As experienced players who have ventured through the depths of Minecraft, we understand the exhilaration and challenges that come with stepping into its world for the first time. As the saying goes, "For every redstone engineer designing complex contraptions, there's a builder creating their first shelter."

With a fresh generation of miners and builders entering this beautiful world, it's only fair to provide them with a comprehensive guide. This guide will ensure that the next generation of miners and builders won't have to scratch their heads in puzzlement and can start their adventures with the utmost confidence.

Minecraft is a very welcoming and friendly game with endless possibilities to explore. However, as the sun sets, the night creatures start to crawl out of their caves, which you might want to avoid, especially on your first night in Minecraft!

Controls

Before we jump into the survival tips, let's take a quick look at the controls for your platform. Familiarizing yourself with these controls is important because you'll be building and managing your inventory a lot in Minecraft. Check out the table below for all the important Minecraft controls on different platforms.

Video Guide

Feel free to check out our video for a more visual reference of this guide.

Gathering Resources

When you start the game, you have around 10 minutes of real time to collect the crucial resources you'll need to survive your first night in Minecraft. Your top priority should be gathering Wood. Wood is the most important material in Minecraft and serves as the cornerstone for crafting almost everything in the game.

You can obtain wood by punching the tree trunks. On PC, right-click (on Xbox, use the RT button, or on PlayStation, use the R2 button). Keep an eye on the block; it will show cracks that get bigger until it breaks. Collect about 64 logs before you continue, as we'll need them to make plenty of planks and sticks.

Crafting Table

Once you've collected enough, you can use one wood log to create four planks. At this stage of the game, convert all your wood logs into planks, as we don't have any use for the wood logs right now. You can achieve this by accessing your crafting menu, which you can open by pressing 'E' on the keyboard, 'Y' on Xbox, or 'Triangle' on PlayStation. In the crafting menu, you'll notice a 2x2 crafting grid. Simply place the log in any of the slots, and it will provide you with planks in a box on the right side.

Once you've crafted the planks, it's time to use them to make some essential tools. Begin by arranging four planks in a 2x2 grid to create a crafting table, which expands your crafting capabilities to a 3x3 grid. To place the table on the ground, select it from your hotbar and left-click on PC (or press LT on Xbox and L2 on PlayStation) while aiming at the ground or your desired location.

Next, let's create some sticks. Simply arrange two planks vertically in a 2x2 grid to craft these sticks. Sticks are essential for making various tools, including a pickaxe.

Crafting Tools

With your newly crafted sticks, place two of them vertically in the middle of your 3x3 crafting grid. Fill the top row with three wooden planks, creating a wooden pickaxe.

Use your wooden pickaxe to gather some cobblestone. With cobblestone, you can craft more efficient tools that mine or dig faster and have increased durability. As you upgrade your tools, their durability improves, allowing you to mine more blocks. Keep in mind that gold tools are the least durable, while Netherite tools are the most robust. Netherite tools are for "end game" though, and for now you can focus on getting the stone tools.

The recipes for all the tools remain the same, you only need to to swap the material. For example, crafting a stone pickaxe involves arranging two sticks vertically in the middle, with the top row filled with three cobblestones instead of wooden planks this time.

Mine approximately twenty cobblestone blocks to ensure you have enough for crafting essential tools like an axe, a hoe, a sword, and a shovel. The axe speeds up the process of breaking wooden items, the hoe transforms grassy terrain into suitable plots for planting seeds, the sword is used to kill both hostile and friendly mobs, and the shovel makes quick work of digging blocks like dirt or gravel.

Tip: If you're unsure about the crafting recipe for any of these tools, open your recipe book. You can find the tools there and click on them. If you have the necessary items in your inventory, they will be placed automatically in the crafting grid.

Food

Now, let's focus on gathering some food. In Minecraft, food is your key to survival. When your hunger bar is full, your health will gradually heal. But if your hunger bar is low, your health won't regenerate. Look for animals like chickens, sheep, cows, or pigs. They'll provide you with the sustenance you need.

Equip your sword and use it to defeat the animals and collect their meat. To maximize damage, jump and attack. Typically, it takes two or three jump attacks to defeat them. Equip your sword in the hotbar and left-click on PC (RT on Xbox and R2 on PlayStation) to attack.

To make a furnace, use your crafting table and surround it with eight cobblestones along the border of the 3x3 grid.

After crafting the furnace, you'll notice two slots. Place your raw food in the top slot and a fuel source at the bottom to cook the food. Various items can be used as fuel, including wood. However, wood burns quickly and isn't ideal for cooking multiple items.

Coal is quite easy to locate. It's often found on mountainsides, inside caves, or on stony surfaces. The good news is that coal usually appears in veins, with each vein yielding 1-2 coal.