More of a survival horror game than an empire building game, but can certainly be played in smaller chunks and you get to do a lot of exploration and base-building.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Personalized base building
As the game progresses you need to slowly improve your home base, the longer you survive the more you can build it up to eventually create a huge empire. There are no design rules in doing this so everyone's base can be completely different in appearance.
Pro Very active modding community with numerous mods available
Using the Steam Workshop, Don't Starve has a very active modding community. With nearly 800 mods currently available, there are unlimited ways you can change your Don't Starve experience.
Pro Easily accessible, organically emergent gameplay
The game starts out easy with very little in terms of mechanics and a single objective of not starving. Then, over time, new mechanics are introduced fluidly - there's very little guidance, with the game relying on players figuring out how things work for themselves. In addition to game mechanics, even goals and story elements will unveil organically over time.
Pro Rewarding roguelike gameplay
The basic gameplay revolves around gathering resources for crafting in a wilderness where the flora and fauna are constantly trying to kill you. Levels are procedurally generated.
Pro Easily customized to adjust difficulty
The game gives you a lot of world customization options. You can change the length of day, weather patterns, how much of each monster or resource spawns, etc. This effectively allows you to adjust how difficult you wish the game to be.
Pro There's never a dull moment
As the game progresses, it offers more and more mechanics that require constant attention to function properly. It becomes a constant re-evaluation of risk and reward.
Pro Pleasantly twisted sense of humor
Random quips from characters, info, text and the world itself (such as the existence of werepigs) show glimpses of a dark sense of humor throughout.
Pro Lots of replayability
Between randomly generated (customizable) levels, different characters, ever-unfolding story elements, and permadeath the game offers a lot of variety and a goal of constantly striving to survive longer.
Pro Uniquely atmospheric art style
Don't Starve has a very unique art style, using two dimensional or 2d characters and items in a 3d world gives a very interesting artsy feel to the game. The hand drawn look and feel to the graphics are a nice change of pace from ultra realistic games, but it doesnt take away from the suspense.
Cons
Con You don't really get to build an "empire"
You can built and craft a lot of things, including a pretty substantial home base with sustainable farms and defenses, but you're never controlling a lot of minions and expanding a big empire.
Con Constant restarts can be drawn out and boring
The beginning of a playthrough starts out pretty slow, which is exacerbated by the fact that the player will need to restart many many times as the game is a rouguelike, so permanent death is something that will be encountered often.
