I'll tell you what I'm not playing:
despite the fact that it's one of the greatest games I've ever played.
The multiplayer aspect isn't great, but that's not the devs fault. There's just a lot of griefers and other shitheads that you tend to see in survival games. Aside from that, DST is a damn near perfect game
in my opinion. The art style is creative and appealing. The music and sfx are really well done and add to the experience. The gameplay is well designed. Combat is rudimentary in a clever way to influence players to utilize a variety of (likely more valuable) non-combat strategies to survive. The character design is well nuanced, giving various characters different abilities which have a real impact on play style. The challenge level is appropriate for a survival game without being too punishing. DST easily makes my list of top 5 favorite games, and is probably #2 after Terraria.
But why am I not playing it?
Partly, this is self-inflicted. I like to play with a somewhat unusual play style. Typically, players build permanent structures (e.g. a base) in order to help themselves survive the various hazards in the game. However, I play this game pure nomad style. If I need a permanent structure for something (i.e. a station that unlocks a crafting technology), I can build the station, learn the tech, but then have to destroy it immediately after. The idea is to live off the land and leave no trace. It's a challenge as you have to prepare for various season changes and other events with extremely limited resources and an extremely limited capacity (backpack) to store reserves. And, it's real-time and not turn-based, so you have to hustle. And, it actually makes multiplayer fun again. If you have no permanent base, you have nothing for griefers to target. You can just float around the various multi-player servers and live off their wildlands like a reclusive hermit. It's all doable, but you have to be really organized and multi-task on multiple priorities...
...which is really friggin' hard to do when you have kids. A friend put me onto this game before my eldest was born and I haven't been able to get back to it since. It takes too much focus and a single distraction can have a domino effect. It's kind of a bummer, though. I don't like mindless gaming and I love a good brain burner. Those games are hard to make happen, though. I'm playing (pretty mindless) Walking Zombie 2 to scratch my survival game itch, but it's pretty meh, tbh. It's mostly just a voxel shooter with a survival theme.
I think I could fare better with a turn-based brain burner, though, but I'm not sure what that would be. I considered going back to the X-Com series. It's turn-based, but not something you can walk away from, think about, and strategize. My turns there are usually spent assessing the field, evaluating the terrain, cover options, and assorted known unknowns. I'm not sure what would work for me.
In any event, Don't Starve Together is a great game, even though I never play it.
