How to survive in Minecraft

You are starting to approach Minecraft and would like to try playing Survival mode, as you have heard a lot about it. Well, it could not be otherwise: one of the best things about Mojang’s sandbox title is that it allows the player to overcome the various obstacles he encounters along his path by exploiting imagination and creativity. This, however, implies that the user must strive to be able to build the structures and elements necessary for his own survival; which is not easy, also because the world of Minecraft can be particularly difficult.

How do you say? Is that what you think too and, therefore, would you like to have some tips on how to survive in Minecraft? Then know that you have come to the right place, at the right time. In today’s guide, in fact, I will explain everything there is to know about the subject, guiding you step by step in the initial phases of the game (the most important of the Survival mode) and illustrating the advanced activities available. All while being careful not to get too many spoilers.

Put simply, in this guide you will find general indications on the subject, consider it as a sort of basic “survival manual” that will be useful for starting everything in the correct way. What do you say then? Are you ready to learn the basics of Minecraft Survival mode? Yup? Perfect! All you have to do is take some time and follow the quick directions below. That said, there is nothing left for me to do, except wish you good reading and have fun!

Index

• Preliminary information
• How to go to Survival in Minecraft
• How to survive in Minecraft the first night

Preliminary information

Before going into the details of the procedure on how to survive in Minecraft, I think it may interest you to know more about the game’s Survival mode.

Well, the latter provides, as the name suggests, that the player survives within the game world, which is generated “procedurally” , through the classic “cubes”, and can be particularly difficult.

In fact, there may be areas teeming with enemies (especially at night) or your worst enemy could be hunger. In addition, Minecraft relies heavily on crafting, i.e. the creation of objects through other elements that can be obtained within the game world. Without learning how to use this feature, you won’t get much further. If your avatar dies, he will lose all the items he carries with him and the accumulated experience.

In short, in the Survival mode, not to be confused with the Creative one (in which you have all the objects in your inventory available from the beginning), you will essentially have to build structures, get food and fight to survive. All this by exploring the immense game world of the Mojang title and taking advantage of the elements that it puts at your disposal.

Going forward with the Survival mode, you will also be able to pursue objectives, considered by the community as essential to see the “end” of the game. Of course, I won’t spoil you right now, but I’ll focus on explaining the basic mechanics of Minecraft, so you can play right.

How to go to Survival in Minecraft

Survival mode is considered the “main” mode of Minecraft, so much so that it is often set by default by the game when trying to create a world.

Starting this mode is very simple (just start creating a world); however, the title of Mojang is available in various versions and therefore different procedures must be followed depending on the case.

If you are using the Java version of Minecraft for PC, you can access Survival mode by starting the Minecraft Launcher, pressing the PLAY button, clicking the Single Player button and pressing the Create a new world button.

The system will then ask you to type in the name of the world and to choose a mode: you select the setting Mode: Survival and, if you want, click on the More world options button to adjust the presence of structures (villages, dungeons and much more. other), the type of world (normal, flat, large biomes, amplified and buffet), the ability to use commands (I recommend you enable it, it will help you in case of problems) and the bonus chest.

Once you have finished making changes, remember to press the Done button and then on the Create a new world button. Perfect, now the game will catapult you into the map in Survival mode.

If you already have a game in Creative mode with commands activated, you can switch to Survival mode whenever you want: just press the T button on your keyboard, type the command / gamemode survival and press Enter. The command may change depending on the version of Minecraft you have.

If you are playing from the Bedrock version of Minecraft for Windows 10, consoles and mobile devices, all you have to do to create a new world is to start the title, press the Play button and select the Create New and Create New World buttons in succession.

At this point, on the right, you can choose the name of the world, the game mode (Survival is by default), the difficulty and other preferences. At the bottom left are also options for configuring multiplayer.

After finishing the changes, press the Create button to create the world and start your game.

How to survive in Minecraft the first night

Once you enter the game, your adventure will begin. I state that every game is different depending on the map generated by the game and the activities that are implemented, but there is always a common “thread”, which I am going to explain to you. I’ll look at the Java version of Minecraft for practical examples, but it’s actually all very similar in the Bedrock one too (they mainly change the positions of the interface elements, but you shouldn’t struggle to find them).

Well, you will probably be disoriented as soon as you enter the game, as you will not know exactly where to start: the title of Mojang presents you with a myriad of interesting elements, but initially many of them are not available for interaction.

Either way, I’m assuming you already know the controls. In case this is not the case, before starting in Survival mode, I recommend that you go to the settings and take a look at the Controls section.

Once you are familiar with the controls (you might think about doing it in Creative mode, so as not to waste too much time in Survival), the first thing you need to do is hit a tree with your hand, to get some logs.

After that, collect the logs from the ground and they will appear in the quick inventory below. Now, open your inventory screen (eg E key on PC) and carry 1 log unit in the Manufacturing menu at the top right. If you have collected more than one, I suggest you “divide” them (eg on PC just press the right mouse button over them). At this point, you will see that at the top right there is a new element, namely the axes. Grab it and drag it to second place in the quick inventory.

Perfect, now you have 4 axes. Stay in the Fabrication screen and place the 4 axes inside the 4 boxes of the table. In this way, you have created a workbench – drag it to the quick inventory and close the window.

At this point, take the workbench in your hand (eg mouse wheel on PC) and place it on the ground (eg right mouse button on PC), finding an area where there is some free space. Also break any weeds or elements that are causing you problems.

Perfect: now you have the base with which to create all the necessary tools, since using the workbench you have a 3 x 3 crafting table (and no longer 2 x 2, like the one in the Crafting menu).

Afterwards, smash more trees and collect a few units of logs (in case you haven’t already). Press, therefore, on the workbench and place 1 unit of log, “extracting” the 4 units of axes that derive from it. Now, place 2 units of aces, one on top of the other, on the crafting table. In this way, you will get 4 sticks, which you will have to “move” in the quick inventory.

Once this is done, stay inside the workbench screen and place 3 planks in the top row of the table (if you don’t have enough planks, “generate” more via the trunk units) and 2 sticks in the central block of the others file. Now you can take the wooden pickaxe and put it in the quick inventory.

Great, now you have a tool at your disposal that allows you to break blocks faster and you also have more chances, as you can mine the minerals. At the beginning of the game, you may be interested in coal, as you will need it to make torches and cook food with the furnace.

However, for now, I recommend that you break the workbench (you can pick it up and it will end up in your inventory), go to a mountain near where your character was “spawned” and break the outer blocks with the pickaxe, creating a sort of “hole” , which will be your home for the first few nights. I advise you to find a place where there is also some crushed stone (blocks of gray color).

Now, place the workbench on the right and access it. Then place 8 units of crushed stone on the crafting table, leaving the block in the center empty, and move the furnace that has been created to the quick inventory. Finally, place it on the ground, just to the right of the workbench.

At this point, it should be almost night and therefore you may need to “close” your facility. To do this, place 6 units of axes (remember you can get them via logs) on the left of the crafting table and take the resulting doors.

Therefore, use the blocks you obtained previously to “close” the structure (both at the sides and at the top), leaving 2 blocks free, one above the other, in the front part. Therefore, place the door on the latter. Perfect, now the monsters that Minecraft “spawns” at night will not be able to reach you.

Once this is done, it is time to do some brave deeds, that is to defeat some enemies and hunt down prey. To do these things, you will need a sword. Then access the workbench and place 1 stick in the lower central block and 2 axes in the upper central blocks, placing the resulting wooden sword in the inventory.

So get out of your home, take up your sword and look for enemies and animals. Maybe, before you leave, make a new wooden pickaxe, as the other one will probably be breaking. Another thing: remember to close the door of your house.

The enemies come in at night, so you have to wait until it is dark to find them (although probably you are already almost at this point), but you can already search for animals. I advise you not to go too far from your home and to remember where it is.

If you can review the day, you’ve already achieved an important goal: you’ve learned how to survive the first day in Minecraft. At this point, I recommend that you enter a cave, in order to look for enemies and coal.

Some opponents, such as zombies, may even give you some rotten meat. If you really can’t find anything else like food, you might think about using it, but you should know that there is an 80% chance that it will “poison” your character for some time (taking away some hunger units, that is the icons present at the bottom right).

For this reason, I recommend that you look for other animals to get healthy food (such as raw beef or raw sheep meat, which you can eat right away). In particular, you should look for sheep outside the cave. In fact, the latter are potentially able to give you both food and precious wool. You need to know that you need 3 blocks of wool to make a bed. A block of wool can also be created through 4 cords, which can be obtained, for example, by defeating spiders and cave spiders.

In short, your current goal is to find coal in the caves, food through the animals outside and 3 units of wool (through the sheep or through the cords of the spiders, be careful to have the wool all of the same color). It may take some time to get these materials, but rest assured you’ll have fun finding them.

In case you lose all the vital points of the avatar (which is quite common in this phase), you will be able to be reborn, but you will lose all the objects you carry with you and the accumulated experience (for example, through the extraction of coal, it is the bar green you see below).

However, the house you built will remain accessible and therefore you can use it as a reboot point, rebuilding all the appropriate objects again. For this reason, in the initial phase, I advised you to build the house near the respawn area, so that you can find it immediately. Remember to rebuild both the sword and the pickaxe, perhaps in more units.

If you really can’t get the various elements, try waiting for the day, so that there are fewer enemies. In fact, coal can also be found outside. Additionally, you might consider making two trips: one to retrieve the wool and food, and another to retrieve the coal.

Once you have recovered 3 units of wool, some coal (I suggest you make a good supply, if possible) and maybe a few units of raw meat, go back to your home.

It will probably be dark in the meantime, so you will need to create torches, which will keep enemies away and help you see how it should be inside your house and caves.

Interact, therefore, with the workbench and place 1 stick at the bottom and 1 unit of coal in the center, extracting the resulting torches.

Now, place some flashlights in front of and inside the house and you will have the necessary lighting to see well even at night. I advised you to take a lot of coal just to be able to build as many torches as possible.

Now, the time has finally come to create the bed, which will help you sleep and spend the night unscathed. To make this project, interact with the workbench and place 3 planks at the bottom and 3 units of wool in the row in the center. So take the resulting bed and put it in the quick inventory.

Now I advise you to place the bed on the left of the room. To do this, just interact with them and wait, so that the time passes.

Perfect, now you know how to “skip” the night without consequences. It should be noted that you can only use the bed at night or during a thunderstorm.

At this point, since you have a furnace at your disposal, it’s time to use it. Interact, therefore, with the latter and put on the top 1 unit of raw sheep meat (or raw beef, what you managed to get from the animals) and under it some coal.

In this way, you will see cooked sheep meat (or similar) appear on the right , much healthier than the previous one (on PC, you can eat it by holding down the right mouse button). I remind you that food “solves” hunger (the icons at the bottom right), while to automatically regenerate life it is necessary to have the hunger bar at maximum.

In short, now you have learned the basics of survival in Minecraft and you can get by very well thanks to what I have explained to you. From here on I don’t want to spoil you too many, since Mojang’s title has to be lived by learning about it. However, I can give you some useful information to continue.

First, you will need crushed stone to start upgrading your tools to stone (so they are more durable). As for, for example, the pickaxe, you can do this simply by using the “recipe” of the wooden pickaxe but using some crushed stone that you can find around the map.

After that, you will need a chest to put the items you can’t carry. You can create it by joining 8 axis units via the workbench (leave the center block empty). For the rest, you will have to expand your home, in order to make it better through the objects you find.

You can then explore villages and more by exploring the map. If you are wondering what the experience is for, I recommend you take a look at this tutorial of mine. In short, you will certainly not miss things to do and you will see that you will have fun and always discover new things during your explorations.

One thing that I would like to point out to you is the existence of the cookbook: every time you encounter a new item, Minecraft automatically unlocks recipes linked to it.

You can access the cookbook by pressing on the book icon in the Manufacturing menu (eg key E on PC or via workbench). You can press the block button, top center, to see the recipes that can be made with the materials you have available.

However, many players prefer to use external tools to quickly find “recipes”. For example, one site I recommend you use is MineSearch. To use it, connected to its main page and type, in the search bar located at the top right, the name of the element you need.

In this way, the combination of objects necessary to create it will appear on the screen and you will simply have to find them in the game. In short, this way you can build almost anything inside Minecraft.

For the rest, later on you may want to search for Raw Iron and craft powerful weapons and armor, as well as go find diamonds and mine Obsidian. The latter will then be useful for creating the Nether portal.

From here a new world of possibilities will open, which I want not to anticipate too much. However, if you are interested in knowing what are the “final” activities of the game, I suggest you consult (attention there are spoilers) this tutorial of mine, this other guide of mine and this tutorial of mine linked to a well-known “optional” activity.

In short, as you may have guessed, the hours of gameplay that the Minecraft Survival mode will give you will be countless. However, if you are still not satisfied with Minecraft once the adventure is “finished”, I invite you to take a look at the page of my site dedicated to the title of Mojang, where you can find many ideas for your game sessions.

For example, there are many guides on how to create particular structures, from farm to bridge, tutorials on advanced methods for obtaining items you need in Survival mode, such as honey and the bow, and posts related to the best creations in the community (which you will guarantee a myriad of more hours of gameplay). Finally, I recommend that you also take a look at my guide on how to download Minecraft Earth. This is a completely free mobile game that allows you to explore Mojang’s title map by walking in the real world. In short, I just have to wish you good fun!