Don't Knock It Till You've Tried It: Don't Starve Together
But do eat together. But not each other.
FUN FACT: it's quite difficult for two or more people to starve in close proximity, because inevitably one will begin to eat the other. With that cheeriness in mind, I'm here to tell you that sign-ups are now open for the closed beta of top-down survive-'em-up Don't Starve's to-be-free multiplayer component. You don't even need to own Don't Starve to apply, as those accepted will be given a limited version of the client that only allows for multiplayer. All you need to do is fill in this form and hope fate smiles upon you.
There's a FAQ on the process available here, including why they're asking for so much info and how the selection process will work:
For the most part, beta applications will be chosen at random, although we will also be hand selecting various players who we feel would be of great help to the early testing process.
The information in the application is going to be used so that we have a better sense of your interests in Don’t Starve. Mainly this helps us get a sense of your preferences. Most of the application is purely optional.
The application will be used for no other purpose than DST beta . If you are selected, you will receive information regarding your acceptance. Otherwise, your email address will not be used for any other purpose.
The original announcement of multiplayer put the launch date before the end of next week and this is likely the final step Klei need to take to get it ready.
Other questions, like "why are you making a multiplayer mode when you said you didn't want to?" were answered in the announcement post for the project. It's still going to be on the smaller side, just 2-4 players rather than the large server communities of the big survival sims. They're also still working out some specifics, like whether they can get the game's expansion, Reign of Giants, to work in multiplayer.
Klei are also working on procedurally-generated tactical stealth game Invisible, Inc., which Alec enjoyed rather a lot in its current Early Access form. He dug Don't Starve too.