How to Stay Sane in Don't Starve

Last Updated: October 17, 2016

Don’t Starve is a game with a hellish learning curve that will cost you several tries before surviving a single week, not to mention the shift in seasons and the several other curveballs it tends to throw at the player when the game feels like they’re getting too comfortable with living. The game is rife with several challenges where a single mistake is all you need to utterly ruin your entire playthrough. But probably one of the most difficult things in the game is managing your three gauges: Health, Hunger, and Sanity. Health and Hunger seems instinctive enough; you just need to heal up and eat food. But Sanity management can be a bit confusing for the new players, and it can be especially alarming when night falls and you have no idea how to recover the sanity you lose during the dark hours. So how do you stay sane, especially when night keeps draining the gauge?

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:

Preparing Yourself

1
Get your tools. You’ll be needing at least a pickaxe and an axe to gather some of the required materials for this venture. They’re both available through the Tool tab (crossed axe and pickaxe icon). Axes cost 1 Twig (gathered from dried-out bushes scattered in the world) and Flint (sharp-looking rock that’s scattered everywhere in the game) each, while pickaxes cost 2 each of the same materials.
- To use tools, select it by right-clicking on the tool (PC), tapping it in your inventory (iOS), or scrolling to it with the right analog stick and pressing the right button of the D-pad (PS4). Now head up to a tree (axe) or boulder (pickaxe) and either hold down the left mouse button or press the spacebar(PC), tap and hold your target (iOS), or hold down the X button (PS4) to wear them down so you can gather your materials.
2
Gather the necessary materials. Now that you have them, you’ll be using your tools to gather other materials you’ll be needing to make the necessities. Aside from what you can gather with your tools, you can also gather foodstuff scattered everywhere to help you last longer, and gathering Cut Grass from tufts of long grass poking from the ground is also vital for your campfires and torches.

Advertisement
3
Create your crafting stations. Now, if you’ve got the required materials, you can go make your own crafting stations now. This is vital for survival since the crafting stations lets you learn to craft so much more materials, structures, and tools you’ll be needing for prolonged survival. You can make a Science Machine in the Science tab (atom icon) right off the bat, but you require a Science Machine to learn how to craft an Alchemy Engine. These two crafting stations are the most important ones; however, most of the items that will be mentioned can be learned from the Science Machine.
- A Science Machine costs 1 Gold Nugget, 4 Logs, and 4 Rocks, and an Alchemy Engine costs 4 Boards, 2 Cut Stones, and 6 Gold. You can craft Boards and Cut Stones through the Science Machine on the Refine tab, represented by a diamond icon.
  - In Reign of Giants and the upcoming DLC Shipwrecked, the Alchemy Engine recipe replaces the 6 gold with 2 Electrical Doodads, which you can learn to make in the Science Machine’s Science tab. Electrical Doodads cost 2 Gold and 1 Cut Stone, making the recipe generally cheaper to make.
- You can gather Gold Nuggets by trading Meats to the Pig King (if he’s available in the current world), mining yellow-streaked boulders (which are predominantly found in Rockylands), or by finding them scattered around Graveyards.

Part 2

Part 2 of 2:

Keeping Sane

1
Pick some flowers. Picking flowers is a soothing action in real life and in the game, and picking one up can increase your Sanity a small bit. Not enough to completely fill your gauge in a single day, but enough to bring you back from the brink of insanity.
- Once you pick about 12 flowers, you can use the petals to make a Garland. You can make it through the Dress tab (green top hat icon) right off the bat, and it heals your Sanity very slowly over time until the flowers wilt off. It won’t keep the night from draining your sanity, but can help you recover some in the daytime or slow down the draining effects at night.
2
Avoid monsters. Simply put, if something looks unnatural and threatening, avoid it at all costs. Monsters drain sanity quite fast, especially if you stick around them. Boss monsters are even worse in this regard and can be quite persistent as well. So, as long as you’re low on sanity, or generally not ready to face any monsters, then just avoid them for as long as you can.
3
Eat good food. Food is one of the many things you need to stay sane, since the Sanity mechanic of the game relies on the player “feeling civilized” to abate the oppressive, terrifying loneliness of living in a deserted island full of things that want to kill you. But plain old campfire food won’t cut it. You’ll need a Crock Pot or a Drying Rack, at least, to take advantage of the sanity gains from eating food, since they both offer better food than just cooking things in a campfire.
- The recipes for the Drying Rack and Crock Pot can be learned through the Food tab on a Science Machine. The Drying Rack costs 3 Twigs, 3 Ropes, and 2 Charcoal, while the Crock Pot costs 6 Twigs, 6 Charcoal, and 3 Cut Stone.
- The Drying Rack is fairly easy to use, just select some meat and interact with the Rack. It will hang up your meat, and in a few days, it’ll be ready for consumption! Note that while you can dry Monster Meat, the Monster Jerky that results will still damage your Sanity and Health, and is not advisable.
- For the Crock Pot, you need to place individual units of food into 4 slots. Different combinations have different recipes, and different recipes have different boosts and gains. But in general, you will heal some sanity, health, and a lot of hunger with a crock pot dish, save for some exceptions.
4
Get some sleep. Now, when night falls and you have a stock of good food available, it’s best if you get some sleep. This will skip the entire night phase, but leave you dreadfully hungry in exchange. You can learn how to craft a Straw Roll from your Science Machine in the Survival tab (looped rope icon), and it costs 6 Cut Grass and 1 Rope. There are other “sleep” recipes you can craft if you have an Alchemy Engine, but this is the cheapest to make for one-time usage.
- If you’re playing as Wickerbottom, you can’t go to sleep using the bed rolls or a Tent due to the character’s insomnia.
5
Get dapper! You can craft clothing items in the Dress tab, and some of these clothes can be beneficial to your sanity. Aside from the aforementioned Garland, there’s quite a few articles of clothing that can give you small amounts of sanity, and wearing multiple articles of clothing can even halt the sanity drain from the night!
- The easiest to craft, aside from the Garland, is the Top Hat. It costs 6 Silk, which you can get from killing Spiders, and you can learn to make it from your Science Machine.