How to Survive the First Night in Don't Starve
Start gathering materials., Craft an Axe., Chop a tree., Build a campfire., Remember to fuel the fire., Eat your food items., Avoid fights.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Start gathering materials.
Once you spawn in a new world, scout out your surroundings for whatever you can scavenge.
Nearly everything you can initially grab is vital for survival in early game.
Bushes with red dots give you Berries, Carrots are found on the ground, Flint is normally found scattered around the area, and Twigs and Cut Grass can be harvested from dead bushes (oddly called Saplings in the game) and long Grass Tufts.
You’re going to need as many of those as you can find before the clock, found in the upper right part of your screen, moves to the red part.
In the PC version, simply click the desired items to pick them up.
On the console, run up to the items and press X.
On the iOS version, just tap it or press the green hand symbol on the right-hand portion of the screen. -
Step 2: Craft an Axe.
Look at the bar at the left of the screen.
You probably noticed some “ding” noises while gathering and that some of the icons there turned green.
Check if the Tool tab (the pickaxe and axe icon) is green.
That means you have gathered enough materials to make some items in the tab.
The most important tool at this point is the Axe, which costs exactly a Twig and a Flint.
On the console, you can access the Crafting tab by pressing L2, then scrolling the choices with the right analog stick.
Go to the Axe, and select with X (or Left click)! To equip the tool, right-click it on PC, select it with the right analog stick and press the right directional button on the D-pad on the console edition, or just tap it and select “Equip” on the iOS.
If you have enough materials, you can also make a Pickaxe in the same tab with 2 Twigs and 2 Pickaxes, and it is used to break down Boulders scattered in the world. , Now that you have your Axe, head on over to the nearest tree and start chopping.
When the tree is felled, gather the logs surrounding you before the clock moves to the blue section.
To chop the tree down, have your axe equipped and left click, press C, or tap and hold the tree.
You can do the same for Boulders when you equip a Pickaxe.
Boulders drop Rocks, Nitre, and Flint when broken, and darker Boulders with yellow streaks in them replace the Nitre with Gold Nuggets. , Make a Campfire before the clock finally turns to the blue section.
If you look at the Crafting tab, you’ll notice that the icon with the fire has turned green.
That’s the Light tab, where you can make a nice, warm fire to cook your food and ward away the darkness.
This is important because if you wander around in pitch blackness, a monster will attack you and damage both your Health (the heart gauge on the upper right of the screen) and your Sanity (the brain gauge in the upper right of the screen) quite a bit! Simply select the Campfire in the list, which costs 2 Logs and 3 Cut Grass.
After you’ve built it, run to a clear area and place it.
Just make sure you do this before the clock turns blue, which is when your screen will turn black! If you have 12 Rocks, you can make a Fire Pit instead.
It costs 2 Logs and 12 Rocks, and is a permanent structure, meaning you can’t move it.
However, it also means that if the fire runs out, you can just fill it with fuel to start it up. , Campfires tend to extinguish themselves after a while, which means you need to toss some fuel into it.
Run up to your fire with some Logs, Twigs, or Cut Grass selected, then interact with the fire.
It’s left-click for PC, X for console, and tapping for iOS.
This will feed the items to the flame, prolonging your source of light! , The Hunger gauge (stomach gauge under Health and Sanity gauges) is constantly draining, and if you don’t eat anything soon, it will empty itself quite rapidly and you start taking continuous Health damage until you feed yourself or die.
Remember those Carrots and Berries you picked? Time to eat them near the safety of your fire! You can do so by selecting the food and dragging it to your character on the PC, selecting it and pressing the right button on your D-pad on the console, or by tapping it and selecting “Eat” on the iOS.
You’ll normally need at least 5 or 6 of those foods to raise your stomach back to fullness.
You can also cook your food on the campfire.
Select the food then interact with the fire the same way you did to add fuel.
Your Carrots and Berries will turn into Cooked Carrots and Cooked Berries, which take up a different slot in your inventory from the raw ingredients (which also means you need to have one or two slots free before cooking, or else they drop into the ground and probably burn to Ashes if you don’t pick them up immediately).
Cooked food normally fill you up more than raw food, making this a better way to feed yourself early in the game. , While managing to get into a fight in the first day isn’t hard, this game is quite happy to punish anyone trying to pick a fight with nothing but an axe or pickaxe, so until you get yourself settled and have made some other weapons and armors, don’t run up to any living thing and hit it with your axe! If you accidentally step somewhere you’re not supposed to and get chased by Spiders or Tallbirds, the safest option is running away until they stop following you.
Same if you find a Beefalo and accidentally hit it—just run! You’ll probably waste some time, but you’ll at least survive! -
Step 3: Chop a tree.
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Step 4: Build a campfire.
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Step 5: Remember to fuel the fire.
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Step 6: Eat your food items.
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Step 7: Avoid fights.
Detailed Guide
Once you spawn in a new world, scout out your surroundings for whatever you can scavenge.
Nearly everything you can initially grab is vital for survival in early game.
Bushes with red dots give you Berries, Carrots are found on the ground, Flint is normally found scattered around the area, and Twigs and Cut Grass can be harvested from dead bushes (oddly called Saplings in the game) and long Grass Tufts.
You’re going to need as many of those as you can find before the clock, found in the upper right part of your screen, moves to the red part.
In the PC version, simply click the desired items to pick them up.
On the console, run up to the items and press X.
On the iOS version, just tap it or press the green hand symbol on the right-hand portion of the screen.
Look at the bar at the left of the screen.
You probably noticed some “ding” noises while gathering and that some of the icons there turned green.
Check if the Tool tab (the pickaxe and axe icon) is green.
That means you have gathered enough materials to make some items in the tab.
The most important tool at this point is the Axe, which costs exactly a Twig and a Flint.
On the console, you can access the Crafting tab by pressing L2, then scrolling the choices with the right analog stick.
Go to the Axe, and select with X (or Left click)! To equip the tool, right-click it on PC, select it with the right analog stick and press the right directional button on the D-pad on the console edition, or just tap it and select “Equip” on the iOS.
If you have enough materials, you can also make a Pickaxe in the same tab with 2 Twigs and 2 Pickaxes, and it is used to break down Boulders scattered in the world. , Now that you have your Axe, head on over to the nearest tree and start chopping.
When the tree is felled, gather the logs surrounding you before the clock moves to the blue section.
To chop the tree down, have your axe equipped and left click, press C, or tap and hold the tree.
You can do the same for Boulders when you equip a Pickaxe.
Boulders drop Rocks, Nitre, and Flint when broken, and darker Boulders with yellow streaks in them replace the Nitre with Gold Nuggets. , Make a Campfire before the clock finally turns to the blue section.
If you look at the Crafting tab, you’ll notice that the icon with the fire has turned green.
That’s the Light tab, where you can make a nice, warm fire to cook your food and ward away the darkness.
This is important because if you wander around in pitch blackness, a monster will attack you and damage both your Health (the heart gauge on the upper right of the screen) and your Sanity (the brain gauge in the upper right of the screen) quite a bit! Simply select the Campfire in the list, which costs 2 Logs and 3 Cut Grass.
After you’ve built it, run to a clear area and place it.
Just make sure you do this before the clock turns blue, which is when your screen will turn black! If you have 12 Rocks, you can make a Fire Pit instead.
It costs 2 Logs and 12 Rocks, and is a permanent structure, meaning you can’t move it.
However, it also means that if the fire runs out, you can just fill it with fuel to start it up. , Campfires tend to extinguish themselves after a while, which means you need to toss some fuel into it.
Run up to your fire with some Logs, Twigs, or Cut Grass selected, then interact with the fire.
It’s left-click for PC, X for console, and tapping for iOS.
This will feed the items to the flame, prolonging your source of light! , The Hunger gauge (stomach gauge under Health and Sanity gauges) is constantly draining, and if you don’t eat anything soon, it will empty itself quite rapidly and you start taking continuous Health damage until you feed yourself or die.
Remember those Carrots and Berries you picked? Time to eat them near the safety of your fire! You can do so by selecting the food and dragging it to your character on the PC, selecting it and pressing the right button on your D-pad on the console, or by tapping it and selecting “Eat” on the iOS.
You’ll normally need at least 5 or 6 of those foods to raise your stomach back to fullness.
You can also cook your food on the campfire.
Select the food then interact with the fire the same way you did to add fuel.
Your Carrots and Berries will turn into Cooked Carrots and Cooked Berries, which take up a different slot in your inventory from the raw ingredients (which also means you need to have one or two slots free before cooking, or else they drop into the ground and probably burn to Ashes if you don’t pick them up immediately).
Cooked food normally fill you up more than raw food, making this a better way to feed yourself early in the game. , While managing to get into a fight in the first day isn’t hard, this game is quite happy to punish anyone trying to pick a fight with nothing but an axe or pickaxe, so until you get yourself settled and have made some other weapons and armors, don’t run up to any living thing and hit it with your axe! If you accidentally step somewhere you’re not supposed to and get chased by Spiders or Tallbirds, the safest option is running away until they stop following you.
Same if you find a Beefalo and accidentally hit it—just run! You’ll probably waste some time, but you’ll at least survive!
About the Author
Teresa Young
Brings years of experience writing about lifestyle and related subjects.
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