日夜週期

「It's getting late. It will be dark soon.

天色渐晚，很快就会天黑了。」

– Wilson

一个完整的日夜长度为现实时间的8分钟(分为16个每个30秒的小部分)，共分3个阶段。 白昼是最明亮的时间段，在 屏幕右上角的时钟盘上用黄色的部分来表示。 黄昏以红色的部分表示，在这个时间段太阳会落下，世界会变暗，虽然此时光源还不是必须的。 当夜晚降临，世界会迅速变得完全黑暗，必须使用光源。夜晚在时钟盘上用蓝色部分来表示。

白昼

这个一天中最明亮的时段大致上是最安全的时间，也是大部分动物活动的时间。（没有巢穴的）蜘蛛和蜘蛛战士会睡着， 猪人会在它们的猪人房屋周围游荡。 鱼人们在白昼期间很少出来活动（译注：很少的意思是理论上不会，但因为一个鱼人房可以产生多个鱼人，所以会出现一个鱼人在白天停在外面被攻击，房里的其他鱼人跑出来帮忙的现象。），只有这个时间段红蘑菇会冒出地面可以用手采摘。 农田中的作物只在白天生长。

黄昏

在黄昏, 蜜蜂，蝴蝶，青蛙， 火鸡， 猪人，兔子, 和高脚鸟都会返回它们的巢呆到早晨。蜘蛛和蚊子这时会开始活动，野牛会彼此聚在一起形成一群。鱼人在黄昏比其他时间更活跃。 兔人也会在这个时间段离开它们的房屋呆在外面直到破晓。在黄昏时被困在屋子外面的猪人将会慌乱并且四处乱跑寻找光亮。温度会开始降低，绿蘑菇冒出地面可以被采摘。黄昏时玩家每分钟减少5点理智。 如果此时收割，曼德拉草将会四处乱跳并且尽可能地嘲弄玩家直到黎明。

夜晚

当夜晚降临，世界会迅速变得漆黑。 大部分在室外的中立和被动生物会就地睡着。 在入夜前没有飞走的红鸟，雪鸟，和乌鸦会蹲下来入睡。 大部分有进攻性的动物在夜间会保持入睡。在此期间需要一个光源的原因不仅是为了照明，也是由于暗夜怪物 (一般称之为咕噜或者查理)将会在夜晚攻击玩家。同时，在完全黑暗时，角色无法作用于任何对象（仍可放下篝火和火坑，只要没有被地形阻挡)，而且理智会以50点/分钟的速度下降。 在靠近光源时，理智下降速度为5点/分钟。夜晚是最寒冷的阶段，三种蘑菇中最少见，可以提供有效的生命回复的蓝蘑菇可以在此时采摘。

Surface mobs not listed here have the same behavior throughout the day, despite the phase.

生物	白昼	黄昏	夜晚
Summer	Spawns from flower, and flies around aimlessly.	Retreats to nearest flower and despawns. Keeps flying aimlessly if there are no flowers nearby.	Retreats to nearest flower and despawns if released from player. Keeps flying aimlessly if there are no flowers nearby
Winter	Doesn't spawn from flowers. Retreats to nearest flower and despawns if released from player. Keeps flying aimlessly if there are no flowers nearby.	Retreats to nearest flower and despawns if released from player. Keeps flying aimlessly if there are no flowers nearby	Retreats to nearest flower and despawns if released from player. Keeps flying aimlessly if there are no flowers nearby
, Summer	Leaves the hive to gather honey from nearby flowers.	Heads back into hive. Continue to pollinate any flowers, evil or not, if stuck outside.	Stays inside hive or fall asleep if homeless.
, Winter	Stays inside hive unless provoked. Continue to pollinate any flowers, if stuck outside.	Stay inside hive unless provoked. Continue to pollinate any flowers, if stuck outside.	Stays inside hive unless provoked. Any and all bees stuck outside will fall asleep.
	Leaves Bee Hive only when hive or bees are attacked. Leaves Killer Bee Hive when player is nearby or hive is attacked.	Heads back to hive. Flies aimlessly if stuck outside.	Stays inside hive or fall asleep if homeless.
Summer	Stays inside Pond . Flies aimlessly if released from player.	Leaves pond and fly near it.	Keeps flying near pond.
Winter	Stays inside frozen pond. Flies aimlessly if released from player.	Stays inside frozen pond. Flies aimlessly if released from player.	Stays inside frozen pond. Flies aimlessly if released from player.
Summer Only Winter Only	Occasionally lands on the ground. Mobs that get near will scare a bird into taking flight.	Continues to fly and land.	Takes flight, though sometimes a bird left on the ground will go to sleep. It won't wake up when other creatures get near. Birds in Birdcages go to sleep unless the player offers them something.
	Spawns from Berry Bush. Wanders around looking for berries.	Runs to nearest Berry Bush to hide. Wanders aimlessly if no bushes are nearby.	Falls asleep if no bushes are nearby.
Winter Only	Leaves hole to wander.	Retreats to hole. Wanders aimlessly if left outside	Falls asleep if left outside.
	Dies instantly when picked. When picked the dusk/night before, it replants itself.	Becomes a follower when picked.	Continues to follow until the next day.
Summer	Comes out of pond and roams near it.	Goes back inside pond. Stays idle if no pond is nearby.	Stays inside pond. Stays idle if no pond is nearby
Winter	Stays inside frozen pond. Roams around if left outside.	Stays inside frozen pond. Stays idle if left outside.	Stays inside frozen pond. Stays idle if left outside.
	Roams around, generally in a savannah biome.	Beefalo huddle together.	Beefalo fall asleep. Babies roam near their parents.
	Roams around its nest.	Returns to nest to sleep.	Keeps sleeping in nest.
	Follows the player. Only if hatched from a Tallbird Egg.	Keeps following the player.	Falls asleep if player is not moving away from it, otherwise keeps following the player.
Winter Only	Can spawn from the ocean. Walks toward its nesting ground, if not already on it, otherwise roams around the nesting ground.	Can spawn from the ocean. Walks toward its nesting ground, if not already on it, otherwise roams around the nesting ground.	Can spawn from the ocean. Falls asleep.
Winter Only Summer Only	Wanders around looking for things to bite.	Keeps wandering around looking for things to bite.	Falls asleep if there are no things around to attack.
	Wanders around looking for things to steal. Hops into his sack after a while.	Keeps wandering around looking for things to steal. Hops into his sack after a while.	Falls asleep.
Winter Only	Roams around the landscape.	Returns to Igloo	Stays inside Igloo or falls asleep if left outside.
	Wanders around and away from home.	Returns to home. When following or homeless, they become anxious when there's no light source but gather around one.	They enter their houses. Following Pigs will fall asleep unless they are threatened by hostile mobs. Shivers instead of sleeping if current season is Winter. Will search for light source.
.	Only one comes out to wander around the Rundown House. All Merms come out if one is attacked.	All come out and wander around.	Continue wandering.
	Stay inside their hutch or fall asleep if stuck outside.	Leave to wander around and away from home.	Continue wandering.
	Hide in their Spider Den and comes out only when creatures step on a web. If exposed to light for too long, they get scared and go home.	They exit their nests and wander a short distance away, looking for food. At this time if you are close to a spider, it will attack, and even call nearby spiders to the fight.	They continue wandering around their base.
Summer	Can spawn from Evergreen. Roams around aimlessly if neutral.	Can spawn from Evergreen. Roams around aimlessly if neutral.	Can spawn from Evergreen. Falls asleep if neutral.
Summer	Can spawn from Spider Den. Roams around aimlessly if neutral.	Can spawn from Spider Den. Roams around aimlessly if neutral.	Can spawn from Spider Den. Falls asleep if neutral.

季节

Note: This section relates to Sandbox/Survival mode only.

The amount of daylight varies throughout the game. In mid-Summer (starting around Day 3) the Day phase is more than half of the total clock, while Night lasts only 2 segments. In Winter, Night is about 1/3 of the clock and Dusk nearly half. One complete cycle of the seasons lasts 36 days; 20 Summer and 16 Winter. Below is a chart showing the amount of each phase throughout the seasons:

Day/Night Cycle

Day/Night Cycle in Reign of Giants

洞窟

A brightly lit part of a Cave meaning it's the day phase.

Caves have a unique Day-Night Cycle. Time doesn't pass the same as it does on the surface, but there's still a Day-Night cycle. The only way to tell which phase it is, is from the natural shafts of light. The lighted area becomes more narrow with each phase until darkness engulf the area at night. The player still loses sanity as if it were night despite the phase. Mob activity during the phases is the same as on the surface. Naturally, Seasons do not impact caves with day length (as there is no day) or temperature. Players who are freezing from the cold warm up as soon as they go underground.

Trees, Saplings, Grass, and Berry Bushes grow as they do on the surface, but the player is blind to the passage of time while underground. Crops will only grow if they are near a light source, though they can still grow with the help of fertilizer.

废墟

Main article: Nightmare Cycle

Ruins during the Nightmare Phase.

The Ruins have their own cycle called the Nightmare Cycle, with a full one being much longer than a Day-Night Cycle on the surface. As with Caves, the Ruins are still considered as being in permanent night, and mob activity abides to the night phase.

The phases in the Nightmare Cycle are signaled by the Ancient Statues, Nightmare Lights, Splumonkeys, and Runic Turf changing appearance and behavior, among other things.

Reign of Giants

The number of segments per phase changes drastically from the vanilla game depending on season. Also, during the full moon, the moon will give enough light to walk around.

When it rains on the world, it rains inside the Caves as well. Caves now only partially protect the player from overheating/freezing.

Bugs

• When hovering the cursor over the clock during Dusk, it will not show the number of the world the player is in.