique. And the updates made it just a freak game with skins and multiplayer. 
First game  is always valuable for its plot and a whole game of unique content. In DS and RoG, all content is stolen in DST.

This is also how developers artificially make the game look older without even releasing improved textures, 64 bits for 3+ GB RAM systems and api 10.

 

22 hours ago, Karitha said:

So does that mean we have no right to complain, even if they turn their new game, DSE, into a dating sim? By your logic, we could always say, “go play DST if you don’t like the new direction we’re taking.” That’s a terrible argument.

DST is not just a new spin-off of DS, it’s essentially a continuation of it, but with multiplayer. It borrows all of DS’s core concepts and builds on top of them. At the same time, they stopped updating DS after DST and left some of the DLCs unfinished. People are still waiting for something like a “Home Sweet Home” type update for Hamlet.

Nowadays, if you want the complete DS experience, you basically have to play DST, which pushed most of the community toward it. And that matters because when the community moves, you lose updates and content creators on the old version.

>“It’s a new era in the timeline, that’s why it’s no longer getting updates and lacks new content.”

Then what about bug fixes and the many QoL improvements that were added to DST but never made it into DS? There’s really no reason left to play DS anymore. It lacks content, has unresolved issues, and most importantly, feels outdated.

Have you even checked the game recently? This is the game you’re saying is “still there.”. With blurry sprites. And bugs.

 

Я тоже не согласен с этим аргументом.

В основном я предпочитаю играть в DST в одиночку, и у меня все равно не возникает тех же ощущений. В DST нет того ужаса, который есть в DS, но зато есть ощущение уюта. Вот несколько примеров, которые приходят на ум:

• Игра стала намного проще для опытных игроков. В DST значительно проще возрождаться, а ресурсы стали доступнее. Я прочитал объяснение ДжоУ о том, что «сложности отпугивают новых игроков», но, на мой взгляд, это слабое оправдание для упрощения игры. Сезонных опасностей почти нет, и выживание становится тривиальной задачей, если не подвергать себя ненужному риску.
  Да, таким образом DST может охватить более широкую аудиторию, но как быть с уже существующими игроками? Почему именно я должен компенсировать это, увеличивая частоту появления монстров или используя несбалансированные моды, такие как Uncompromising, только для того, чтобы сделать игру сложнее? Почему одна группа игроков должна страдать ради того, чтобы игра стала популярнее? Это какое-то ленивое решение. Игроки уже много лет просят добавить полноценный «сложный режим», но пока у нас есть только настройки генерации мира. Почему в DST нет чего-то вроде экспертного/мастерского режима, как в Terraria, с более высоким риском и лучшими наградами?

• События. Как вы знаете, на данный момент половина обновлений — это просто события. Каждый год одни и те же концепции предстают в новом свете с незначительными вариациями. Их можно было бы использовать гораздо эффективнее, но вместо этого они лишь «приукрашивают» игру. Например, зимой у нас могли бы быть снежные бури, злые Санты или что-то более креативное, но вместо этого мы получаем пряничных человечков, семейные ужины, праздничную атмосферу и гоголь-моголь по всему миру. Во время Хэллоуина вместо паранормальных явлений или монстров в стиле «Сталкер» мы видим повсюду конфеты, украшения и игрушки. События сами по себе сильно портят впечатление от игры. И с помощью этих событий студия DST уже дала понять, что больше не пытается нагнетать атмосферу с помощью концепций «дружбы и семьи». Лично я просто отключаю их.

• Дизайн существ и избыточность. Какой смысл добавлять таких существ, как мароттеры, карраты, грибогномы или молебаты, если они выглядят нелепо и роняют ресурсы, которые и так легко достать? Что дальше — панда в бамбуковом биоме, которая тоже роняет бамбук?
   
• Несогласованные скины и темы. Большинство скинов хорошо проработаны, но некоторые выглядят совершенно неуместно. Структуры на десертную тематику, такие как «сундучок с тортом» или «Валентайн», не вписываются в атмосферу игры. Это похоже на «фортнатизацию» современных игр, которая стала заметна, когда DST превратилась в сервисную игру. Я не особо против таких построек, но на серверах они выглядят некрасиво.

Нет! Так стоило ли им оставаться в DS? Похожая проблема возникла с L4D. Они успешно перенесли концепции L4D в L4D2. Видите ли вы сейчас кого-нибудь, кто жалуется на L4D2? Нет, потому что они остались верны своим корням, и вы даже можете играть на картах и с персонажами L4D со всеми патчами L4D2. С тех пор прошло много лет, но игра по-прежнему активна и увлекательна. Можете ли вы рассказать такую же историю успеха о переходе от DS к DST?

Я считаю, что такого рода критика всегда полезна для разработчиков, ведь она помогает им понять, чего хотят игроки. Особенно в случае с новой игрой DSE.

DST has never been true to its roots. DS has always been exclusively a single player game and everything was built around a single player.
And the takeaways from above are correct.
And oh my God... These soap textures are from DS...

Half of the problems playing DS right now are unrealistically soapy textures, no 64-bit, and no api 10 support.
The game stupidly does not meet the technical requirements now. 
Even in 2012, the textures looked disgusting. And at that time there was already Meat Boy, where the developers did not compress the resolutions of textures by 10 times... Have you seen the textures of the floor in Hamlet? It's a shame for 2018.

Edited May 10 by Hungry French

[user1464576869]

2 hours ago, GimplyGoose said:

The thing about art is that the way it is perceived is all in the eye of the beholder. It is simply wrong to state that DST has lost its spooky/horror atmosphere as a matter of fact. That could be your opinion, but it is only that. In my opinion both DS and DST are nearly identical in atmosphere. To me, the atmosphere that DS and DST share is a blend that is 3 parts silly to 1 part spooky.

I think it is fine for you to think that the game has changed and isn't spooky anymore, but don't take offense simply because others don't agree with that sentiment.

Below is a list of in elements in DS/DST that I feel resonate with the 3 parts silly to 1 part spooky vibe:

• One of the the oldest buildings in the game: the science machine. A machine that does "science". It is an absurd concept and is not spooky at all.
• The hambat and fish sticks, these items are silly.
• Shadow creatures that attack you when your sanity drops too low and a night that will kill you if you do not have a light source. These things are spooky.
• Character quotes when examining things are often sarcastic and humorous. This is silly.
• Take a look at the update posters for the original game: https://dontstarve.wiki.gg/wiki/Category:Update_Posters. To me the update posters represent the vibe of the game really well they are often much sillier than they are spooky.

Don't come at me with hypocritical "eating the cake and having it too" kinds of statements.

You should at the very least hold to your own standards equally; that if I perceive that it has lost something; then it has, and it isn't at all "simply wrong" of me to say that anymore than your opinion that is hasn't. That's preposterous selective reasoning.

[Bumber64]

6 hours ago, Hungry French said:

No. DST was never be a sequel. This is the multiplayer version of DS.

"A sequel of sorts." -DST title screen

[Hungry French]

1 minute ago, Bumber64 said:

"A sequel of sorts." -DST title screen

That little soapy sign?

"standalone multiplayer expansion to the uncompromising wilderness survival game, Don't Starve." - Klei.com, Steam and PS Store atleast. 

And in the end. You never know what Klei say. They are not competent in this matter.  Calling a multiplayer game a sequel to a single-player game is insanity

[Endev]

Personally, I think that it got less scary once they replaced Grue with Charlie.

It was way more scary to think that there is some monster, some abomination hiding in the dark, never seen, always outside of light, always waiting near you in the darkness, ready to hunt you down if you dare to be careless. It could be even Charlie mutated and changed in some way. Creepy stuff for imagination.

Now it is just Shadow Queen slapping you from a distance with some shadow magic. For me, Charlie toying with me with her magic is way less scary (if at all) than a mysterious night hunter.

[GimplyGoose]

11 hours ago, user1464576869 said:

Don't come at me with hypocritical "eating the cake and having it too" kinds of statements.

You should at the very least hold to your own standards equally; that if I perceive that it has lost something; then it has, and it isn't at all "simply wrong" of me to say that anymore than your opinion that is hasn't. That's preposterous selective reasoning.

Maybe I didn't word my post the best, but I was trying to respond to this part:

On 5/9/2026 at 5:09 PM, user1464576869 said:

It greatly annoys me that there are so many detractors and deniers of this loss, it comes from a place of appreciation and love after all, and to dismiss it is strictly to dismiss the value of the art that was itself. It feels rather arrogant, and disheartening.

Other people having a different opinion than you shouldn't upset you to this degree. I think it is "simply wrong" for you to look at people who disagree with you as "detractors and deniers". It is perfectly fine for you to have your own opinion.

[IAmAFurrz]

On 5/9/2026 at 4:31 AM, Mike23Ua said:

Probably because 75% of game updates are boss fights?

last boss was warbot and scion, it has been so geared towards environmental stuff/early to mid game QoL

On 5/11/2026 at 6:50 AM, Endev said:

For me, Charlie toying with me with her magic is way less scary (if at all) than a mysterious night hunter.

tbh this just sounds like either 'i now know things, therefore this thing is no longer scary to me' or 'this thing in concept is less cool than the other because it is more physical and less undefined'

[PunkShark]

I think a lot of the defined love for the atmosphere of DS is also built around pure nostalgia, and wanting to return to a simpler time. And there's nothing wrong with that. But DST is a different game, with different themes and different atmosphere in the first place. Klei knew they had to sacrifice a part of the moody, lonely atmosphere by making it multiplayer, and that's just how it goes. They knew that the survival aspects weren't the only thing the game could stand on forever. Progression, bosses, its all because it is a game built around multiplayer. It requires at least some kind of goal for you to play it long-term and making it stay survival focused only is just not going to hold up forever. 

As someone who has been with this franchise for a long, long time, since 2013 back when i got the game off of their website even before Steam greenlit it. I’ve seen a lot of users cling onto nostalgia with this franchise and not open themselves up to change, (or act like the game was harder 7 years ago when you were but a child who barely knew how to play a game and now the game is too easy after having 5k hours on it.) It's good to remind you of a past that you once held very dear, but also loosen yourself up to change instead of being stuck in the past. Enjoy what you have right now. If DST didn't try out new things it has done we wouldn't have gotten half of the coolest features in this game because it never went into different directions.

[Capybara007]

My opinion: keep the superpower skill trees and funny skins in DST, focus on inmersion and atmosphere in DSE (at least for the first few years after release)

Edited May 14 by Capybara007