Overview
Their are alot of guides but i’ll tell you how I play Don’t Starve, and how to survive the way I do.
1) The Basics
The first thing to do is start a new world, once you get through the loading screen, gamemode type, and Maxwell’s little speech to start off with. Start collecting materials and find the nearest swamp, pig village, beefalo area, bee nests, or a spidernest. Why you might ask, because these mobs fight hounds and other bad monsters for you. But if you can’t find anything other than the spidernest just try to stay alive near them, other than that you should be able to collect more things without mobs trying to kill you. Make sure you have a pickaxe, axe, shovel, and a hammer, once you get enough to make these dig up grass tufts, berry bushes, and cut down trees and rocks. Make sure you find seeds, carrots, flowers, berrys and other food to watch your hunger and sanity. Finally make a camp somewhere you will stay, (my camp is near a swamp) so put down a permanent fireplace,(walls optional) and a science machine, and other materials make another craftible item like alchemy machine, crock pot, refrigerator, flooring or anything you want to make or decorate with. (you can wait to do this if you want) but make sure to survive without dying. This should get you up to day 7 easy.
Oh and this picture you see to the left, this text is when the game was in beta, as you can see the insanity meter isn’t there. I know this but other than this, it should be all the same.
2) A little bit of murder . . .
Now we all know if we don’t kill things to survive we won’t get far, so you will have to some time in Don’t Starve kill pigs, bunnys, birds, beefalo, ETC. To get to at least day 24 and surviving winter, so don’t kill too many animals or a demon called “Krampus” will come and ransack your base and steal everything because of your naughtyness. He will try and murder you aswell then escape with your stuff so your gonna have to kill him, plus he drops some good loot.
Anyway the mobs in this list are rare, passive, and have some rare items you try to kill them are
-Rabbits
-Birds (morsels, feathers, seeds) (passive)
-Pigs (pigskin, meat) (passive) (helpful)
-Merms (froglegs, rot, twigs) (not passive)
-Smallbirds (morsel) (passive) (helpful)
-Koalefant (koalefant trunk, meat) (passive)
-Beefalo (beefalo fur, meat, beefalo horn) (passive = depends on season)
-Chester and Eyebone (your items) (passive) (helpful)
-Gobblers (meat) (passive)
-Frogs (froglegs) (not passive)
-Teenbirds (Passive) (Morsel) (Protection)
-Guardian Pigs(havn’t tested so it’s a 50% chance they’re passive)
-Baby beefalo
-Tallbirds(passive until you go near their egg)
-Clockwork knight(passive until you go near their terroritory)
-Shadow monsters(some are passive until you go near them or fight them, doesn’t apply to Harrings)
-Butterfly
-Firefly
-Bees(Don’t grab their honey, or you will regret it)
-Mandrakes(pick them at night and they protect you, but if picked in sun, they die or go back to bed)
-Pig King(he gives good meat when you murder him, but gives gold when he is given meat)
-Wormhole(it’s alive and they take you to places, but other than that it’s just for meat)
And this is the passive killable mobs that drop good loot, but if you do kill some of them Krampus will come. And some have a small chance of dropping nothing.
YUMMY!
3) Death and Monsters.
One day in Don’t Starve you will be murdered, good thing there is 4 save spots and a way of saving the game.But cheaters never prosper, anyway the bad mean monsters are very hard to kill and will show up one day in Don’t Starve, so get ready, especially in winter. The monsters are:
-Treeguard(If you are mean to the forest and burn it down or not plant pinecones, he will come and kill you, so don’t be a forest killer, unless you want to chop down trees and make him come. He drops special magical wood and lots of meat)
-Hound(These creatures come on certain days and can be found near bones on the map, they run fast and won’t leave untill they eat and kill you unless you kill them,)
-Ice Hound(These special Hounds come in winter only, and also are owned by Mactusk n’ son, the other mob i’ll tell you about, plus they have a rare chance of dropping a Blue gem to craft the ice staff, and to make the purple gem. they also can freeze you if you’re not careful)
-Fire Hound(same as regular Hound but when you kill them they will have a rare chance of dropping a Red gem, a magical item used for making the Fire staff, or Purple gem, they also can hurt you with fire and bites, luckily for Willow they’re easy)
-Tentacle Monster(They only appear in swamps but I think they’re quite useful because of there cool drop of a Tentacle Spike used for a weapon. And they protect you from other things because they kill anything they see, including you if your not careful, but they only can go in one spot so run fast or stay still)
-Mactusk N’ Son(These mobs hunt you down in the winter, they will track you down with a blowgun and a IceHound. They live in a igloo and they drop good loot, The Dad of Mactusk N’ Son is not passive but I think the son might be passive, I havn’t tested this out yet but it’s a 50% chance he is)
-Deerclops(This mob is the hardest to kill of them all, he comes in between day 26-32, he is bigger than ever and he drops amazing loot, but has more health and damage than anything, he is the boss of Winter, and can smash walls, chests, animals, and you. So try to survive him)
-Ghost(comes out of graves, goes very slowly, does alot of damage. And doesn’t drop anything)
-Killer bees(they kill you if you go near them and they drop the same thing as regular bees)
-Spider(A level 1 Spider is easy to kill, they hit you and come out at night unless you hit there spider nest)
-Spider Warrior(Spiders that can jump to you and hit you when they get far away from you, they have more health and hit harder)
-Spider Queen(The boss of all Spiders, if a Spider nest has 3 layers that means it’s a harder to kill spider nest, and will probably have a queen. Usually they drop an item called Creep, but they fixed that and now she only drops her head, an item used as a hat and for controlling spiders, and she also drops a bunch of monster meat and silk. She can lay eggs of spiders to kill you while she battles you, and she can put down nests with spider webs around it to make you go slower)
-The Grue(The Grue is a monster you cannot see, it’s in your nightmares. And if you go into the dark for more than 4 seconds it will kill you, luckily the character you’re playing as gives you a warning by saying a phrase that you’re gonna get attacked. It won’t stop until you find light or when you’re dead.)
-The Bishop(A gaurd of the adventure portal, he protects the portal and will kill you no matter what.)
-Maxwell(The demon who trapped you on the island because you were evil, the demon who made this island deathtraped with horrible beasts that make you go insane. The person who made you to survive or die on the island unless you find a way out. This is why you’re here)
And if you’re not impressed with your world but don’t want to die you can find 4 parts scattered around your current map and place them at this thing called “The Wooden Thing” and escape your world to a differen’t world, but you keep your inventory.
Now if I missed anything, please tell me. And yes I know I didn’t include the Tallbird, Clockwork Knight, ETC, because they were already in the second page, but anyway these beasts will hunt you down so stay clear.
4) Why not Decorate?
Since you’re on a island alone with monsters and rain and nothing but dirt. Why not make yourself happy! and not insane. Put some nice flooring down with marbel, carpet, wood, stone, Etc. With roads made from cobble. Walls from stone, hay, wood anything you like, then finally add a sign or two. Not only this looks pretty but it makes monsters not able to get in. Insanity not able to lower quickly, and you can farm plants to eat with a crock pot, science machine, aclhemy machine, rainometer, winterthermonator, shadowmanipulator, drying rack, night light, pig torchs, pig houses, farms plots, chests, fireplace, and many more! so many choices. And the best part is, you have whenever to do this, because one day in Don’t Starve you will need these to survive. So put on your top hat and breezy vest and start decorating.
Or you will end up looking as dirty and unhealthy as this guy
You don’t want that do you? so go and try, but watch your health, hunger and insanity, while you’re finding all the materials to build with you should try to stay out of trouble or it will be the end of you.
5) Caves…
6) Characters, items, and friends Oh my!
This is the character list, each character has a special ability and a way of surviving
-Wilson(grows a beard to keep you warm and to easily build a meat effigy without having to kill harrings and dig graves. Muhahahhahhaha! OH sorry wilson is a gentle man scientist.)
-Willow(She is a fire starter, i’m pretty sure we all know why she is on the island. But anyway her perks are able to light up the night with a fire between her feet and never get eaten by the grue, or have a campfire, even though insanity might go up. She is also immune to fire damage,)
-Wendy(She is a little girl which one day her twin sister Abigail died in a accident, I don’t know why she would be on the island because she doesn’t look evil. But Abigail can some times appear at night and help attack other mobs, but if you get too close to her she will damage you too. She tries to keep her distance though.)
-Wolfgang(He is a circus actor, i’m pretty sure he lifts barbells, he is probably on the island because of how easy it is for hi-you know what? lets just say his perks. His perks are able for him to hit 50% more, so he can damage mobs easy in melee. Second he has more Health and Hunger, both are 50% bigger so he can have longer nights without starving or dying.)
-WX-78(A robot which can eat spoiled food without a penalty, he is probably on the island because he is either a real person inside that robot or the robot did something bad that made maxwell send him their to suffer)
-Wickerbottom(An old librarian, her perks are getting recipes from the science machine but since the update, it’s kinda usless now. So not much to say or do with her)
-Wes( HARDCORE MODE! Wes is a mime which can’t survive because he doesn’t know how, he can’t talk, or do anything right. He has a 60% of dying whenever, plus he has no perks, just difficulty)
-Woody(He hasn’t been implemented into the game yet, but his shadow on the next character coffin is in the game. So expect him to show up in the next update)
Now their are alot of weapons, items, hats, food, and other stuff. But since the updates I couldn’t keep track of all the new food they put in so I don’t really have the “New food” pictures, only the old ones. 
-Taffy
-Mushroom(3 kinds)
-Bee Poltice
-Jerky(used for any meat)
-Logsuit
-Top hat
-Garland
-Beekeeper hat
-Slurtle shell armor
-Marble armor
-Dark night armor
Now for the weapons, sorry but I can not find png’s for the weapons and durability tools,
So i’ll name them all off, tell me if I made a mistake with anything, since i’m still figuring out the update and such,
-Axe(used for cutting trees and killing stuff)
-Hammer(used for breaking down buildings and using the ex materials found, also is for killing stuff)
-Shovel(used for digging up plants and graves, used for planting but is also for killing stuff)
-Pitchfork(used for digging up turf, and for killing stuff)
-Tentacle Spike(used for killing stuff and has better durability and damage, you have to kill a tentacle monster to get it though)
-Umbrella(used for blocking rain and for not losing sanity, also can be used for killing stuff)
-Hambat(used for hitting crap with style, my favorite. Plus if you preorder Don’t Starve you get this and Wilson weeve on Tf2, Team Fortress 2. Don’t know much about it since it’s new like the umbrella in the update)
-Spear(used for killing stuff, but cannot be thrown.)
-Firedart(you can throw this at animals and monsters to catch them on fire)
-Blowdart(you can throw this at animals and monsters to hurt them and kill them, it has better damage. But again I don’t know much about this one because it’s hard to get in the winter update)
-Beemine(able to place on the ground, if anything steps on it, it will make a swarm of bees attack)
-Toothtrap(able to place on the ground, if anything steps on it, it will swing sharp teeth at them and kill them)
-Trap(catchs animals)
-Sleepdart(you can throw this at animals and monsters to make them fall asleep for a day or atleast till you hit them)
-Firestaff(when you hit animals or monsters with this, it catchs them on fire, has durability)
-Icestaff(when you hit animals or monsters with this, it freezes them until it, has durability)
-All insanity items(I don’t know anything about these except that when you use them, they make your sanity go down.)
That is all of the weapons, please tell me if I missed any. Sorry if this guide is no help at all.
Anyway now for the animals that are friend and will protect you and defend, or neutral all together.
-Pigs(when given food, they should help defend you and help you for 1 day unless you give them more food, then they will keep helping you. Also you can fight with them, chop down trees with them, put hats on them, and! build houses by your base. They give you manure too)
-Smallbirds(when you find a tallbird egg and take it, place it by a fire at night or not near a fire in the cold, I reccomend not in winter. Anyway the egg will start wingling or sweating when it’s unpleased, so make it comfortable, then it will hatch into a smallbird and defend. You do need to feed it though and train it, after this it will grow up into a teenbird, which has better damage and needs food still. Finally it will grow into a tallbird and leave you, but it won’t attack you either)
-Koalefant(the mysterious beast you find won’t fight you unelss you fight him, theirs only 2 of them. The winter koalefant and koalefant, they will drop manure for you and if you do murder them, they will drop a trunk which can be made into a jacket for winter or style)
-Pig King(this lazy pig won’t move or do anything but eat, luckily he is rich with gold and loves meat and junk, if you give him meat, he will give you gold. If you give him junk from graves, he will give you gold, he can be killed for meat and gold but that’s about it)
-Merms(These are also new so correct me if i’m wrong. These frog things live in swamps and are like pigs, except frogier)
-Chester(A little monster that follows you around if you pick up the “Eyebone”. He is basically a portable chest.)
Any more suggestions tell me, i’m gonna publish this so you can see it. After I figure out more things I will put them in the guide since I only have 6 pages. I did this guide because Don’t Starve is a amazing game, Kleientertainment did a good job with mark of the ninja 1 and 2, but Don’t Starve is the new Terraria. I’m glad to be apart of the website for Kleientertainment and for their amazing game. Thank you for reading this. And also a big thanks to my friend NyruGaming which helped me on this guide and contributed, when I reccomended the game Don’t Starve to him.
7) Reign Of Giants.
Reign Of Giants is a Don’t Starve DLC, which put in a lot of new features,
These are all the new features.
-Birch Trees
-Birch Nuts
-Cooked Birch Nuts
-Hollowed Tree Stumps
-CatCoons
-Glomer Statues