In a complete 180 from their previous position, Klei Entertainment has announced that its delightful, literally-titled survival game Don’t Starve will be getting multiplayer this summer. The also-literally-titled Don’t Starve Together will allow friends or complete strangers to survive together in public or private games. The variant will have most (if not all) of the single player game’s features, rebalanced for multiplayer, and possibly new features. As with the original game, development will first focus on Stream/Standalone with other platforms to possibly follow.
The Vancouver-based developer originally committed to only developing Don’t Starve as a single player experience in order to avoid spreading itself too thin. A few years of steady updates and strong sales, though, have apparently bolstered its confidence enough to take on the project of re-building the game to accommodate two to four (or possibly more) survivors. The change has the potential to really shake up the game which is so much about managing how to spend your fleeting daylight hours, bringing in old and new players alike.
Don’t Starve Together will be a free expansion for current owners of the Steam/Standalone version, while the retail cost will go up to $20 for new players when the Alpha becomes available.