First EVER What Are You Playing Monday

In yet another effort to Get My Act Together, I am stealing (directly from The Border House blog, so go check it out!) What Are You Playing Wednesdays? But I am doing What Are You Playing Mondays, obviously.

This Monday, I have recently taken advantage of the Steam Summer Sale and have a load of new games to have fun with, but mostly I have been playing Don't Starve.

Don't Starve is a wilderness survival game, which is a description that takes all of the fun out of what it actually is. Don't Starve is a Harvest Moon that wants to kill you, I sullenly told a friend. An apter description I can't think of. Compulsively playable, you can marathon the shit out of this game. With numerous characters who all have their own strengths and weaknesses, props for taking risks (you only gain experience after you die), and a sanity meter, what more could you ask for? Keep sane, keep fed, and try not to die: these are the rules you live by. Or, at least, try not to die without weighing the risk benefits. More or less a love child of Harvest Moon, Dark Souls: Prepare to Die, Dungeons of Dredmor, and Terraria/Minecraft, actually. A strange combination, but maybe not so strange. The only problem I've come across so far is that for some reason, I have been unable to find a reliable source of manure in my last couple saves, which is a problem, since without it, I can't farm without it.

After a certain amount of time, in every instance where something new appears, you look at it for a moment, then ask, "Can I eat it?" If it's inedible, "Can I craft it?" If it appears useless, "Is it an offering to something?" These questions govern your behavior, because answering them is a necessary part of Don't Starve. The purpose of the game is to explore, build an awesome base, and live as long as possible, to some extent for bragging rights. Which I have none of, since so far I have played the game for 6 hours and only lived 19 days. Sad. But again, it's been difficult to find manure! I have an excuse!

That is what I have been playing, but I'm hoping to get back to my first game of the Steam Sale-- Borderlands 2-- tonight, since it's easier to play Don't Starve before work tomorrow than it is to play Borderlands 2 in that time period.

I have been playing Zer0 as female and calling her Gh0st. It has been fun-- stealth is forever my preference, and any game that lets me shoot things just gets me. I do dislike 1st-person perspective if I can't switch between it and 3rd, though, since it makes me a little disoriented.

What are you playing this Monday?