In terms of art style, orientation and game play, “Don’t Starve: Console Edition” is a far departure from its survival brothers and sister, such as “Minecraft” and “Rust” and for the most part it is successful.

Now if the concept of “perma-death”, the idea that you only get one life each time you play and if you die you have to start over from the very beginning is not for you as a gamer then this game might not be for you but if you are looking for a cute, dark, silly and surprisingly deep yet simplistic survival game – then look no further.

In terms of story, you play a character named Wilson who is trapped in the world that you are thrown into as the player by a demon and are tasked with one basic premise – don’t starve.

In terms of gameplay, the mechanics are pretty standard although some of the elements that were changed in order to cater to a controller rather than a keyboard and mouse do seem a little obvious at times. It is done in a way that is not overbearing with certain buttons that prompt menu screens full of items to choose and craft to improve your chance of survival or to see the list of things you have gathered in the world throughout your play through.

This scheme reminds me very much of “Minecraft” in the way that it was set up in that you have a designated number of spots to hold things in, the elements of crafting, having lists of things to craft and improve on to increase you odds of survival.

The major element in terms of gameplay that sets this game apart is the third person point of view. This could have very easily led to problems with camera angles but they took a very simple and well-constructed approach to this in that they kept the camera zoomed out above everything as well as having the option to change the camera angle in four intervals of 90 degrees which would also cause the player to lose their way much easier than other games with the fixed camera angle.

There is also the task of surviving the night which you have to build a fire in order to do. The threat is much more real in this game than in others. All the light drains as night falls and you are quietly left with your circle of light fueled by your meager looking fire consumed on all sides by darkness. This element adds much more tension and gives the game a much darker tone than others.

As the game progresses if you start to lose your mental stability, the shadows start coming alive to try and get you. It’s that unique sense of threat of life that makes this game such a refreshing and unique experience. The only sort of comic relief to be found in this game has two sources.

The one thing that really sets this game apart from any other is the art style. The sort of pencil sketched characters and backgrounds as well as the meager backdrop scattered with a few supplies for you to scrounge up to consume so that you can survive. The animals are also drawn in a way that makes them seem somewhat otherworldly and off kilter.

This game is far from perfect and there is a very limited set of PlayStation trophies for the trophy addicts amongst you. The idea of permanent death drove me away at first but the art style, the deep and creative crafting system and the overall difference of the game from established norms kept me coming back for more.

This coupled with the fact that it has a price tag of $15 made it worth a look. Although it is unconventional, I enjoyed my time with it and warn that it may not be for everybody but it was money well spent.