How to Survive Your First Night in Minecraft

Hello readers! In today's post I'll be sharing with you some tips on how to survive your first night in Minecraft. :)

I know Survival can seem quite daunting at first, which is why most people tend to stick to Creative or just play on Peaceful mode (no judgement there). However, once you get the basics down, Survival really is a lot of fun, and it's especially rewarding when you really get going. So whether you're a Creative player looking to try something new or a fearful Survival player who doesn't know where to start, this article is for you!

(Side note-- this article is written for Minecraft Pocket Edition, but you can apply these tips to most editions.)


1. World Settings

When creating your world, there are two little settings that you might forget to enable before you play: Bonus Chest and Starting Map. So what do these do exactly? Well, Bonus Chest spawns a little chest with you, containing a few goodies to get you started, but nothing too good. Starting Map spawns you with a map in your hotbar, which is quite handy when you're trying to locate certain biomes or just find your way back home.

So when you create a Survival world, make sure these options are enabled. :D


2. First Things First
When you first spawn after creating your world, you should see a chest with some torches around it (if you enabled Bonus Chest). Go ahead and take a peek inside that chest.

Hey, this chest isn't too bad! As you can see, there's a bit of food in here, a handful of materials, and some tools--even a stone pickaxe. Mine the chest to collect the contents, and don't forget to grab the torches. Now, if you enabled Starting Map, you should go ahead and select "Create Map".

Now a map of your world has been generated. Use the map to get to the nearest forest--as you can see, I was spawned right by a forest. The first thing you're going to want to do when you get there is collect wood. Your chest probably gave you a little bit, but that'll run out pretty soon, and you might as well get some before nightfall. You need wood to make sticks, weapons, crafting tables, beds, and a whole lot more, so try to collect as much as you can. It helps if you have an axe (my Bonus Chest gave me one).

3. Find Animals
The Bonus Chest usually includes a bit of food, but you'll definitely need to stock up on more, especially if you have to hunker down somewhere for the night. Animals are a great source of food, so try to kill as many cows and pigs as you can. Cows also drop leather, which you can craft into armor.

When you've collected enough food, get out of the forest. It really doesn't matter where you go, so long as you get as far away from the forest as you can! I can't put enough emphasis on this. The forest is a naturally dark biome, and monsters like skeletons, zombies, and more can survive the daylight by hiding beneath the treetops. Since some trees can be very low to the ground, it's also very difficult to make your way through the forest, especially if you're being pursued by monsters.

If you see any sheep, it's a good idea to kill them for wool, as you'll need three of one color to craft a bed.

4. Find and Raid a Village
A village offers shelter, protection, and materials, so it's a great place to spend your first night--as long as it isn't infested with zombies, of course. Villages can be found in desert and grassland biomes, so use your map to point you in the right direction. I decided to check out the grassland area (or maybe it's a prairie. . . I can't remember), and it didn't take me long to spot a village.

The first thing I did was harvest some of the villagers' wheat; the villagers can harvest it themselves, so you might as well collect it while you can!

Most villages have iron golems, which protect you from hostile monsters. Just please don't attack the villagers or the golem--or I can guarantee you that it will track you down and destroy you. Here the golem for my village has been busy dealing with a zombie and a skeleton.

The houses have great resources in them: wood, stone, fences, crafting tables, beds, torches, and sometimes even chests. It's a good idea to take the torches for caving, but I wouldn't suggest taking the doors unless you want the zombies to infect your village! If you find any chests, be sure to take what you need, as they often include food, weapons, armor, and some useful materials.

I always raid the houses as soon as I reach the village. I collected a few torches and then found this chest in one of the houses.

Not near as good as I'd hoped, but leather armor is a good start. :)

Once night falls and the villagers start running towards their houses, you have two options: either stand your ground and fight or head to bed. I don't usually go looking for trouble until I have good weapons and a full set of armor, but hey, it's your choice. If you choose to sleep but never found enough wool to craft yourself a bed, don't worry! Most of the village houses contain beds, so just choose one of the houses and spend the night there.

Before you sleep, you might want to craft a few basic items so you'll be ready for a new day. Start with a crafting table, then use that to craft your oak, spruce, etc. into wood planks. From there you can craft sticks, tools, weapons, and more. I usually keep some of my extra items like seeds, extra food, and leftover materials in a chest (feel free to use your Bonus Chest) in a village house. This is especially useful in case you die, that way you won't lose all of your stuff--oh, and there's nothing worse than having a full inventory when you really need to pick up something important.

A villager was already occupying the bed I wanted to sleep in, but killing him wouldn't be in my best interest since there was an iron golem waiting outside. Luckily, there's a handy little "Wake Villager" button. ;)

And voila, you've survived your first night in Minecraft! Congratulations! You have many more days of surviving ahead of you, and I hope that this article helped you get started. Good luck. ;)

(I'm planning on posting a Minecraft guide on here sometime, although I'm not sure when that will be. Just keep an eye out for it!)