When comparing Don't Starve Together vs Left 4 Dead 2, the Slant community recommends Don't Starve Together for most people. In the question“What are the best online multiplayer games on PC?” Don't Starve Together is ranked 3rd while Left 4 Dead 2 is ranked 14th. The most important reason people chose Don't Starve Together is:
Getting together a group of friends to play Don't Starve Together adds a lot of enjoyment to the game. If you're all first timers, learning how to survive as you go along is amazing, since you get to share in the learning process and the experience together. As you craft and build your own forts, farms, and more, you find more and more ways to learn how to survive, making things less daunting than if you play the game alone.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Couch co-op makes the game even more fun as you all learn together
Getting together a group of friends to play Don't Starve Together adds a lot of enjoyment to the game. If you're all first timers, learning how to survive as you go along is amazing, since you get to share in the learning process and the experience together. As you craft and build your own forts, farms, and more, you find more and more ways to learn how to survive, making things less daunting than if you play the game alone.
Pro Pleasantly twisted sense of humor
There's a dark sense of humor that pervades the game. There's a humanoid spider boy who can grow a beard of silk. There's a living chest called Chester who acts like a dog. There's also silly info text, werepigs, trees that retaliate when you chop them, and many other things.
Pro Deep and varied crafting system
The crafting system has a lot of depth to it and there are tons of items to make. Starting with the recipe for a torch and a pickaxe. You can also make weapons, armor, and various laboratories that enable new technologies. Building new stuff and advancing is the key to surviving the coming winter.
Pro Tweak the gameplay settings to fit any skill level
The game gives you a lot of customization options. You can change the length of day, weather patterns, and spawn rates for resources and monsters. This allows you to adjust the difficulty level to suit your skill and preference.
Pro Unique mix of 2D and 3D art offers a change of pace
Don't Starve Together has a very unique art style that places two-dimensional characters in a three-dimensional setting. Even the waves in the sea look like cardboard cutouts used in a puppet show. This look and feel to the graphics is a nice change of pace from ultra-realistic games.
Pro The further you get, the more you will learn
Starting out you'll only be gathering twigs and grass, maybe chop a tree. You'll also gather basic food such as mushrooms and carrots. Then you'll start building your encampment, learning how the day/night cycle and the seasons work. Later on you'll start building massive farms, refridgerators, fortifications, and many other things. All of this is done for the sake of not starving.
As the game progresses, you will encounter mechanics such as drought, forest fires, the rainy, season, the cold and many others. To counteract these you need to plan properly and will probably die the first time around. Once your knowledge reaches a certain level, you'll be able to survive indefinitely.
Pro Great replay value
Don't Starve Together has randomly generated (customizable) levels, unlockable characters, a story mode, and you can also play it with up to 5 other friends. All of this helps keep subsequent attempts/playthroughs fresh.
Pro Turn the gameplay upside down by hunting the hunters in a unique co-op mode where you play as the zombies
Left 4 Dead 2 features a co-op versus mode that pits two teams against one another. One takes on the role of survivors, which is very similar to the normal campaign. The other team, however, plays as the infected, opening up a whole new play style and set of strategies.
Pro Invigorating cooperation based survival dynamic
Left 4 Dead 2 requires players on the same team to cooperate to survive. This makes for an interesting dynamic for teammates, as it will be increasingly difficult to make it through a level if any one player decides to go off on their own.
Pro Highly improved over Left 4 Dead
Those who loved the original Left 4 Dead will find this game even more enjoyable. Almost everything has been improved, including the AI. Other additions to the game include new enemies and melee weapons.
Pro AI teammates work great in single player gameplay
For those that prefer to play with AI, this is one of the best co-op games for offline bot play.
Pro Low Spec
This game can practically run on a potato.
Pro Melee weapons have the best visceral experience
Left 4 Dead 2 includes melee weapons for the player to use during the game. These allow for not only more graphic violence, but also a more personal and visceral experience.
Cons
Con Steep learning curve
The first few attempts will last only a couple of in-game days. This is because the game has various punishing mechanics, which you can only learn through trial and error. One such mechanic is the darkness, which will kill you in under a minute if you don't have a light source. Followed by packs of hounds that randomly spawn to kill you. In most cases preparation is key and you can't prepare without knowledge.
Con Can get repetitive
You'll have to repeatedly collect a lot of basic materials like twigs, grass, and ore. This is because most of the starting recipes share the same required materials. Even later in the game you'll be doing many repetitive tasks. Gathering enough firewood for winter is especially bad because you have to chop down dozens of trees. All of this is made worse by the limited inventory space, causing you to make the same trip multiple times.
Con Very difficult without team engagement
For those looking for a casual co-op experience, Left 4 Dead 2 probably isn't the best option. Without a good sense of teamwork and focus, this game can get very challenging.
Con AI not the smartest
The AI has a tendency to make ridiculous choices that can screw up what players are doing. This can become a big problem when relying on AI teammates in order to get through a level.
Con There is no variation of gameplay
Making it very boring after a few hours of playing. Slaying zombies is fun and all, but it gets exceptionally dull once the "wow" effect of blowing zombie's brains out wears off.
Con More of the same
While the game has been improved compared to the original, there are no wildly different game mechanics. If you did not have much fun with Left 4 Dead, you will probably not get much enjoyment out of the sequel. Some have gone so far as to complain that it feels like a large DLC update rather than a discrete game.