Long Night

Light

The sun never rises and torches burn out in five minutes.

At a glance

Kind of world	Light
Serum in the arrival Box	2 ampoules
Native Serum stand-in	None: bring spare Serum
Quests	None

Screenshot cominglong-night-arrival

The arrival Box under a black dark-oak canopy at midnight, one torch burning beside the door and green eyes of mobs in the fog

What happens when you arrive

It is midnight, and it stays midnight. You step out under a closed canopy of dark oaks, the sky is nearly black, and the fog closes in a few dozen blocks away. Nothing here ever burns in the sun, because there is no sun, so the woods fill up with zombies, skeletons, spiders and creepers. Your first torch will look like the answer. It isn't, not for long.

The rule: light runs out

Every torch, wall torch, soul torch or lantern (plain or soul) you place here goes out five minutes after you place it. It vanishes in a puff of smoke with a hiss and drops nothing: the torch is simply spent. Lights in chunks you have left behind keep counting, and they go out the moment you come back if their time is up.

Danger	What it does	How to deal with it
Endless night	The clock is fixed at midnight. Undead never burn, and monsters spawn anywhere dark.	Treat the whole visit as one long night. Wear armor and keep a shield up.
Burning-out lights	Torches and lanterns go out 5 minutes after you place them.	Carry a full stack and light only the path you are walking or the spot you are standing in.
The dark forest	Dark oak canopy keeps even the moonlight off the ground. Spawns lean heavily to zombies and skeletons, with spiders and creepers close behind.	Stick to clearings and the edges of the trees where you can see what is coming.
Phantoms	Rare, but light does not stop them spawning.	Look up now and then. A bow helps.
Beds	Explode, like in the Nether. There is no morning to skip to.	Don't sleep here.
Fog	You can see roughly 16 to 96 blocks.	Listen for mobs more than you look for them.

Every couple of minutes a line appears above your hotbar to remind you: "There is no dawn here."

Only the lights in the list burn out

The rule only counts torches and lanterns. Other light sources you bring from home are not on the list, so they stay lit. A permanent light is worth carrying if you plan to stay.

What's here

Under the dark it is an ordinary overworld forest: dark oaks, forest flowers, mushrooms, the usual ores underground, and rabbits and sheep to eat. Bats flutter about in large numbers. The world adds no blocks or items of its own, so there is nothing unique to bring home. Come for the challenge, the ores and the Serum ingredients you can find at home anyway.

Screenshot cominglong-night-torchline

A trail of torches through the dark forest, the far ones already gone out in puffs of smoke

Serum and getting home

• The arrival Box's cache holds 2 Serum Ampoules.
• There is no native Serum stand-in here, so bring what you need for the trip back.
• If you still have Serum running, the way home is the weathered Box you woke beside: step in and shut the door.

Tips

• Bring at least a stack of torches and use them like breadcrumbs: one ahead of you, not a trail behind you.
• Build a small shelter right by the Box first. A roof and walls are permanent; light is not.
• Sheep and rabbits are the only food. Kill a few early before the mobs crowd you out.
• Mobs hold back from light while it lasts, so place a fresh torch before you start mining a vein, not after.

Birds

Birds you can photograph for your bird log here. Open one to turn it round, watch it move and hear its call.

• Snuffer Owlet: common
• Lamplighter Heron: rare

The traveler's tape

Every arrival Box has a chest by its door holding a cassette: the last traveler reading their journal of this world aloud. This is what they say. It gives a lot away.

Read the journal (spoilers)

By my count three days have passed, and the sun has not risen once. Torches burn for five minutes here and then gutter out with a hiss, so carry a stack and light only the way you are walking. Don't try to sleep it off: the bed I put down took half my shelter with it. With no sunrise the dead never burn, and they gather under the black trees, patient as the night itself. If the Serum is still in you, go back to the weathered Box you woke beside and shut the door; no dawn is coming to save you.