As part of Minecraft's ongoing war on the aesthetics of real life, one map maker has whipped up a stunning hyper-realistic landscape which could pass for a Netherlands valley retreat.
Planet Minecraft user qwryzu shared their Vales of Amoril map a few days ago (as our friends at PC Gamer spotted), and it's a doozy. It's 10,000 square blocks, for starters, and it hides snowy hills, tranquil valleys, thick forests, and lovely water features, all rendered in stunning HD, or at least Minecraft's take on HD. Qwryzu says it was "inspired by real life geology," hence the addition of little details like river drainage systems.
This landscape was built using a medley of map maker tools and a variety of asset mods, including plenty of tree packs, hence the especially detailed forests on display here. Even with the help of those tools, it took around four months to put it together, qwryzu says. Their goal was to "show off techniques that I've applied to smaller maps in their full continental glory," and I'd say they've outdone themselves.
You can download the map for free if you want to walk through its lush, evergreen habitat yourself. The map was built for the Java version of the game, specifically version 1.16.5, but "may" work in newer or older versions. And since this is a custom Minecraft map and therefore lacking all the resources that make the game's survival mode, well, playable, it's better suited for a quick tour rather than a proper playthrough, assuming you want access to more than dirt and wood (not that I'm knocking the dirt hut – it's a classic).
Over in vanilla Minecraft, update 2.26 is still in our rear-view mirror. It introduced a huge batch of items and biomes including lofty peaks, snow-capped peaks, snowy slopes, mountain grove, and mountain meadow (which is ironically a dead ringer for Qwyrzu's latest creation).
Minecraft cheats | Best Minecraft servers | Minecraft Realms | Best Minecraft seeds | Best Minecraft mods | Best Minecraft shaders | Best Minecraft skins | Best Minecraft texture packs | Play Minecraft for free | Minecraft enchanting | Minecraft House | Minecraft Nether update | Minecraft Netherite | Minecraft Netherite tools | Minecraft Netherite armor | Minecraft Respawn Anchor | How to tame a fox in Minecraft | How to enchant axes in Minecraft
This co-op farm sim is a whimsical blend of games like Minecraft and Stardew Valley, and I'm obsessed after playing the Steam Next Fest demo
Minecraft's updates may be getting smaller, but the first game drop of the new era seems plenty big with a cool-as-hell mob paying tribute to Doctor Who's best monster
