In Don't Starve you can adjust the world generation parameters to turn off all the things that turn your game into misery: the hounds, the giant monsters, the meteorite rain in the end of the Dry Season in the Shipwrecked DLC, etc.
The only problem is of course you then don't gain any experience and can't unlock new characters. And you don't get materials for some advanced recipes (e.g. no Iron Wind without the Sealnado).
I think, the game goes out of its way to realise its creators' vision, but, like all game creators, the people at Klei who designed Don't Starve, have spent a lot more time designing and implementing than actually playing their game, at least compared to their players (players/ designers - play/design 100/00-20/80 percent of the time). So the end result is full of little details that are meant to add to the fun, but only contrive to make the game really annoying in places.
For instance- with the meteorite rain, the only thing you can really do is pick up enough light and food, move far away from your base and start running around like crazy to avoid the meteorites hitting you. You have to move away from your base because the meteorites home in on you so if you stay home, they'll obliterate it. And pray that the hounds don't pick that moment to make an appearance. I don't quite understand who is that supposed to be fun for. The designers, thinking of you running around like an idiot trying to avoid fiery death from the sky, I presume.
Also:permadeath (but, then again: savescumming). I'm OK with permadeath in Nethack, but in Don't Starve I make a serious commitment of time and energy to build a base, then something stupid happens, like a hound takes a lucky bite or a spider poisons me and I die a stupid death and lose everything I've built. That's not funny.