History VideoGame / DontStarve

* CanadaEh: Developed by a Canadian game studio, ''Don't Starve'' just can't help [[AffectionateParody affectionately parodying]] its home country.
** Woodie, the stereotypical Canadian lumberjack who transforms into a werebeaver and a weremoose and weregoose in ''DST''.
** The Moose/Goose from the ''Reign of Giants'' DLC might just be the most Canadian monster in fiction, being a mix of the two most well-known animals up north. [[{{Lampshade}} Lampshaded]] by a couple of characters, including Woodie.

** After ''Don't Starve Together'''s first expansion, ''A New Reign'', the Metheus puzzles were discovered, arguably the most complex puzzles to date. It requires two players to beat, let alone solve. It involves decoding some ancient monument depicting the history of the Ancients, and beating it rewards the players with a view of a teaser for the upcoming character and timed event.

-->'''Wendy''': Purple like a... purple thing.

* CallASmeerpARabbit: Quite literally too. "Rabbits" are actually jackalopes, with little antlers. They also ''scream'' when you approach them. Otherwise, they look and behave like regular old rabbits.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Maxwell's examination of the Celestial Champion's lifeless husk after the survivors beat it into submission and Wagstaff siphons the life out of it suggests he didn't even think ''They'' could be harmed, let alone killed.]]
--->[[spoiler:'''Maxwell''': I don't know what to believe. All this time, I thought They were...]]

* DownerEnding: The ending to Adventure Mode has you [[spoiler:figure out that Maxwell is merely a pawn for the Shadowy Forces that run the world and has actually been trapped on a Throne of Nightmares for an eternity, and if you free him from the Nightmare Throne, it will trap whoever you are currently playing as there forever... or until you beat Adventure Mode again]]. [[spoiler:Slightly alleviated in ''DST'', where Wilson is freed from the Nightmare Throne, but is placed back in the Constant. And the person who replaces him has far more devious plans for the world on the survivors.]]

** Maxwell only ever refers to the "Moon" in quotation marks, and he has a very good reason for doing so.

* ElectricJellyfish: The -- well -- Jellyfish from the ''Shipwrecked'' DLC.

** The [[BeneathTheEarth extensive cave systems]] accessible through sinkholes are home to two types of bioluminescent plants, the mushtrees -- [[FungusHumongous tree-sized mushrooms]] that shine with faint blue, red or green glows, depending on which color variation they come in -- and Light Flowers -- true plants that sprout either one, two or three glowing white spheres named Light Bulbs at the end of tall stalks. Since the caves are otherwise completely lightless, and since in ''Don't Starve'' [[DarknessEqualsDeath walking into the darkness is an excellent way of dying a horrible death]], the occasional groves of mushtrees and light flowers provide invaluable oases of relative safety. The bulbs of light flowers can also be used to craft lanterns, although doing so also means shrinking the size of the permanent illuminated areas.
** Glow berries, also found in the caves, are a subversion. At first they appear to be a small plant with a fruit that gives off a faint blue light... until you get close, at which point they're revealed to be the stalked, glowing lures of giant wormlike predators [[LuringInPrey using your attraction to light to draw you within striking range]].

* MinMaxing: one of the reasons for the game's high replay value is the appeal of finding better and better ways to survive with less and less effort. The obvious food sources, for example, are far from efficient. New players often run themselves ragged trapping rabbits, planting seeds in farm plots, and herding beefalo, only to barely subsist on the results.

--> '''Webber''': You’re not a friend!
** On the plant side of things, birchnut trees. Also while they're not explicitly called such, the evergreens have characteristics of both firs and pines.

* MoreDeadlyThanTheMale: [[spoiler:While Maxwell can only taunt you and keep the Nightmare Throne warm, Charlie actively goes around hunting down the playable characters as the Night Monster. And when Charlie becomes the Shadow Queen and seizes the Nightmare Throne for herself, she becomes a more formidable opponent than Maxwell could ever hope to be]].

** Red (out in daytime): if raw helps hunger but hurts health, if cooked slightly helps health but hurts sanity. Generally considered the worst because the increases are slight compared to the drawbacks. Best used as bait for mobs, since they will also take the health penalty.
** Green (out at dusk): if raw helps hunger but greatly hurts sanity, if cooked slightly hurts health but helps sanity. Good for controlling sanity in both directions (lower sanity can be desirable for Adventure mode obelisks or Nightmare creature farming).
** Blue (out at night): if raw helps health ''and'' hunger but hurts sanity (the most beneficial of all mushroom variants), if cooked helps sanity but slightly hurts health.

** WX-78, a robot who detests life, will surprisingly be distraught when inspecting gears as these are most likely are the destroyed remains of a fellow robot they just killed. Then the player will likely make them eat the gears to grant them a very much needed boost to their stats.

* NemeanSkinning: The Spiderhat, which is obtained only by killing a Spider Queen. The Moggles and Mant helmet and armor count for this too, since you need a two live Moleworms for the Moggles and while you can technically get the chitin needed for the Mant armor set you’re still basically wearing the remains of dead creatures.

* PlayerCharacter: In the beginning you'll start out with Wilson, unlocking new characters for you to play with as you level up.

* ProtagonistWithoutAPast: Initially this was the case; however, various [[AlternateRealityGame Alternate Reality Games]] and puzzles have revealed lore tidbits, as well as animated shorts released alongside character reworks to give them backstory and characterization. Currently, only Walani, Woodlegs, Wilbur, and Wheeler have yet to receive backstory.

* RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: If the already-pitch-black Ruins suddenly develop a pinkish-red iridescence, you might want to head for the exit...

** The Meat Effigy also counts as a respawn point. The advantage of this method is that you'll still be in the same playthrough, and you get to decide where you respawn by placing the Meat Effigy where you want to respawn. Touch Stones have the same effect as the Meat Effigy but are randomly spawned at certain areas on the map, can only be used once, and don't reduce your maximum health like the effigy does.

** [[spoiler:It's later subverted with the William Carter puzzles - Maxwell was once a down-on-his-luck stage magician who got his hands on the Codex Umbra so he could get fame and riches. Unfortunately, too much use of it transported him and Charlie in a bleak world, trapped Maxwell on the Nightmare Throne, and turned Charlie into the Night Monster]].

** The internal filename of the [[EldritchAbomination shadow creature]] that comes to kill you when you're in the dark is a [[VideoGame/{{Zork}} Grue.]]

*** Upon examining a fire staff, Wendy says [[VideoGame/{{Fallout3}} "I don't want to set the world on fire."]]
** WX-78's name is a reference to the RX-78 series of mobile suits in the Universal Century gundam series.
*** They say "EXTERMINATE" when attacking, which is the catchphrase from the Daleks from Series/DoctorWho. They also parody it by saying "EXFOLIATE" when they examine a Razor.

*** Tying into that, in ''Shipwrecked'' you can find a talking basketball with a face on it...named Rawling.

** [[spoiler: In the ''A New Reign'' video, Charlie changing the stairs in the throne room to be less spiky while walking up them can remind some of [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 a certain oft-repeated Disney song.]]]]
*** [[spoiler:Charlie's backstory of being a sweet-hearted young woman who was transformed and turned into a pawn by eldritch forces references [[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor Princess Peach's possession by the Shadow Queen]]]].

* StealthSequel: [[spoiler:''Don't Starve Together''--as revealed by the Cyclum AlternateRealityGame--takes place ''after'' the Adventure Mode of the first game, with Charlie taking Maxwell's place as the BigBad.]]

* SuicidalOverconfidence: All of the neutral or hostile monsters will attack you - even if you are wearing the best gear in the game, and/or if you have an entire army of pig people, a flock of Smallbirds, or a cluster of spiders by your side. Pigs will attack monsters no matter how powerful their foe is or how outnumbered they are. [[YetAnotherStupidDeath Not even the player is immune]].

* SuperDeformed: All of the playable characters, regardless of their actual age, are depicted with big heads and small bodies. [[spoiler:This even applies to Maxwell, who has more realistic proportions as an NPC]].
* SuperDrowningSkills: In ''Shipwrecked'', if your raft breaks, you die instantly even if you were one footstep away from shore.

-->'''Warly''': I would not feed this to my worst enemies. Or would I...

* TubeTravel: The game has one in the form of wormholes. Literal "worm" holes. You can go into its' toothy mouth to come out somewhere on the map (though at the cost of some sanity).

* UnintentionallyUnwinnable: ''Shipwrecked'' does its best to avert this. Touchstones are located on islands with the materials necessary to get you back on the sea, and if your boat is destroyed while you're wearing a life jacket, you wash up on the shore along with the materials required to build a log raft. '''However''', that doesn't mean there will always be instances where you will be able to recover; if you were to somehow get stuck on an island with no boat (like, for example, you die and respawn via touchstone on an island where you ''already picked up all of the flint on the ground''), no materials to build a new boat, no tools to harvest new materials, and no flint or gold to make new tools, you were basically stranded with no way out and are either forced to use cheats or lie down and await the sweet embrace of death.

** Since the ''Doorway to Adventure'' update, there is also Maxwell's Door, which is, well, a [[MeaningfulName doorway that takes you to Adventure Mode.]] However, you get taken back to Sandbox Mode if you die while in Adventure Mode.
* WasOnceAMan: The Night Monster [[spoiler: was formerly a woman named [[GenderBlenderName Charlie]], and a friend of Maxwell. After Maxwell dabbled too much with shadow magic in a bid to gain fame, he ended up summoning "[[EldritchAbomination Them]]", who proceeded to trap Maxwell on the Nightmare Throne and turned Charlie into the Night Monster. Then Charlie turned into the [[HumanoidAbomination Shadow Queen]] after seizing the Nightmare Throne for herself, and [[SplitPersonalityMerge forcing her human and monster sides to reconcile]].]]

** Every so often when you cut down enough trees, a "treeguard" will spawn. It's a very formidable opponent, and [[ForestRanger is very unhappy that you're messing with nature]]. They have a chance to stop attacking you if you plant some trees - and then [[HeelFaceTurn you can use them as a personal guard]]. Experienced players often farm tree guards to gain their first live wood logs in order to produce tier 2 magic items.

** [[spoiler:Coming across the Codex Umbra may have changed Maxwell, as he grew mad with power from using it too much, resulting in him being trapped on the Nightmare Throne for eternity. By the time the player character(s) encounter him, he's grown rather weary and regretful, and only wants to be free of his torment]].
** [[spoiler:Apparently this trope may have happened to Charlie as well. After turning into the [[EldritchAbomination Night Monster]], she becomes predatory and attacks people while it's dark. After forcibly inducing a SplitPersonalityMerge on herself and becoming the [[HumanoidAbomination Shadow Queen]], her combined personalities caused her to be more ruthless and cruel than Maxwell had been when he had the Nightmare Throne]].

''Don't Starve'' is an indie SurvivalSandbox game by Creator/KleiEntertainment. The player awakens in a [[RandomlyGeneratedLevels procedurally generated world]], populated by various monsters of varying levels of friendliness (these levels being "indifferent" and [[EverythingTryingtoKillYou "murderous"]].) From there, it is up to you to survive and explore the world. To do this, one should gather resources, do [[ForScience science]], and most importantly... [[TitleDrop Don't Starve.]]

On September 13th, 2017 the game saw further announcements for all editions of the game: an upcoming single-player expansion titled ''Don't Starve: Hamlet'' focused on the origins of the Pigmen; content updates for ''Shipwrecked''; and a series of events for ''Don't Starve Together'' starting with ''The Forge''. More information on these announcements can be found [[https://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/81966-announcing-dont-starve-hamlet-the-forge-and-other-exciting-news/ here]]. ''The Gorge'', a second event for ''DST'', was announced on June 7, 2018.

On April 5, 2018 ''Don't Starve'', and later its DLC, was announced to be coming to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch the following week. On December 16, 2021 ''Don't Starve Together'' was revealed for the Switch, slated for a Spring 2022 release.

* ActionSurvivor: Most of the characters are just normal people (for a given value of the word "normal") who are caught up in an unusual and terrible situation and forced to survive for as long as they can. [[spoiler:In the end, and in a depressing subversion of the more optimistic elements of this trope, it's bound to be a losing situation for them, since they'll either die or become permanently imprisoned on the Nightmare Throne]].

** When the ''Reign of Giants'' DLC was released, mysterious notes with coordinates could be found in-game. The trailer for the DLC had a hidden link to a website that had a map and a puzzle. Solving the puzzle would lead to comic that showed [[spoiler:a teaser for the upcoming multiplayer feature]].

** Upon the release of ''Don't Starve Together'', a hidden word was found in the Launch Trailer, leading to a new set of puzzles. This follows up on ''Don't Starve'' Adventure Mode's ending, [[spoiler: after Maxwell was released from the throne, culminating in Charlie taking the throne for herself and the start of her reign.]]

* AmbidextrousSprite: Any character holding a tool or weapon will appear left-handed when viewed from their front, back, or right, but when viewed from their left they appear right-handed.
* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:The Nightmare Throne. If someone sits on it, they become a living puppet for [[EldritchAbomination "Them"]] to act through, bound to the throne for eternity. Not to mention, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the throne itself seems to be very uncomfortable to sit on]]. If someone tries to resist "Them", "They" will ''literally bind you to the throne'', as "They" did to Wilson in the trailer for ''A New Reign'']].

** Shipwrecked's toucans make a generic bird-twitter sound. (A real toucan's call is a throaty croak/chirrup.)

** Wickerbottom refers to crows as ''Corvus brachyrhynchos'', the scientific name for the American crow. Crows were introduced to the constant along with Wes, presumably from France, which would make them ''Corvus corone'' or carrion crows.

** Bath bombs are made from flower petals and nitre. Presumably the nitre is required because it's an ingredient in actual bombs, but it won't do anything without a fuel to react with and a heat source. In real life bath bombs contain an acid and a base which reacts to cause the fizzing.
** Beefalo wool, beard hair and steel wool are all quality fuel items and burn for as long as a log. In real life, hair and wool don't burn well, not to mention that steel shouldn't burn at all.

** Endothermic fires don't make any sense from a physics point of view[[note]] endothermic chemical reactions do exist, but they generally don't produce light, and you wouldn't be able to sustain them by adding burnable fuel[[/note]], which the game itself acknowledges in some of the quotes. Wickerbottom straight-up calls it [[AWizardDidIt magic]].

* AwesomeButImpractical: Wilba’s werepig form could be considered this. For the awesome side, Wilba is dramatically faster in this form, has decent attack power barehanded, can break rocks and dig up things barehanded, has night vision (making her immune to Charlie}, is immune to freezing and overheating and has increased health that ''regenerates'' (albeit somewhat slowly) along with the fact that Wilba’s health instantly gets restored upon transforming into or out of werepig form, making it a good idea to carry around monster meat in case you’re about to die and desperately need some health. The impractical part? The hunger drain is '''massive''' and you can easily starve to death if you don’t have a good supply of food beforehand or a good number of things nearby you can massacre and kill. Just make sure you’re not chowing down on Monster Meat, though, since every piece you eat extends the transformation by half a day meaning you’ll need that much more food to avoid starving. Furthermore, Werewilba is apparently too hairy to equip anything, since hair takes up all her equip slots, which means no armor, which means she’ll take full damage from everything. The increased regenerating health mitigates this somewhat, but she’s still a bit of a GlassCannon if you aren’t good at kiting. Another downside is that she prioritizes destructive actions, meaning no, you can’t open that fridge. If you want the food inside you’re going to have to smash it and hope you have enough materials to rebuild it. You also can’t get berries off of bushes without uprooting them or items out of chests without smashing those, too. Wilba’s also considered a monster in this form, so more things than usual will be attacking you, too. Her werepig form can still be very useful despite these drawbacks, you just have to be prepared to deal with the downsides.

** The Masked Pig from ''Hamlet'' will stalk the player and try to punch them, knocking all the [[FictionalCurrency Oincs]] out of their inventory, after which he’ll pick up the Oincs on the ground and hightail it out of there. The pig guards may count, too, since they have a tendency to take advantage of this, too and [[DirtyCop pick up whatever Oincs fell on the ground for themselves.]]

** The ''Reign of Giants'' DLC introduces three new bosses [[note]]The Bearger (a bear/badger hybrid), the Dragonfly (a dragon/fly hybrid), and the Moose/Goose (a moose/goose hybrid).[[/note]]. They'll randomly appear up to once per season, and can reappear the next year.

* BreakableWeapons: Most weapons have a "durability" that appears as a percentage, which lowers every time they're used. They break when the number hits 0. Unlike most games where this mechanic is used, this time it's justified - you can't expect an axe made out of a twig and a piece of flint to be very durable.

** Clockwork Rooks have substantial health and will tamp the ground and rapidly charge at you in combat. They can and will smash through trees, structures and ''fellow Clockworks'' to get to you.

* CastFromSanity: Using magic staves consume some amount of the player's sanity, in addition to [[BreakableWeapons bringing the staff one step close to breaking]].
* CastingAShadow: What using dark magic can do. [[spoiler:Charlie, as the Night Monster and new queen of the Nightmare Throne, is more adept at using this ability than Maxwell was, manifesting flames and thorny vines made of shadows]].

* CoolChair: Subverted with the Nightmare Throne; [[AwesomeButImpractical it looks cool, but is noted by several characters to be very uncomfortable to sit on]]. Maxwell tries to convince them that [[BlatantLies it's less painful than it looks]]. [[spoiler:Not to mention that even sitting on the Nightmare Throne turns the person into a pawn for [[EldritchAbomination Them]]]].

* DetectEvil: All characters except for Wes have a bark when the hounds are coming, soon to be followed by the noise of the hounds. This usually give the player ample time to prepare for the upcoming onslaught. Veteran players also know which days will the hounds launch their attack and can be ready before hand. Also, many monsters have an insanity aura, meaning characters will lose sanity when they're close to them. Since Tentacles are hidden in the ground until mobs get very near, watching the sanity meter for the downward arrow is a good way to detect if a Tentacle is nearby and act accordingly.

* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[spoiler:Maxwell's examination of the Celestial Champion's lifeless husk after the survivors beat it into submission and Wagstaff siphons the life out of it suggests he didn't even think ''They'' could be killed, let alone harmed.]]

* DownerEnding: The ending to Adventure Mode has you [[spoiler:figure out that Maxwell is merely a pawn for the Shadowy Forces that run the world and has actually been trapped on a Throne of Nightmares for an eternity, and if you free him from the Nightmare Throne it will trap whoever you are currently playing as there forever... or until you beat Adventure Mode again.]] [[spoiler:Slightly alleviated in ''DST'', where Wilson is freed from the Nightmare Thrown, but is placed back in the Constant. And the person who replaces him has far more devious plans for the world on the survivors.]]

** [[spoiler: It seems every survivor is from this era, to TheRoaring20s.]]

* ElectricJellyfish: The--well--Jellyfish-- from the the ''Shipwrecked'' DLC.

* EvilCostumeSwitch: ''Together'''s [[https://dontstarve.wiki.gg/wiki/Skins#The_Triumphant_Sets-0 Triumphant Sets]] is a collection of skin sets that shows [[spoiler:what would've happened if the player character(s) became pawns of the Nightmare Throne.]] Story-wise, [[spoiler:Charlie ditched the flapper-style dress she wore as a human, and gained an elegant black dress with horned shoulders after undergoing a SplitPersonalityMerge with her "Night Monster" self]].

** [[spoiler:Maxwell got his hands on the Codex Umbra and used its dark magic to become a famous stage magician. It led to tragedy for him and his assistant Charlie, the latter whom was transformed into the Night Monster and the eventual queen of the Nightmare Throne, and is understandably very pissed with him]].

* ForbiddenFruit: As revealed in Wilson's character intro trailer, Maxwell offered him forbidden scientific knowledge in exchange of helping him, and Wilson being out of original ideas, gave in.

* ForScience: The crafting aspects in the game, as well as [[spoiler:Wilson's motivation for building the Wooden Thing in his backstory.]]

*** [[spoiler:''The Lost Fragment'' is a more hidden one, which is also official and part of the William Carter Puzzles]].
** Steam has a workshop for the PC version where you can subscribe to a multitude of game changing creations. This includes, amongst other things, the ability to play as [[Franchise/FiveNightsAtFreddys Freddy Fazbear and friends]], WebVideo/{{Markiplier}}, and [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 The TF2 mercs]], because ''[[RuleOfCool of course it does]]''.

** ''Hamlet''’s BFB (Big Friendly Bird) has not just one, but two Giant Feet of stomping, being so big and so tall that the player can only see it’s two humongous feet destroying everything, it’s tailfeathers and it’s head as it tries to pick the player up with it’s beak.

* GoneHorriblyRight: Wilson's experiment, which produces a portal to the Don't Starve hellscape. [[spoiler:He shouldn't have listened to Maxwell in the first place]].
* GoshDangItToHeck: When Wilson examines a sewing kit, he will comment, "[[{{Pun}} Darn it!]] Darn it all to heck!!

** WX-78 will not only become supercharged upon being zapped, but will come out of it with a large health boost. It will take a toll on the ol’ SanityMeter though.

* HiveMind: The {{Giant Spider}}s, bees and the Mants from ''Hamlet''. Attack one of them or one of their dens/hives and all of them will attack you. Each have their own worker and warrior classes. In the single-player game the spiders have a queen, who grows out of the den itself when it gets too big. Defeat her, and [[spoiler: you can wear her body as a hat to control the hivemind yourself.]] The Queen Womant can be found in the randomly generated Mant hives and, if defeated, drops Queen Malfalfa’s crown along with other resources. The crown can be given back to Queen Malfalfa or Wilba to lift Wilba’s punishment and unlock her as a playable character.

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler:[[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes "Maxy" to Charlie when the latter attacks the former.]] It never works...]] [[spoiler: Winona's attempts are slightly more successful. Emphasis on 'slightly'.]]

* InfinityPlusOneSword: Thulecite Suits are this in terms of armor. They provide the second most defense out all body armors and have a passive sanity regen on par with the dapper vest. Since the suit only degrades when you take damage, so long as you're careful not to let it break, you can make sanity management far less of an issue. The problem is that you can only acquire said suit in the Ancient Ruins, an end game area buried deep underground, perpetually bathed in darkness, and only accessible by finding a sinkhole in the Caves.

* AnInteriorDesignerIsYou: In the ''Hamlet'' DLC you can buy a house and a vast variety of cosmetic decorations for it.
* InUniverseGameClock: The game has a day and night cycle with night time being noticeably shorter but still [[DarknessEqualsDeath very dangerous]]. Each cycle lasts eight minutes.

* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: Wilson's trailer begins on [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a dark and stormy night.]]

[[spoiler:'''Maxwell''']] ''"Must be game logic."''

--->[[spoiler:'''Maxwell:''' I suppose I deserve that]].

* LoadingScreen: The game has one every time a new map is generated. Rather than actually say what parts of the game are loading, the loading screen will say things like, "Iterating upon spiders", "[[Videogame/TheSims Reticulating]] Wilson's beard", "[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons Embiggening]] game theory", and "Framing a keen sense of despair".

*** If you go to Glommer's Statue during a full moon it'll have a Glommer's Flower on it. Pick the Flower and Glommer, [[BuffySpeak a fuzzy, flying, insectoid thing]] will follow you around as long as you have the flower on your person.

** Pros have found that one can live indefinitely off a single food source ([[spoiler: honey from domesticated bee boxes]]) that can be harvested as little as once a year.

** Likewise, Webber, a spider, will say the trope if he inspects a Spiderhat as it can only be obtained by killing a "Mommy-Longlegs."

* NewGamePlus: Using a Teleportato will let you venture into a new map. The old map is erased and you lose all of your progress, but you retain your inventory[[note]]Some items like the Eye Bone, which summons Chester, and the Divining Rod will not carry over and turn to ash upon arriving in the new world[[/note]], any unlocked crafting recipes, structures that you have crafted but have not placed on the map yet, your stats, Wilson/Webber's beard and you collect experience points based on how long you survived in the old map. You will also have the option to change characters[[note]]If you switch from Wilson to Webber and vice-versa, their beard will carry over to the other[[/note]].

** Interestingly, night ''itself'' in ''Don't Starve'' is deadly, as after about five to ten seconds in complete darkness the player will suffer a massive [[ArmorPiercingAttack armor-piercing blow]] to health and moderate damage to sanity unless you enter a lit area or use a light source of some kind (light from fireflies counts.)

* NightmareFuel: InUniverse; Nightmare Fuel is actual fear in liquid form, which can be used in several recipes. [[spoiler:Prolonged exposure to it can change a person, as what happened with the Ancients who used it]].

-->'''Wilba''': ''(Inspecting Fruit Medley)'' "FRUIT MAKETH WILBA PLOP"

* NoSuchThingAsDehydration: The game requires the player to manage hunger and sanity, but not thirst. Though there are drink items the player can make in the Crock Pot which contributes to the Hunger stat, but thirst doesn’t have it’s own stat.

* NotCompletelyUseless: The Powdercake, basically a glorified Twinkie, is a JokeItem when eaten by the player--it hurts the player a bit and restores no hunger or sanity. However, its insanely long rot time of 18,750 in-game days (over ''100 days'' real time) makes it ideal trap bait. Some people also use the Powdercake for the Powdercake challenge (Twinkie challenge) where they would have to make a Powdercake and survive until the Powdercake turns into rot. It's also useful in ''Together'' for carrying Warly's seasonings without risking them going to waste due to the food spoiling.

* OceanMadness: The ''Shipwrecked'' DLC. You start off on an island, miles and miles and miles away from civilization. (Not that there was any from the game's beginning anyway) While sailing, you can hit waves to get a speed boost, but they make you wet, and wetness leads to being insane.

** In the ''Hamlet'' DLC, Webber generally causes panic among the pig-people due to his monstrous appearance. How does the game make up for this? The Shamlet Mask - a pig's nose, eyebrows, and bushy moustache attached to a pair of glasses. These pigs are more sophisticated than those on the mainland, but apparently not necessarily smarter!

* PointOfNoReturn: Once you activate the Wooden Thing to travel to another random world map, you'll never be able to go back to the previous world unless you die in which case you'll have all the equipment you owned from BEFORE you used the Wooden Thing. You'll lose all of your adventure mode progress though.

* ProtagonistWithoutAPast: Initially this was the case, however various [[AlternateRealityGame Alternate Reality Games]] and puzzles have revealed lore tidbits, as well as animated shorts released alongside character reworks to give them backstory and characterization. Currently, only Walani, Woodlegs, Wilbur and Wheeler have yet to receive backstory.

* DownerEnding: The ending to Adventure Mode has you [[spoiler:figure out that Maxwell is merely a pawn for the Shadowy Forces that run the world and has actually been trapped on a Throne of Nightmares for an eternity, and if you free him from the Nightmare Throne it will trap whoever you are currently playing as there forever... or until you beat Adventure Mode again.]][[spoiler:Slightly alleviated in ''DST'', where Wilson is freed from the Nightmare Thrown, but is placed back in the Constant. And the person who replaces him has far more devious plans for the world on the survivors.]]

* BadSanta: Behold [[http://dontstarve.wikia.com/wiki/Klaus Klaus]]. Introduced in the ''Winter's Feast'' update for ''Don't Starve Together'', Klaus is the perfect St. Nick analog for a DeathWorld like this; just replace elves with Krampii, Rudolph with a pair of magical No-Eyed Deer, and a belly like a bowl full of jelly with a ravenous BellyMouth. He's big, angry, and scary, but killing him nets you a key to a sack of neat presents.

* DarknessEqualsDeath: A ''literal'' interpretation with [[http://dontstarve.wikia.com/wiki/Charlie The Night Monster]], who attacks the player character(s) during the night. This may be [[ShoutOut a reference]] to ''VideoGame/{{Zork}}''.

** Just to emphasize this trope, they only spawn at low sanity levels, and they drop literal NightmareFuel. Yes, NightmareFuel is an item in this game.

* EvilCostumeSwitch: [[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Skins#Shadow_Sets The Shadow Collection]] is a cosmetic set of skins that shows [[spoiler:what would've happened if the player character(s) became pawns of the Nightmare Throne. Story-wise, Charlie ditched the flapper-style dress she wore as a human, and gained an elegant black dress with horned shoulders after undergoing a SplitPersonalityMerge with her "Night Monster" self]].

* ForegoneConclusion: In October 2013, Klei released a series of puzzles to accompany the ''All's Well That Maxwell'' update. Dubbed [[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/William_Carter_Puzzles the William Carter puzzles]] by fans, it elaborates on Maxwell's backstory as well as that of a girl named Charlie. The same [[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Charlie Charlie]] was [[spoiler:confirmed to be the Night Monster]]. It ends about as well as you'd expect.

** The first official mod was released in October 2013, titled ''[[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/The_Screecher The Screecher]]''. It was also the first total conversion mod to be possible on the game's engine.

* {{Magitek}}: The Shadow Manipulator. A tier 3 science machine that is made with, and seems to run on NightmareFuel and shadows.

* MeleeATrois: Your daily entertainment in the Swamp areas is Spiders, Tentacles, and Merms duking it out in a 3-way battle, often leaving much loots which you can grab without fighting. Add in Pigmen, Bunnymen, and the occasional Frogs and Mosquitos to the mix, and [[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Guides/Marsh_Camp_Guide swamps make a surprisingly good home, due to the free resources.]]

* MobileShrubbery: The Bush Hat is a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin berry bush hat]]. When in use, the player [[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Bush_Hat#Gallery appears to be a regular bush]], and enemies won't attack. The disguise doesn't work on the Night Monster, Gobblers or mobs that are already pursuing the player.

* NintendoHard: ''Don't Starve'' is an extremely difficult game. There are many mechanics in place specifically to disrupt your setup when it is comfortable (Gobbler, Brushfires, Bearger, etc). While you can configure the game to turn off some of these elements, surviving with all of them enabled is a challenge indeed. It's later cranked up with the game's expansions, which actually make the game ''more'' difficult by adding complications and mechanics that work against you each time.

* StockFemurBone: Biiigfoot (the giant leg summoned by the Old Bell) has a protruding femur. Not so bad until one notices the [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140407140433/dont-starve-game/images/7/7b/Bigfoot_Brain.jpg tiny, peculiarly human brain perched atop the end of the bone]].

* TakeThat: The [[https://dontstarve.fandom.com/wiki/Powdercake Powdercake]] strongly resembles a Twinkie and has a negative nutritional value, while taking a ridiculously long time to spoil. Upon examining it, the characters act horrified and question whether or not it's actually food.

*** WX-78's Snowfallen skin references [[Characters/BatmanRoguesGalleryPart2 Mr. Freeze]].

''Don't Starve'' started as an app for Google Chrome, but later became available on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}. It saw a full release on April 23, 2013, with new content continually being added post-release.

On May 1, 2014, a [[DownloadableContent DLC]] titled "Reign of Giants" was released. It added lots of new content to the game, including two new characters, three more boss monsters, the seasons of Spring and Fall, and a tweaking of the game mechanics.

Also in May 2014, Klei announced a multiplayer feature titled "Don't Starve Together". The closed beta was released the next Summer and Early Access was released on December 15, 2014. Don't Starve Together was officially released on April 21st, 2016. Initially it was just the original with multiplayer and all enemy health increased to compensate, but Don't Starve Together has subsequently received multiple updates, collectively referred to as "A New Reign," that have made it increasingly different from single-player. Later, another series of updates known as "Return of Them" started in 2019, which added seafaring, fishing and farming reworks and a collection of "Moon" based features. DST, with its popularity long since out-growing the original title, has continued to receive major updates in the form of characters, seasonal events, qol, and content changes.

July 30th, 2015 was the day that ''Don't Starve: Shipwrecked'' was revealed to the public, co-created by Capy Games. Shipwrecked was fully released on March 31st, 2016. Its theme was mostly about nautism and navigation, allowing the player to build and use boats to navigate on the waters.

On September 13th, 2017 the game saw further announcements for all editions of the game: an upcoming single-player expansion titled "Don't Starve: Hamlet" focused on the origins of the Pigmen; content updates for Shipwrecked; and a series of events for Don't Starve Together starting with "The Forge." More information on these announcements can be found [[https://forums.kleientertainment.com/topic/81966-announcing-dont-starve-hamlet-the-forge-and-other-exciting-news/ here]]. "The Gorge", a second event for DST, was announced on June 7, 2018.

On April 5, 2018 Don't Starve, and later its DLC, was announced to be coming to the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch the following week. On December 16, 2021 Don't Starve Together was revealed for the Switch, slated for a Spring 2022 release.

** Lampshaded in DST:

* AllDesertsHaveCacti: There is a desert biome in the ''Reign of Giants'' worlds, and there are cacti in abundance there.

** The William Carter Puzzles are a series of puzzles hidden in update trailers in the form of hidden web links. It follows the story of a stage magician named William Carter, who is [[spoiler:Maxwell's original identity and details how he came to the Don't Starve world]].
** When the DLC "Reign of Giants" was released, mysterious notes with coordinates could be found in-game. The trailer for the DLC had a hidden link to a website that had a map and a puzzle. Solving the puzzle would lead to comic that showed [[spoiler:a teaser for the upcoming multiplayer feature]].
** A parrot named Wolly can be found in-game that provides riddles which, when entered on a website, will give clues about [[spoiler:the second DLC, Shipwrecked]].
** Upon the release of Don't Starve Together, a hidden word was found in the Launch Trailer, leading to a new set of puzzles. This follows up on Don't Starve Adventure Mode's ending, [[spoiler: after Maxwell was released from the throne, culminating in Charlie taking the throne for herself and the start of her reign.]]
** After Don't Starve Together's first expansion, "A New Reign", the Metheus puzzles were discovered, arguably the most complex puzzles to date. It requires two players to beat, let alone solve. It involves decoding some ancient monument depicting the history of the Ancients, and beating it rewards the players with a view of a teaser for the upcoming character and timed event.

* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler:The Nightmare Throne. If someone sits on it, they become a living puppet for [[EldritchAbomination "Them"]] to act through, bound to the throne for eternity. Not to mention, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking the throne itself seems to be very uncomfortable to sit on]]. If someone tries to resist "Them", "They" will ''literally bind you to the throne'', as "They" did to Wilson in the "A New Reign" trailer]].

** The Hallowed Nights event introduces Sulfuric Crystals of Lime and Sulfuric Crystals of Saltpeter, which can be added to fires to make them burn red or yellow respectively. The first one is fairly plausible, as 'lime' refers to calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide and calcium salts do burn with a red flame, though it's not clear where the sulphur comes in. However, saltpeter is another name for nitre or potassium nitrate, the oxidiser used in gunpowder, while sulphur is one of the fuels in gunpowder. [[StuffBlowingUp Needless to say, you probably shouldn't be putting a mixture like that anywhere near a fire]]. And on top of that, potassium salts burn with a lilac rather than a yellow flame.

* BadSanta: Behold [[http://dontstarve.wikia.com/wiki/Klaus Klaus]]. Introduced in the "Winter's Feast" update for ''Don't Starve Together'', Klaus is the perfect St. Nick analog for a DeathWorld like this; just replace elves with Krampii, Rudolph with a pair of magical No-Eyed Deer, and a belly like a bowl full of jelly with a ravenous BellyMouth. He's big, angry, and scary, but killing him nets you a key to a sack of neat presents.

** In the Shipwrecked DLC, Prime Apes resemble above-ground Splumonkeys but will only take items lying on the ground.

* BattleAmongstTheFlames: The Forge event apparently, due to its fiery theme and combat-oriented play (as of so far).
* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: A reoccurring theme throughout the Survivors is many of them wanted something and they get it at the cost of being thrown into the Constant. Key examples include Wilson wanting ideas, Wendy wanting to be with Abigail again and Winona [[spoiler:wanting to find the missing Charlie]]. This also applies to [[spoiler:the main villain Maxwell, as he desired fame as a magician by using real shadow magic]].

** The [[DownloadableContent DLC]] ''Reign of Giants'' introduces three new bosses [[note]]The Bearger (a bear/badger hybrid), the Dragonfly (a dragon/fly hybrid), and the Moose/Goose (a moose/goose hybrid).[[/note]]. They'll randomly appear up to once per season, and can reappear the next year.

** Woodie, the stereotypical Canadian lumberjack who transforms into a werebeaver and a weremoose and weregoose in DST.
** The Moose/Goose from the ''Reign of Giants DLC'' might just be the most Canadian monster in fiction, being a mix of the two most well-known animals up north. [[{{Lampshade}} Lampshaded]] by a couple of characters, including Woodie.

* CookingMechanics: As the name of the game suggests, food is an important element here. Stranded in the wilderness, you can forage for, cook, and eat various foods, and if you're able to craft a crock pot, you can prepare dozens of different food items that restore different amounts of your hunger meter as well as other stats. Foods made from fish, such as fish sticks and sushi, tend to restore your hit points, while primarily meat-based dishes like stew and meatballs usually fill up your stomach more, and sweet foods like taffy and cookies help to restore your sanity. And this doesn't include the limited-time special event in the multiplayer game called The Gorge, where players team up to cook tons of fancier foods like pizza, pasta, and cakes, which are exclusive to the mode, to appease a hungry hole in the sky.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ybulMdPLKY The "An Eye for an Eye" update]] added the Eye of Terror, based on the Eye of Cthulhu from ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', as well as various ''Terraria''-based outfits. In return, ''Terraria'' added The Constant as a World Seed, allowing its players to fight the Deerclops and obtain various ''Don't Starve''-inspired gear.

* DetectEvil: All characters except for Wes has a bark when the hounds are coming, soon to be followed by the noise of the hounds. This usually give the player ample time to prepare for the upcoming onslaught. Veteran players also know which days will the hounds launch their attack and can be ready before hand. Also, many monsters have an insanity aura, meaning characters will lose sanity when they're close to them. Since Tentacles are hidden in the ground until mobs get very near, watching the sanity meter for the downward arrow is a good way to detect if a Tentacle is nearby and act accordingly.
** the Hound warnings also apply to the Crocodogs in Shipwrecked, the Bats in Hamlet and the Depth Worms in Together.

* DiurnalNocturnalAnimal: rabbits and frogs are strictly diurnal in the game; in real life both tend towards crepuscular.

** In the Reign of Giants DLC, there are enemies that can make you drop your equipped tool. And if you are wet enough, there's a chance for your tool to be dropped.
* DownerEnding: The ending to Adventure Mode has you [[spoiler:figure out that Maxwell is merely a pawn for the Shadowy Forces that run the world and has actually been trapped on a Throne of Nightmares for an eternity, and if you free him from the Nightmare Throne it will trap whoever you are currently playing as there forever... or until you beat Adventure Mode again.]][[spoiler:Slightly alleviated in DST, where Wilson is freed from the Nightmare Thrown, but is placed back in the Constant. And the person who replaces him has far more devious plans for the world on the survivors.]]
* DownloadableContent: There are three [=DLCs=] for the original single-player game: "Reign of Giants", "Shipwrecked" and "Hamlet". Reign of Giants adds a lot more depth and challenge to the base game, while Shipwrecked and Hamlet are mostly self-contained with entirely new worlds that have their own rules and gameplay differences.

* EasterEgg: The Old Bell summons [[GiantFootOfStomping Bigfoot]], a giant reptilian foot that crushes anything in its path. The rest of the body normally can't be seen, but by using console commands, you can see that the rest of Bigfoot is [[spoiler:a bony stump with a brain attached]].

* ElectricJellyfish: The--well--Jellyfish-- from the the Shipwrecked DLC.

** In the multiplayer expansion Don't Starve Together, the Dragonfly will spawn Lavae to aid it if attacked.

* EternalEquinox: {{Averted}}. Day/night times change according to the season. In summer days are longer than nights and nights are longer than days in winter.

* EvilOrphanageLady: While unclear as to the exact nature of the institution she used to be in, Willow in "from the ashes" seemed to previously be under the care of two of these. After waking up in the middle of the night and being chased by a shadow monster, only to be saved by her beloved teddy bear, the two presumed matrons of the place burst into the room. And, rather than listen to her explain herself, their first reaction is to take her bear from her and lock her in a storage closet where it's presumed they would have forced her to spend the night for the crime of being out of bed and making noise.

%%** The Old Bell in ''Reign of Giants'' bears absolutely no resemblance to the ingredients used to craft it.%%Which are what?

** Wormwood is back in DT. There are also types of lizards and fish which are walking the line between animal and vegetable.

* FishPeople: The Merms, who often drop fish when killed. Developers' explanation? [[HandWave "They are made of fish"]]. DST retcons the fish as being pets, with the playable Merm, Wurt, having a increase in Sanity whenever one is in her inventory.
* FlippingHelpless: In the Forge, Snortoises can be immobilized for a while when hit by the Pyre Poker special attack, which turns them onto their backs. Fish do the same thing after the fishing rework.
* FlowerMotifs: The Florid Postern in Don't Starve Together has thorned red roses attached to it. [[spoiler:This is the sign of Charlie's reign of the world]]. Red thorns appear throughout the game world because of this as well.
* FluffyTheTerrible: Charlie, the [[DarknessEqualsDeath Night Monster]] [[spoiler:and, in Don't Starve Together, the new ruler of the Nightmare Throne]].
* FogOfWar: Don't Starve Together has this to balance out the multiplayer. With this active, what is shown on the map is the last version seen.

* ForegoneConclusion: In October 2013, Klei released a series of puzzles to accompany the "All's Well That Maxwell" update. Dubbed [[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/William_Carter_Puzzles the William Carter puzzles]] by fans, it elaborates on Maxwell's backstory as well as that of a girl named Charlie. The same [[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Charlie Charlie]] was [[spoiler:confirmed to be the Night Monster]]. It ends about as well as you'd expect.

** In the ''Forbidden Knowledge'' trailer, Wilson is at one point seen defeatedly slumping into an armchair after a failed experiment. His posture is reminiscent of [[spoiler:him sitting on the Nightmare Throne in the "A New Reign" cinematic]].
** It has been heavily implied that Maxwell's past dabbling with dark magic led to his assistant Charlie turning into the [[EldritchAbomination Night Monster]]. In "A New Reign", [[spoiler:this made Charlie a more suitable replacement for the Nightmare Throne, effortlessly becoming a bigger threat than Maxwell was when he had the Nightmare Throne]].

** Charlie went from a sweet-hearted stage assistant to being the game's resident Night Monster [[spoiler:after Maxwell used too much dark magic for his performances, which directly led to Charlie's transformation. As of "A New Reign", she became an even bigger nightmare after becoming queen and ascending to the Nightmare Throne]].

** Wormwood's in-game quotes suggest that he finds rot "yummy" and that he enjoys getting wet. Makes perfect sense for a PlantPerson. Despite this, in Single-Player Don't Starve, rot still decreases his hunger meter and he has no resistance against wetness or the associated sanity drain. (In DST, he can heal with rot and doesn't lose sanity from being soaked.)

* GiantFootOfStomping: In "Reign of Giants", an item called the Old Bell can summon Bigfoot, a giant reptilian foot that squashes anything it steps on. [[AlwaysABiggerFish It dwarfs the already huge boss monsters and can kill them in one stomp]].

** As of the "Long Live the Queen" update, the colonial spiders of the game now have a queen.
** Updates to Don't Starve Together have added a queen for the bees to that version, but not single-player.

* HuntingTheMostDangerousGame: When winter rolls around, a pair of Scottish walruses named [=MacTusk=] and Wee [=MacTusk=] emerge from their igloos to hunt you. These blubbery Scots sic their ice hounds on you before using their blowguns to finish the job. To make matters worse, they're smart enough to keep their distance when you get close, so it's best to fight ranged weapons with ranged weapons.

* JokeItem: The Ham Bat, which originally did the same damage as a Spear but uses more difficult materials to obtain and eventually turns to rot; and the Powder Cake, very similar to a real life Twinkie, which only decreases health, can't be fed to allies, and takes 18,750 days to spoil.[[note]]With each Don't Starve day taking 8 real life minutes, that's over three ''months'' of real time.[[/note]] Also, the Snake Oil does nothing, in keeping with its namesake.

* MeleeATrois: Your daily entertainment in the Swamp areas is Spiders, Tentacles, and Mermen duking it out in a 3-way battle, often leaving much loots which you can grab without fighting. Add in Pigmen, Bunnymen, and the occasional Frogs and Mosquitos to the mix, and [[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Guides/Marsh_Camp_Guide swamps make a surprisingly good home, due to the free resources.]]

*** Vampire Bats are a combination of bat and pig. Appropriately, they have a chance to drop both Pig Skin(?) and a Batilisk Wing(?).

* MobileShrubbery: The Bush Hat is a [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin berry bush hat]]. When in use, the player [[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Bush_Hat#Gallery appears to be a regular bush]], and enemies won't attack. The disguise doesn't work on the Night Monster, turkeys, timed hound attacks, and mobs that are already pursuing the player.

* NaturallyHusklesscoconuts: In ''Shipwrecked'', you can see coconuts growing on trees. The coconuts do not have a husk.

* NoHeroDiscount: In the Gorge event, even as the players are trying to save the dimension's few remaining inhabitants from the Gnaw, those same inhabitants charge them for supplies that they desperately need.

* NonstandardCharacterDesign: The Moose/Goose is rather goofy looking compared to the other giants. [[BewareTheSillyOnes Not that it's any less dangerous]].
* NoPartyLikeADonnerParty: An unused feature in Don't Starve Together. Players would've dropped "long pig" (human flesh) when they die. It acts like monster meat, meaning you can eat it at the cost of health and sanity. However, it was removed because the developers thought it was too dark.

* OceanMadness: The "Shipwrecked" DLC. You start off on an island, miles and miles and miles away from civilization. (Not that there was any from the game's beginning anyway) While sailing, you can hit waves to get a speed boost, but they make you wet, and wetness leads to being insane.

* OrphanageOfFear: The "From the Ashes" character short reveals that Willow grew up in one; the owners took away Bernie and locked her in a storage room seemingly just because she was up at night. She accidentally burnt it down shortly afterwards when trying to defend herself from the shadow creatures.
* OrphansPlotTrinket: Willow's stuffed bear, Bernie. Apparently her closest possession since her apparently orphaned childhood which remains with her to the present day in the game. In game it appears to possess the ability to draw in shadow monsters when sanity is low. And, if Willow's sanity in particular is low, he will even come to life and attack enemy mobs to defend her. Even as far back as childhood it appeared to have some sort of special ability, as in the "From the Ashes" character short, it able to protect Willow by repelling a shadow monster, and was even somehow able to resist being destroyed by a fire which apparently killed the person holding it at the time.

** The Gnaw that players cook for in The Gorge event is hinted to be a dragon. A dragon who floats in place in the sky, whose only visible feature is its enormous rotating lamprey mouth.

** In Don't Starve Together, players will turn into ghosts when they die (even WX-78 the robot). As ghosts, players can haunt items and structures, which sometimes sets them on fire. If they get tired of the afterlife, they can be resurrected using a touch stone, meat effigy, life giving amulet, or a tell-tale heart.

* PermaDeath: If you die and don't have an item to revive you, you will have to start over in a new world.
** Averted in the Endless Mode of Don't Starve Together. You can resurrect yourself endlessly. In fact, you can even [[SaveScumming roll back the days to undo a catastrophic turn of events]].

* PointOfNoReturn: Once you activate the "Wooden Thing" to travel to another random world map, you'll never be able to go back to the previous world unless you die in which case you'll have all the equipment you owned from BEFORE you used the Wooden Thing. You'll lose all of your adventure mode progress though.

* ProtagonistWithoutAPast: So far only Wilson, Maxwell, Winona, Willow and Walter have been given a proper story for why they're in the ''Don't Starve'' world.

* SecurityCling: Wilson and Wortex cling to each other in fear when the group gets attacked by the Eye of Terror in the "An Eye for an Eye" update trailer.

*** They say "EXTERMINATE" when attacking, which is the catchphrase from the Daleks from Series/DoctorWho. They also parodies it by saying "EXFOLIATE" when they examine a Razor.

** During Don't Starve Together, there's a heart which is used to revive a fellow player. What's it called? ''Literature/TheTelltaleHeart''.

** In Shipwrecked, it's possible to get a Howling Conch, which summons storm winds. Woodie's inspection text? "[[Music/GordonLightfoot I can hear the chime of 29 bells.]]"

** [[spoiler: In the "New Reign" video, Charlie changing the stairs in the throne room to be less spiky while walking up them can remind some of [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 a certain oft-repeated Disney song.]]]]

* SizableSnowflakes: The Crab King, a boss introduced in the "She Sells Sea Shells" update from ''Don't Starve Together", has an attack that considerably decreases the temperature around it, emitting many sizable snowflakes around it.
* TheSleepless: While Wickerbottom is the only one who flat out [[TheInsomniac can't sleep]], none of the other player characters actually have to. They can if they want to skip the night (or day, in Reign of Giants with a Siesta Lean-To) and regain some health and sanity (albeit at a hefty hunger cost), but it's possible for them to go hundreds of days without sleep with no ill effects.

* SpiderSwarm: The spider enemies live in a spider nest, attack all together, and a nest can spawn a "Spider Queen" who spawns spider followers.

* StockFemurBone: The giant (known as Bigfoot) summoned by the Old Bell has a protruding femur. Not so bad until one notices the [[http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140407140433/dont-starve-game/images/7/7b/Bigfoot_Brain.jpg tiny, peculiarly human brain perched atop the end of the bone]].

* SuperDrowningSkills: In the Shipwrecked DLC, if your raft breaks, you die instantly even if you were one footstep away from shore.

** "Reign of Giants" introduces the birchnut tree, a deciduous tree that sometimes become angry when you chop other birchnut trees. They attack using tree roots and [[MookMaker spawn tiny birchnutters]] to go after foes. Fortunately, they're not boss monsters and can be killed like any other tree. They also don't get angry during the Winter.

** In the Gorge event, the locals of the Elder Bog are supposedly friendly allies who want to help you feed the Gnaw and escape safely, but gameplay balance means that they end up charging you money for supplies that you desperately need and can't afford, leading to the team dying on badly planned-out rounds.

** Endothermic fires don't make any sense from a physics point of view, which the game itself acknowledges in some of the quotes. Wickerbottom straight-up calls it [[AWizardDidIt magic]].

** Planting a butterfly on the ground somehow turns it into a flower. Killing one has a small chance of producing ''butter''.

** Wormwood's in-game quotes suggest that he finds rot "yummy" and that he enjoys getting wet. Makes perfect sense for a PlantPerson. Despite this, rot still decreases his hunger meter and he has no resistance against wetness or the associated sanity drain.
*** Fixed in DST, where Wormwood can now fertilize himself using Rot.

*** When he examines a grave, he says "[[Franchise/SpiderMan My loot sense is tingling]]".

* ExpressiveHealthBar: The heart symbol in health meter becomes more sahriveled and broken th less health you have. Similar changes happen for hunger meter, sanity meter, wetness and any character-specific meters.

[[TheWikiRule While most video games have a wiki]], it had [[http://dont-starve-game.wikia.com/wiki/Don%27t_Starve_Game_Wiki two]] [[https://dontstarve.gamepedia.com/Don%27t_Starve_Wiki competing]] ones until they merged into [[https://dontstarve.fandom.com/ this one]].

* {{Crossover}}: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ybulMdPLKY The "An Eye for an Eye" update]] added the Eye of Terror, based on the Eye of Cthulhu from ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', as well as various ''Terraria''-based outfits. In return, ''Terraria'' added The Constant as a World Seed, allowing its players to fight the Deerclops and obtain various ''Don't Starve''-inspired gear.

** Steam has a workshop for the PC version where you can subscribe to a multitude of game changing creations. This includes, amongst other things, the ability to play as [[VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys Freddy Fazbear and friends,]] LetsPlay/{{Markiplier}}, and [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2 The TF2 mercs,]] because ''[[RuleOfCool of course it does.]]''

* BiggerOnTheInside: The Krampus Sack. Krampus can jump into it to leave the world, and Wickerbottom remarks that the sack is somehow bigger on the inside. It's the largest "backpack" item in the game.

* CheerfulChild: Most of the child playable characters are actually this, despite [[DeathWorld the circumstances]], they don’t seem to be taking it too hard and remain relatively well-adjusted and cheerful if their examination quotes are anything to go by. [[BrokenBird Wendy]]'s an exception to this, as explained further below.

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Even without getting into the fantasy creatures, some of Constant's flora and fauna is rather odd. Just a few examples:

* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Even without getting into the fantasy creatures, some of the island's flora and fauna is rather odd. Just a few examples: