Minecraft is overall, an extremely free and unrestrictive game. Minecraft allows players to create anything they choose to. Overtime Minecraft mods have been created in order to enhance the player experience. Whether it’s adding more mobs, or making the game look, or feel smoother, Minecraft modding offers endless possibilities to the Minecraft realms.
Optifine
One of the most popular and most used mods of all time, Optifine allows players to enhance their playing experience. This allows high definition textures to be implemented into the game. As well as creating a smoother playing field when it comes to lower-end computers. This overall makes the game more enjoyable for both, maximized PCs and lower-end PCs. Optifine can increase the visual threshold by having unlimited texture sizes. Optifine for lower-end PCs can also increase FPS sometimes double or even triple. Optifine also is compatible and works with Shaders Mod. Having both Shaders Mod and Optifine will create the best aesthetics for the game possible.
Not Enough Items
Another legendary mod, Not Enough Items provides an easier way of experiencing the game. The Not Enough Items mod allows players to look up the crafting recipe for any item in the game. This helps new players get accustomed to the crafting mechanic. Making it easier for newer players to learn the recipes for basic items. Furthermore, the interface allows players to take any item from the list when in creative mode even if it’s a mod item or vanilla.
X-Ray
In the survival mode of Microsoft’s Minecraft, created by Markus “Notch” Persson, the player has to find resources to survive and thrive. Most of these resources, however, are located underground and are difficult to find. Some of these resources include diamond, emerald, and sometimes even basic necessities such as coal and iron. Some players also might want to avoid falling into lava and losing their entire inventory which causes them to restart from the beginning. With the X-Ray mod, all the player has to do is mine to the ore they desire. The mod makes all dirt and stone blocks invisible, leaving only ores, lava, and water to be seen. This mod is good for single-player, some multiplayer servers consider this mod cheating, and owners will ban you from using it. This mod is good for hardcore mode when the player does not want to turn on cheats. Not having to spend time looking for valuable ores greatly increases the time a player is able to survive and complete the game.
Advanced Hook Launchers
A slightly less popular addition, the Advanced Hook Launchers mod more than makes up for it by the sheer depth and fun it adds to the game as a whole. The mod only adds three items, yet they add so much creative potential to the game. As the name suggests, the three items added to Minecraft are hook launchers: the webhook, the spear hook, and the pudge hook. With these three items, players can now fly through the skies and jump from cliff to cliff. They can climb steep mountains in seconds. They can even stick mobs to the ground, all with one click of a button. To top it all off, each hook is deviously intricate. The prospect that it is easy to learn but hard to master makes the mod infinitely more fun and addicting for players.
SlashBlade Mod
The SlashBlade Mod introduces new weapon types to Minecraft. More specifically the Katana. This livens up the Minecraft scene by introducing a new and different weapon that is unlike the others in Minecraft. The Katana is able to do area of effect damage which can be useful when defeating hordes of enemies or even slaying your own domesticated animals. Who wouldn’t want to wield a large Katana slaying monsters like a samurai? The SlashBlade Mod is the way to go if you’re into Katanas and bored of the old Minecraft combat mechanics.
Biomes o’ Plenty Mod
The Biomes o’ Plenty Mod adds just what the name implies. It adds new innovative biomes to Minecraft. New terrain, textures, areas, and more. Biomes such as the Bamboo Forest, add a new scenic route into the deep forest of tall bamboo trees. Other biomes that are less lively would be the Dead Swamp biome. Those looking for a more dreary scenery to build their house on would look for this biome. Filled to the brim with dead trees and dark grass, this definitely creates a dark setting. Not only does the Biomes o’ Plenty mod add terrain above the ground but under as well. The Coral Reef biome adds coral to the bottom of the sea, combined with aquatic life and other mods that add marine life, makes this biome a popular choice for many. Players are able to express their world however they feel with these new biomes. Some may choose to live high in the Alps, or face a more scenic grassland, or even live in an underwater home along with the fish life. This mod adds an endless amount of possibilities.
MagicBooks Mod
As the name implies, the mod adds magic and magic books to the game. There are four new ores implemented into the game: water, earth, fire, and air. When you mine the ore, you can create a magic book of the corresponding element. The books allow you to cast magic based on the type of magic it is, adding a whole new dimension to the game. As you use the spells more often, you gain skill points that you can invest in unlocking new skills. This adds a whole RPG element to the game. While simply adding four new ores to the mix, the MagicBooks mod adds a surprising amount of depth and quality to the original game through effective and satisfying magic spells.
MrCrayFish’s Furniture Mod
This mod adds one valuable aspect which Minecraft has lacked for quite some time: furniture. Between both indoor and outdoor objects, the mod includes over 100 different items to modernize your home. While most of these items are decorative, such as plates to hold food or televisions to watch colors, there are more than enough appliances that serve quite useful functions. For example, the dishwasher repairs tools and armor with water and saves precious resources that could have been spent repairing them normally. The toaster and grill, on the other hand, serve as multiple other ways to cook food. Overall, the MrCrayFish’s Furniture mod is a great mix of functionality and decoration and is a great addition to any adventure you plan on going on.
Immersive Engineering
Minecraft is a survival game at its heart. But the crafting of items and endless slaughter of animals, especially the lighting of wooden houses with torches just don’t cut it. If you wanted to step out of the blocky vanilla Minecraft and immerse yourself into a realistic survival Immersive Engineering does just that. Engineering adds new technologies to create power generation. Windmills, water wheels, etc all of the basic power generators are available in this mod pack. Creating an efficient mining operation machine is also possible with Immersive Engineering. With many different blocks, items, you can build your Minecraft world into the modern era of industrialization.
Timber Mod
Another old mod but still good. The Timber Mod makes it easier for trees to be chopped down. Players are able to craft the Timber ax, this ax differentiates itself due to its innate ability to chop down trees in a single strike. This makes it extremely easy for players to gather wood. Whether it’s for building, or for other crafting materials, the Timber mod takes away the painstaking task of endlessly chopping down trees.
Conclusion
To conclude, Minecraft is essentially a great example of a blank slate type of game. While the base game is satisfactory for certain players, those who are not satisfied can mold and shape certain aspects of the game to fit their own specific needs. The modding community of Minecraft is very active and diverse. If you want a mod for anything, from parkour and even auto-walking, there is probably a mod for it. Although the main focus of the game appeared to change with the transition of management from Mojang to Microsoft, the modding community has remained strong and shows no signs of slowing down. Give the community a little more time, and many more revolutionary Minecraft mods will be optimized and brought to light. All in all, the modding aspect of the game is very much alive, and still going strong.
