Game modes: pick your kind of world

It's the same valley in every world: the same nine realms, the same bosses, the same village fountain. What changes is the kind of world you make. In one, you roam a peaceful map with a journal in your paw and no creature ever lifts a claw. In another, the snow bites, your belly rumbles and the wolves wait just past the firelight. You choose.

How it works

Every world is made on the New World screen, and the first thing you pick is its type. Each type is a ready-made set of rules. Your gator is the same in all of them, but what you earn stays in the world where you earned it.

• Your gator (name, boy or girl style, look) goes with you into every world. An account can keep several gators, one for each class you want to try.
• Inside a world, each gator has its own level, class, satchel, home and quests. A Survival run never touches your Adventure gator's progress, and a friend's world keeps your progress there for the next visit.
• The host (the player who made the world) can change most rules later, on the World settings tabs. Two can't change: whether the world has levels, and One life.

Here is what each type starts with:

The six world types

Adventure: the classic way to play

The default, and the full game. Level up, choose a class at the Class Shrine (from level 8), find loot, and take on the realm bosses with friends. Creatures fight back. Being knocked out costs a little XP, never a level. Players only fight each other in duels both agree to.

Suits: anyone who wants the whole adventure. Start here if you're not sure.

Explore: the peaceful way to play

No levels, no XP, and creatures never attack. Tatazo's strength comes from the gear he wears. Every ability of your class is known from day one, class changes are free, and being knocked out costs nothing. Gear that only drops elsewhere can be crafted, and your progress is the Discovery journal: at 25% it gives the River Champion look, at 60% the Legend of the River look. The host can let bosses fight back.

Suits: younger players, builders, mapmakers, and families who want to see every land together. The full rules are in Explore worlds.

Survival: the daring way to play

Everything from Adventure, and the world pushes back:

• An empty belly hurts, and thirst is a second meter to fill at rivers, springs and wells.
• Food spoils: raw in 2 game days, cooked in 5.
• Cold and heat matter in the Frostlands and the hot realms. Fires, warm clothes and shade help.
• A knockout leaves your satchel in a grave only you can open for 20 minutes.
• Gear wears out and gets mended at the anvil or loom.
• Trees, rocks and plants take ×1.5 as long to regrow, and loot is ×0.8.
• The host can add night raids on your base, and One life when the world is made.

Suits: older players who like a challenge and a plan. Every number is in Survival worlds.

Cozy: the gentle way to play

Creatures only fight back after you hit them first, and they're weaker (strength ×0.6). The damage you take is ×0.5, there's no hunger, XP comes ×2 faster, days last 30 minutes, and a knockout costs nothing.

Suits: little ones, first-timers, and slow evenings of farming, fishing and chatting with the village.

Creative: the builder's way to play

Nothing can hurt you. Every tree and rock comes down in one hit, any class can gather anything, there's no hunger and no lava or drowning, and filling ground doesn't use up your soil. You can even dig and build in the village.

Suits: builders with a big idea. Start with Building your town and Building and waterworks.

Hardcore: for teens

The toughest world. Creatures are stronger, players can fight each other anywhere outside safe places, and a knockout costs a tenth of all your XP (levels can drop) and spills your satchel. It's marked Teens (13+): a child's profile never sees or joins it.

Suits: experienced teen and grown-up players who want real stakes.

What you can do about it

• Pick for the people playing, not the hardest one. A parent and a six-year-old will have more fun in Explore or Cozy than in Survival.
• Mix your own. Start from any type and change the switches on the World settings tabs: turn hunger off, let bosses fight back in Explore, add night raids in Survival, change how often creatures appear.
• Keep several worlds. One cozy family world and one Survival world for the weekend is a fine plan: your gator's progress in each stays separate.
• Play your way. Every type plays with a controller or with mouse and keyboard, and the button hints on screen follow the one you're using (see the controls in Getting started).

Where next

Open PLAY, press New World, and read the six cards. Then set off:

• Getting started: your first hour and the controls.
• Explore worlds and Survival worlds: every rule of the two special modes.
• Knocked out and getting up: what a knockout costs in each world.
• Level sync and parties: playing together when levels differ.
• Family safety features: the grown-ups' controls and who can join which world.