Don't Starve: Hamlet launches in Early Access

Klei Entertainment has announced the release of a new expansion for Don't Starve into Early Access on Steam. Called Don’t Starve: Hamlet, the downloadable content sees our intrepid survivors stumble upon a lost town of aristocratic pigmen which was hidden in a tropical jungle.

The hamlet features stores and houses owned by the pig inhabitants, and introduces new items and biomes. You will also be able to try your hand at being an adventurer-archeologist and rummage through ancient pig ruins to hunt for treasure.

Don't Starve: Hamlet introduces two new characters, Warbucks and Wilba, as well as several new enemies, including new boss monsters.

Klei said that the purpose of launching in Early Access is to gather feedback and put the finishing touches on the game.

"Between November the 8th and the launch currently planned for December, we will continue with more content and bug fix updates and prepare for the coming Aporkalypse," Klei said.

The Forge

With the Ancient Gateway activated our survivors find themselves trapped in a hostile world of fire and battle. They’ll need to team up to defeat the Battlemaster’s army and his champions if they have any hopes of returning home.

Klei also announced the return of The Forge, a limited-time co-op event for six players in Don't Starve Together where the goal is to try and defeat the Grand Forge Boarrior in an arena.

"The only way to survive will be to work together," Klei warns.

The Forge is available for free, and played on official Klei servers that are available only during the event. There are no community hosted servers during this event. This year's event includes:

• Character skins, emotes, and item skins. Skins from last season with hundreds of items are also featured.
• Free on-demand dedicated event servers.
• Simple matchmaking with friends and community groups.
• Event drop system.

While the event content is free, you have the option to buy a single character’s Magmatic Skin Set for $2.99 (R27 in South Africa), or the entire Magmatic Chest collection for $12.99 (R95 in South Africa). A bundle is also available for R130 which includes all the character skins, as well as skins for weapons and armour.

"We hope that with this mechanism, we can both continue creating great free content while also supporting the development team," Klei said. "In addition, this method of funding allows us to provide content to all our players, instead of splitting the player community if we implemented it with a DLC paywall."

For those who played during the previous event, there have been several changes this year, including balance, content and progression changes. For Season 2, Klei said it also added community and personal goals to replace last year's achievements.