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Klei Entertainment is the Vancouver-based independent studio behind Don't Starve, Don't Starve Together, and Don't Starve: Elsewhere. Klei develops and self-publishes its games, and the team has built a track record across stealth, survival, simulation, and roguelike deckbuilding genres over two decades. Elsewhere is the studio's first all-new entry in the Don't Starve world since Don't Starve Together in 2016.

Studio Profile

Notable Games

Studio History

Klei was founded in July 2005 in Vancouver, British Columbia, by Jamie Cheng with co-founder and creative director Jeffrey Agala. The studio's early years focused on small downloadable titles, including the puzzle game Eets in 2006.

Shank in 2010 and Mark of the Ninja in 2012 brought Klei wider recognition for translating action and stealth genres into crisp 2D side-on perspectives. The April 23, 2013 release of Don't Starve then set the studio's long-term direction. Its hand-drawn art, gothic humor, and uncompromising survival loop became Klei's calling card, and the April 21, 2016 follow-up Don't Starve Together extended that formula into a persistent online co-op experience that the studio still actively supports.

Klei expanded its catalog in the second half of the 2010s with Invisible, Inc. (a turn-based stealth roguelike) on May 12, 2015, Oxygen Not Included (a colony simulation set inside an asteroid) in 2019, and Hot Lava (a 3D first-person parkour game built around childhood floor-is-lava play) the same year. Griftlands, a deckbuilding roguelike with branching dialogue, shipped in 2021.

In 2017 the studio acquired Slick Entertainment, a small Vancouver developer best known for the N+ series. On January 25, 2021, Klei announced that it had become a subsidiary of Tencent. The studio publicly stated that it would retain full creative and operational control over its games and projects, with no changes to leadership or studio culture. Klei now employs roughly 100 people, the vast majority based out of its Vancouver studio.

Don't Starve: Elsewhere

Don't Starve: Elsewhere was unveiled on April 9, 2026 and is Klei's first all-new entry in the Don't Starve series since 2016. Klei is both developing and publishing the game.

Elsewhere is the most ambitious technical pivot in the franchise's history. Where Don't Starve and Don't Starve Together used a fixed-perspective 2D paper-cutout style, Elsewhere moves the series into a fully 3D world with free-look movement. This change is paired with a long-requested jump button and an entirely new multi-tiered, elevation-based world that adds mountains, cliffs, plateaus, rivers, seas, and cave systems. Klei has also introduced a new hazard called the Fog, a creeping, sanity-draining environmental threat that sits alongside falling and starvation as one of three core failure states.

Two of these design pillars line up with games already in Klei's catalog. Hot Lava in 2019 was the studio's first first-person 3D project and gave the team direct experience with platforming, jumping, and verticality in 3D space. Don't Starve and Don't Starve Together established the studio's core competency in survival systems: hunger, sanity, seasons, base-building, crafting, and procedural generation. Elsewhere combines those two skill sets into a single project.

The studio has been clear that Elsewhere is a separate experience rather than a replacement. Don't Starve Together will continue to receive updates, and Klei has stated that the two games have equal reasons to exist for a long while. Cosmetics from Don't Starve Together will not transfer to Elsewhere because the new project uses a different art style and is set in a new world distinct from the Constant. New players can start with the getting started guide to learn the core loop without prior series experience.

Unconfirmed Details

The following details about the Elsewhere project specifically have not been published by the studio. They are listed here so readers know what is still missing, rather than to fill in guesses.

• Team size assigned to Elsewhere within Klei. The studio has roughly 100 employees, but the proportion working on Elsewhere versus Don't Starve Together updates has not been disclosed.

• Total development time. Klei has not stated when Elsewhere entered preproduction or full production.

• Internal project codename history. Pre-reveal teasers used the word "exspectamus" and a portal puzzle, but Klei has not confirmed an official codename.

• Game engine. Klei has not publicly stated which engine Elsewhere uses, and no claim should be made until the studio confirms it.

• Release window. The April 9, 2026 announcement included no release date or estimated quarter.

• Console plans. Only PC via Steam has been confirmed at announcement; no console platforms have been announced.