Top 5 things to do to survive your first day in Minecraft (2022)

Minecraft is the world’s most popular game. With entire YouTube careers revolving around the game, and 100 million more copies sold than the next best-selling game of all time, it is almost unfathomable that someone might not have played the game by now.

However, Minecraft can be quite an intimidating game to learn for new players due to how little hand-holding there is in the game. Detailed below are some pointers for how new players can ensure their survival during the first day of a new world.

The 5 best things players can do to survive their first Minecraft day

5) Get wood

A player harvesting a birch tree for wood (Image via Minecraft)

Wood is the most important resource for players in the first few minutes of a new world. It is needed for all of the game’s basics, including crafting tables, chests, the sticks needed to make all of the game’s tools, and even shields.

Given just how important wood is for so many of the game’s vital items, players should spend a decent amount of time on the first day just chopping down trees, as all of the wood is almost guaranteed to be used.

4) Make some basic tools

The recipe for a wooden pickaxe (Image via Minecraft)

Once a player has gotten some wood and made a crafting table, the first thing they should do is make a wooden pickaxe. They can then mine some cobblestone and immediately upgrade to a stone pickaxe. But with this stone, players should also make a stone axe and sword at the very least.

With a stone pickaxe, stone axe, and stone sword, players have their basic tools accounted for. They will be able to more quickly mine wood and dig out a hillside base, if that is how they want to protect themselves in the early game.

3) Build a small shelter

A basic dirt hut that players could make during their first day (Image via Minecraft)

Once a player has a decent supply of wood and some basic stone gear, they can then begin to worry about their base, which will keep the player safe throughout the game’s hostile mob-filled nights.

There are a few different approaches to a first-night base. There is a basic dirt hut, a hillside base that players dig out, or even a small basic wooden base. Whatever the player decides on, they will need to ensure it is adequately lit. This can be done by either mining for coal or burning logs in a furnace to create charcoal.

2) Make a shield

If a player is able to find a village or some easily accessible iron ore, they should be quick to combine it with some wood to make a shield. Shields are an invaluable resource and a great way to protect the player from any of the many threats found throughout Minecraft.

Shields are items that players can place in their off-hand. The shield will then get pulled up whenever they right-click or use the interact button. This will mitigate any damage that comes from the direction the shield is facing.

This can protect players from things such as skeleton shots or zombie attacks. It even protects players from the explosions of creepers, which would normally deal massive amounts of damage to players.

1) Look for villages

Villages are by far the best structure that players can find in the first day or two. If a player has spawned in or near any of the biomes that villages can spawn in, which includes deserts, plains, meadows, savannahs, snowy taigas, snowy plains, sunflower plains, and taiga biomes, they should make sure to look around and see if there are any villages nearby.

Players can get huge amounts of food from them and also things like iron armor and tools (if there is a blacksmith). Additionally, players can begin breeding villagers and set up a villager trading area to get large amounts of resources.