Characters

There are currently eleven playable characters in Don't Starve (including DLC characters and excluding character mods). The first accessible character is Wilson, considered the protagonist and the focus of the game's story. Most of the other characters can be unlocked when sufficient experience has been accrued, gained at death or when escaping to a new world. There are three exception characters that are not gained by conventional experience, but through game feats.

Each character is "voiced" by a different instrument (except Wes, the speechless mime) and speaks differently when examining items and objects (Wes usually pantomimes instead, but will still announce, "I can't do that" under certain circumstances). In addition, each character has at least one unique perk or ability.

Below are the abilities and requirements to unlock each character. (DLC characters have an icon by their name.)

Unfinished Characters
There are several additional characters planned for Don't Starve. These other characters only exist in the form of portraits, sound, and other bits found mainly in the game files. For a list of these unimplemented characters, please refer to the Unimplemented Characters page.

Unlocking Characters


New charactersare unlocked by earning Experience (exp). Exp is given when the character dies or escapes using the Wooden Thing. The summary screen (right) appears at the end of each world and shows how long (in days) the character survived for. One day survived equals 20 experience points. The longer a character survives, the more exp they will earn. Currently, XP is capped at 1600 in the base game and 1920 in the Reign of Giants DLC.

Non-player characters
Maxwell (Antagonist) 

Maxwell appears before the start of every game, saying, ''"Say pal, you don't look so good. You better find something to eat before night comes!" ''He disappears before the player assumes control of his or her character.

As seen in the Forbidden Knowledge video, Maxwell gives Wilson the knowledge necessary to build an impressive machine which captures him upon activation.

Maxwell will not appear when playing as himself, instead he wil say, "Freedom, at last!"

Abigail

Abigail is Wendy's twin sister, and as Wendy's perk, she can be summoned with Abigail's Flower.

Trivia

 * All playable characters' names start with W apart from Maxwell's . Within the game's code, Maxwell's name is written "Waxwell," in line with the other characters and not to confuse playable Maxwell with NPC Maxwell. The trailer puzzles though, confirmed that Maxwell's real name is William.
 * Having all character's names start with W was unintentional at first, but Klei decided to go with it.
 * Wolfgang was previously unlocked after Wendy.