Sanity

"I get crazy when I don't sleep."

- Wilson

Being alone in the wilderness will take its toll on the character's mental state after a few days. The effect it has can be seen through Sanity, represented by a counter alongside and. As sanity decreases, strange things start to happen: the player's vision becomes shaky, over-saturated, and bright, whispers are heard, and Shadow Creatures start to appear. When the character becomes completely insane, these creatures become aggressive and start to attack.

Characters can gain and lose sanity in various ways. A small animated arrow appears in front of the, showing when sanity is increasing or decreasing. A bigger arrow means that sanity is increasing / decreasing faster. Being in close proximity to Monsters, Darkness, Rain, or eating bad Food decreases sanity; while wearing dapper clothes, eating jerky and Crock Pot food, being near friendly Pigs, and sleeping increases sanity. See the Sanity Table below for a complete list.

Due to the fact that several magical items decrease sanity when used, it could be thought of as a sort of mana that is depleted by magic use. However, having little sanity brings about its own benefits (for example getting Nightmare Fuel for powerful weapons and armor.)

Character Specifics
Wilson, Wendy, Wolfgang, Woodie, and Maxwell all have a maximum of 200 sanity. Willow has 120 sanity, Wickerbottom has 250 sanity, and Wes has 150 sanity. WX-78 has variable amounts of maximum sanity, depending on how much it is upgraded (starting at 100 and can be upgraded to a maximum of 300). From the Reign of Giants DLC, Wigfrid has 120 sanity, and Webber has 100 sanity.

Monsters drain more sanity when playing as Wolfgang (+10%) and less as Wendy. Maxwell's sanity is restored at a rate of 20 points per minute by default.

Wendy (because she loses less sanity in darkness and when near monsters), Willow (because she can negate nighttime sanity loss when near fire) and Wolfgang (because when mighty, fights last only for half the time) are characters which have the potential to stay sane longer when compared to other characters if used correctly.

Insanity Effects

 * Complete Insanity.pnging starts to become desaturated in overworld and caves. In ruins, lighting brightens instead ( ≤ 60%). Near total insanity, lighting even dims ( ≤ 10%).
 * Mr. Skits starts to appear ( ≤ 80%).
 * Shadow Watchers and Night Hands start to appear at night ( ≤ 65%).
 * Eyes will appear in darkness ( ≤ 60%).
 * The screen starts to shake (possibly indicating nausea) ( ≤ 60%).
 * Crawling Horrors and Terrorbeaks will become visible ( ≤ 50%).
 * The insanity ambience becomes audible ( ≤ 50%). It's so quiet that it can only be heard with headphones or by turning the volume up. It gets louder as sanity continues to drop.
 * Whispering sounds begin to play ( ≤ 45%).
 * Rabbits will turn into Beardlings, and Bunnymen turn into Beardlords ( ≤ 40%).
 * The screen is surrounded by red tendrils ( ≤ 15%).
 * Crawling Horrors and Terrorbeaks will start to attack ( ≤ 15%). While idle, the player character holds their head with their hands and rocks back and forth.
 * A more disturbing, warped version of the "day to night" transition jingle plays ( ≤ 15%).

In the Options, the player can turn off distortion, resulting in the blurry effect on the edges of the screen not occurring, which helps boost performance on slow systems.

Trivia

 * Sanity was first introduced in the Insanity! update.

РассудокSanity