How to revive yourself in Don’t Starve

Death is a constant companion in Don’t Starve, as every playthrough will eventually end. It’s abrupt, and will often happen out of nowhere, but it will always get you. Don’t get dismayed, though, as you are meant to die. Don’t Starve is a challenging survival game that hinges on the mechanic of permadeath and consequence. However, death is not always final as there is more than one way you can cheat on your trip to the afterlife.

Revival works three different ways in the base Don’t Starve game, and the multiplayer version Don’t Starve Together. In the base game, death is final if you haven’t prepared for its inevitable coming. All forms of resurrection require magic or magical intervention (as most things do in Don’t Starve), so you’ll need to build a presthatitator. The presthatitator only takes four rabbits, four wooden boards, and one top hat to craft, so you can do it reasonably soon during your run.

Once you have your presthatitator, you can craft a life-giving amulet. The life-giving amulet is a torso clothing option that you need to be wearing at the time of death for it to work. Luckily, the resources needed to craft the amulet are simple enough to gather, as it will require four gold, two nightmare fuel, and one red gem. 

Gold can be acquired from rocks or by giving meat to the Pig King, nightmare fuel can be crafted by gathering enough evil flowers, which spawn worldwide, and red gems can be found by digging up graves or killing red hounds. Bring these ingredients to your presthatitator, and you’ll be able to craft your life-giving amulet. Remember to wear it, though, even if death may not be on your mind.

The next item that will bring you back to life is a meat effigy, which is easiest to build if you’re playing as Wilson, as it requires four beard hairs, four cooked pieces of meat, and four boards. The boards you craft from wood, and the meat you can get from killing pig men, catcoons, or beefalo. Like the life-giving amulet, you’ll need to be around your presthatitator to craft the meat effigy. Using this method to revive yourself will take thirty points of your maximum health away, so be wary of how often you use it.

The third and final way to revive yourself is through resurrection stones — random set pieces that will spawn across the world of Don’t Starve. It’s a simple slab of rock surrounded by four pig men heads on spikes. These require no crafting, and you’ll be transported to them the second you die. If you’re in winter, it may be good to build a chest with some logs and warm clothing so that you don’t instantly freeze to death upon spawn. Resurrection stones are destroyed upon use, so you don’t want to abuse them.

Don’t Starve Together

Death works a bit differently in Don’t Starve Together, as it is not exactly the end of your playthrough. Instead of getting a classic game over, you turn into a ghost and can still move around the map. 

When your character turns into a ghost, you can haunt particular objects. You will be revived when haunting the objects mentioned above: the life-giving amulet, the meat effigy, or a touchstone. There is also a fourth means of revival, though, the Telltale Heart. The Telltale Heart is a survival item that is built with four pieces of grass, one spider gland, and a forty-point deduction to your health permanently. As with the other resurrection items, you’ll also have to haunt the Telltale Heart.

Death is something you’ll always have to worry about in Don’t Starve, as you can freeze, burn, get crushed by rocks, be killed by spiders, and, as the title says, even starve. But is it not the end if you prepare for its eventual coming. Just make sure you use this guide as a contingency plan for your demise.