Minecraft guide: How to survive your first night in Minecraft

Surviving the first harrowing night.

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DespiteMinecraftbeing in the hands of well over a hundred million people through a long decade of success, the game continues to grow at an astounding pace. That means a ton of new people who are unfamiliar with Minecraft’s survival mechanics coming face-to-face with the dreaded first night. This is our guide on all the tips you’ll need to conquer that first night, and all those to come in Minecraft.

How do you prepare for your first night in Minecraft?

If you’re a newcomer to Minecraft, initial impressions may be a tad intimidating. It’s no over-exaggeration to imply that Minecraft has a mind-boggling number of mechanics to master, so that first time getting started can be rough. There are a few things you might want to at least skim before diving in, so it’s lucky that we here at Windows Central do our best to have all the biomes covered.

The first thing you’ll need to do in Minecraft is to create your own world. World creating is really quite simple, but there are a ton of options and settings you can configure to get the perfect blend that you desire. If you want to know more about how to manage your worlds and create new ones, check outour comprehensive guide on the subject.

Next stop is the mechanic that quite literally makes up half of “Minecraft:” crafting. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of recipes to choose from, all requiring different ingredients, placements, and more. Out of all of these recipes, however, there are a few that are essential to success, and recipes that every Minecraft player should know by heart. You guessed it,we also have a fantastic guidethat tackles exactly that, complete with all the ingredients you’ll need and pictures to show you how.

How do you survive your first night in Minecraft?

Once you’re all cushy that you have the basic knowledge you need to start your world, it’s time to face Minecraft and the first night. The first night is tough because you essentially have one day to gather enough resources to build a beginner shelter, complete with a bed, and the equipment you’ll need to hunt prey and defend from monsters. Unless you enabled the helpful beginning features when you created your world, like starting with a map or with a chest filled with basic supplies nearby, you’re going to start with nothing.

Either way, once you conquer the first night, every night after that is (mostly) a piece of cake, besides the occasional creeper-induced death or oops-I-fell-from-a-really-high-place moments. Here’s the order in which to tackle objectives in the first night, in order to set yourself up for long-term success.

Get the basics out of the way

Every person who plays Minecraft will have to carry out the same basic tasks when they first start a game: punch some trees, expertly shape the wood fragments into a functional and portable workbench, and masterfully craft functional tools from the remains. Trust me, it’s not as hard as it sounds in Minecraft.

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To get started, follow these steps:

Explore and find shelter

Armed with a pickaxe and a sword, it’s time to explore your area a little bit. Unless you, unfortunately, spawned on a desolate island or in the middle a vast desert, you shouldn’t stray too far from the place you spawned. Until you’ve found a safe place and have slept in a bed, dying will mean resetting at your spawn point. Moving too far away could mean a longer trek should the worst happen, and a lower chance of successfully getting your stuff back.

What you’re looking for are exposed caves, holes, wildlife like pigs and cows, and a good variety of different resources. A shallow cave makes for a great temporary shelter (and a great permanent one if you get creative,) and it’s never a bad idea to make sure you have a good amount of stuff nearby. Especially important to look for is exposed coal or, even better, iron. Stay away from deep caves, however, as you don’t want hostile mobs to attack you from behind.

Once you’ve found a good area to nestle in, feel free to place your crafting table. It might also be worth digging up a few blocks of dirt with your hands just to build a small tower next to your soon-to-be-shelter. This helps if you get turned around and need some help finding your shelter again.

Gather resources for the shelter

Now that you’ve found your area to hang out for a while, it’s time to gather some resources and supplies. You want to be prepared for the first night at minimum, but it doesn’t hurt to get a little extra to help get a head start for the future. This means making sure you have the ability to build and light your shelter, sleep through the night, and have food to prevent you from starving.

You’ll want to look for:

Cobblestone, coal, and iron can all be found in the same places, and may even be in the shelter you chose. Cobblestone and coal can both be mined with a wood pickaxe, but before you hack away at that iron, be sure to use your crafting table and some cobblestone to build yourself a stone pickaxe — otherwise you’ll get nothing.

Wood can be found in trees. You can never have too much wood, but you also don’t want to spend too much time mining it. It might be worth using your crafting table to craft a wooden or stone axe to speed things up, but two or three trees will probably do the trick.

Finally, food and wool can also be found in the same places. Cows drop beef and leather (useful for armor,) pigs drop pork, chickens drop, well, chicken and feathers (useful for arrows,) and sheep drop mutton and wool. Sheep will probably be the most efficient since you need three pieces of wool to build a bed. Use your sword to hunt things down.

Bunker down for the night

Now that you’ve gathered as much as you can, you’ve probably noticed that the sun is beginning to dip into the distant horizon. This is your cue to hightail it back to your makeshift shelter, where you’ll make some last-minute adjustments and prepare yourself for the first night, and every night to follow.

Here’s what you need to do:

A survivor of Minecraft

Once the first night has passed, you’re usually in a much better place to survive going into the second day. Collecting iron is a distinct possibility, which means a big upgrade for your tools and even some shiny new armor to protect yourself. After that, you could even brave the night in search of materials and items you can claim from Minecraft’s assorted enemies. Plus, the plans begin to build your permanent home. Whatever you decide to do after that is entirely up to you.

A game you can play anywhere with anyone.

The only thing that could make Minecraft even better is if you could play it in more places. Wait, you can? That’s right, because Minecraft is available on almost every platform imaginable including Xbox One, Windows 10, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS. Get it everywhere, play it anywhere.

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Zachary Boddy (They / Them) is a Staff Writer for Windows Central, primarily focused on covering the latest news in tech and gaming, the best Xbox and PC games, and the most interesting Windows and Xbox hardware. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life starting with the original Xbox, and started out as a freelancer for Windows Central and its sister sites in 2019. Now a full-fledged Staff Writer, Zachary has expanded from only writing about all things Minecraft to covering practically everything on which Windows Central is an expert, especially when it comes to Microsoft. You can find Zachary on Twitter@BoddyZachary.