Necesse: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

Yeah, Necesse is a hidden gem. But it'll kick your teeth in.

Look, I've been playing sandbox survival games since the early Terraria days. I've got hundreds of hours in RimWorld, Valheim, Core Keeper — the whole genre. So when I picked up Necesse on a Steam sale, I figured, "Alright, another cozy top-down survival game. Easy."

I was wrong.

This game is not cozy. It's brutal in a way that feels personal. The first time I stepped into a Deep Cave biome, I was dead inside 30 seconds to a swarm of poison-spitting bugs. I rage-quit twice before I even beat the first boss. But here's the thing — once you understand the rules, Necesse is one of the most rewarding games I've ever played. The crafting system is deep. The automation? Actually fun, not tedious. And the progression curve is a masterpiece of "just one more cave run" dopamine hits.

But the game is awful at explaining itself. The tutorial is basically a sticky note. The wiki is incomplete. Half the mechanics feel like they were designed to be discovered by accident — or by dying. That's why I'm writing this. Not because I'm a pro, but because I've made every single mistake in the book so you don't have to.

If you're reading this because you just bought Necesse and you're already frustrated — stop. Breathe. You're not bad at the game. The game just doesn't tell you how to play. Let me fix that.

Why the first 10 hours feel like a nightmare (and how to fix that)

I see the same complaints on the Steam forums every day: "I can't beat the first boss." "I keep running out of food." "Why does everything two-shot me?" And the answer is almost always the same — you're missing a mechanic the game never teaches you.

Let me hit the biggest pain points head-on:

• You're not farming enough. It sounds stupid, but Necesse's hunger system is no joke. If you starve, you lose health regen and move slower. I spent my first three runs living off berries and dying to the Goblin Chief because I had zero stamina. The fix? Plant a 10x10 crop of wheat on day one. Make bread. It's not exciting, but it's the difference between being a god and being a corpse.
• The first boss is a gear check, not a skill check. I tried to beat the Goblin Chief with a copper sword and some leather armor. I got wrecked in three hits. The game doesn't tell you this, but you need iron gear at minimum. And that means mining deep enough to find iron ore, which is usually below 40 blocks depth. The surface caves won't cut it.
• Your settlement is a trap. The game says "build a base." So I built a giant beautiful castle. Then a raid destroyed it because I put my villagers in wooden huts with no walls. Your first base should be a bunker. Two-block thick stone walls. A moat if you can. Archers on platforms. Don't build for aesthetics until you've survived the first Blood Moon.
• You're ignoring the merchant. The Merchant NPC sells a Bed for 30 coins. I didn't buy one for 8 hours because I thought it was cosmetic. It sets your spawn point. Without it, you spawn back at the world origin every time you die. That's a 2-minute walk back to your base — or a 10-minute walk back to the boss arena. Buy the bed. Put it in a safe room. I'm not kidding.

The truth is, Necesse's early game is a gauntlet of knowledge checks. Once you know what to do, it's not hard. But if you don't know, you'll feel like the game is unfair. It's not unfair. It's just obtuse. And that's what this guide is for.

Stuff I wish someone yelled at me before my first night

Alright, you just spawned. You've got a stone axe and a torch. The sun is setting. What do you do?

First thing: gather exactly 50 wood and 50 stone. Don't explore. Don't fight. Just chop trees and break rocks within 20 blocks of your spawn point. You need these to build a Workbench, a Furnace, and a Chest. If you don't have a chest, you'll drop everything on death. The game doesn't have a gravestone mechanic like Terraria — your items just scatter on the ground. In a dangerous cave, they're gone forever.

Second thing: craft a bow. I know, you want to swing a sword. But the bow is your survival tool. Early-game enemies are slow and predictable. Stand on a ledge, shoot them from above, and you take zero damage. The Wooden Bow with Stone Arrows is enough to kill deer for meat and leather. Do that until you have a full set of Leather Armor. It's not great, but it's better than nothing.

Third thing: find a cave entrance before the first night ends. You need iron. Iron is in underground caves, which usually have a surface entrance somewhere nearby. Mark it on your map with a Waypoint (press B by default). The first night is terrifying because zombies spawn, but they're slow. If you can get underground, you'll find ores, and the surface enemies won't follow you (most of the time).

Fourth thing: don't build a house yet. Build a pit shelter. Dig a 3x3 hole in the ground, put a roof over it, and place a torch. It's ugly, but it keeps you safe from flying enemies and raids. You can build your "real" base later, once you have stone walls and a door. The game doesn't care about aesthetics — it cares about protection.

Here's the kicker: the game has a hotbar with 10 slots, but I never use more than 6 for tools. Keep your weapon, pickaxe, axe, torch, food, and healing potions in those spots. Everything else goes in the chest. If you carry too much junk, you'll die because you can't swap to a healing item fast enough.

The real tricks — the ones the wiki doesn't tell you

After about 50 hours, I started noticing things the game doesn't explain. These aren't exploits — they're just hidden mechanics that make the game playable at higher difficulties.

• The Flamethrower is overtuned. This weapon does 45 base DPS, but if you hold down the attack button, it ramps up to 120 DPS after 3 seconds of continuous fire. It melts bosses. The only catch is it uses oil as ammo — but oil is infinite from killing Oil Slimes in the swamp biome. I farmed 200 oil in 5 minutes and beat the Frost King on my first try with this thing. It feels like cheating.
• You can teleport using the map. If you right-click on a Waypoint on your map (the green flag icon), you'll open a context menu. Select "Teleport to Waypoint." It costs 10 coins per use early on, but once you have a few hundred coins, it saves you hours of walking. I have waypoints at every biome entrance, boss arena, and my base. It's the first thing I do when entering a new area.
• Villagers can work while you're offline. You can assign them to gather wood, mine stone, or farm crops automatically. But here's the trick: they're slow unless you give them good tools. If you craft an Iron Axe and put it in their inventory, they'll cut wood twice as fast. I have a single villager with a Titanium Axe who produces 200 wood per minute. It's insane.
• The Fishing skill is broken. I ignored fishing for 40 hours because I thought it was a meme. Then I found out you can fish up Enchanted Scrolls that give permanent stat boosts. The Ocean Biome has the best fish for scrolls — specifically the Crimson Fish. It takes 10 minutes to set up a fishing spot with a Reinforced Rod and some bait, and you'll get scrolls that add +5% crit chance or +10 max health. Don't skip this.
• Armor sets have hidden bonuses. The game doesn't state it clearly, but wearing a full set of the same armor type gives a set bonus. For example, full Shadow Armor gives you a +20% movement speed buff. Full Molten Armor gives +15% damage to fire weapons. I wasted resources mixing armor pieces for hours before I realized I was missing these bonuses. Check the armor's tooltip — it's often in the description, not the stats.

One more thing: the anvil is not a one-time purchase. You need multiple anvils for different crafting tiers. The Iron Anvil only lets you craft up to Steel tier items. The Gold Anvil is for higher tiers. I spent an hour wondering why I couldn't make a Runic Sword — I had the materials, but I was standing at the wrong anvil. Double-check your crafting station's tier before you start smithing.

Mistakes that got me killed, starved, or set back hours

I've died more times than I can count. Let me save you some of the dumbest ones.

• Not using potions in boss fights. I went into my first Swamp Witch fight with zero potions. That's like going to a gunfight with a spoon. The Healing Potion II heals 60 HP per use and you can stack 3 of them. Crafting them takes Mushrooms and Water Bottles, both of which are easy to farm. I now walk into every boss fight with 9 healing potions in my inventory. No exceptions.
• Building on uneven ground. The game's building system is grid-based, but if you place blocks on a slope, it looks ugly and sometimes breaks pathfinding for villagers. I once built a massive wheat farm on a hill, and my farmer couldn't reach half the crops because the AI pathing couldn't handle the 1-block height difference. Flatten the ground with a Pickaxe first. It takes 30 seconds, and it fixes everything.
• Exploring at night without a torch. This sounds obvious, but the game's darkness is no joke. At night, without a torch, you're essentially blind. Enemies have full vision, but you can't see them. I once fell into a ravine because I was running from a wolf and couldn't see the ground. Always carry at least 20 torches. If you run out, craft a Glowstone (takes 1 Mushroom and 1 Stone) — it's a consumable that lights up a small area for 30 seconds.
• Selling rare materials to merchants. I sold my first Dragon Scale for 40 coins because I needed money for a new sword. Later, I found out Dragon Scales are used to craft the Dragon Armor, which is endgame gear. I had to farm the Frost Dragon six times to get another one. Check the wiki (or ask the community) before selling anything that sounds rare. If it's a material, it's probably useful.
• Not saving before major events. The game autosaves, but it's on a timer. I lost 45 minutes of progress when I died in the Underworld and my last save was before I entered the biome. The game allows manual saves via the menu (Esc > Save & Exit). I do this before every boss fight, every cave dive deeper than 50 blocks, and every time I craft something expensive. It's a habit that's saved me dozens of hours of re-grinding.

Honestly, the biggest mistake is overestimating your ability. I'm a veteran gamer, but Necesse humbled me. The second boss — The Swamp Witch — summons minions that heal her. I wasted 30 minutes trying to DPS her down without dealing with the minions. The trick is to kill the minions first, then burn her while she's vulnerable. That's not obvious, but it's the only way to win.

Quick answers to the questions you're Googling at 2 AM

How do I find iron ore early?
Look for caves with greenish stone on the surface. That's the Forest Cave biome. Dig straight down from the entrance — iron starts appearing around 40 blocks depth. Avoid the Deep Cave biome (blue-ish stone) until you have steel gear; the enemies there will wreck you.

What's the best weapon for the first boss (Goblin Chief)?
The Iron Bow with Flame Arrows. The Flame Arrows deal damage over time and the Chief's AI makes him slow down when he's on fire. Kite him around a campfire you build in the arena. I beat him with 30 arrows and no armor using this method.

How do I get more villagers?
Villagers appear when you build a House with a door, a torch, a chair, and a bed. Each house can hold one villager. But they won't spawn if there are enemies nearby. Clear a 30-block radius of hostiles, place a Calling Bell (crafted at the Anvil with 5 Gold Bars), and ring it. A random villager will show up within 1-2 in-game days.

Why is my farmer not farming?
Farmers need a Scythe in their inventory. They also need the crops to be within 15 blocks of their house (not their workshop). I put the house right next to the farm. If they're still idle, check if they have a path — doors and fences block their AI. I had to remove a decorative fence that was blocking my farmer's access for 3 hours.

Can I play multiplayer?
Yes, and I highly recommend it. The game scales difficulty with number of players, but the loot also scales. Co-op is way more fun because you can have one person tank while the other DPSes. I've done the entire endgame solo and with a friend, and the co-op experience is smoother because you don't have to pause to manage inventory. Just beware of friendly fire — I accidentally headshot my buddy with a Rocket Launcher and he wasn't happy.

What's the point of the fishing skill?
Beyond the scrolls I mentioned, fishing also gives you Pufferfish which can be crafted into Poison Potions. These are excellent for crowd control in later biomes. Also, some fish are required for specific quests from the Angler NPC, which reward rare furniture and items.

How do I survive the Blood Moon?
The Blood Moon happens randomly every 5-7 nights. Zombies become faster, stronger, and more numerous. Build a 2-block thick stone wall around your entire base. Place Archer Towers (3-block high platforms with a roof) on each corner. Assign all villagers to their beds (they stay inside). Stay on the roofs with a bow and shoot down. If you have a Bomb, throw it into the crowd. I survived my first Blood Moon with 4 HP left and a destroyed door — never again.