Minecraft's 1.21 update likely won't be arriving until sometime in June 2024, but there's plenty of fun to be had in the meantime. While the vanilla game still has plenty to offer, fans can also look to the modding community for a ton of enjoyable in-game modifications that offer hours of enjoyment. Some are more robust than others, but they can all provide plenty of fun while players wait for version 1.21.
Each mod has its upsides, from introducing new biomes to creating new mobs, and even changing the way Minecraft's physics and gameplay operate. The catalog of mods is virtually endless, and fans can ostensibly find a mod for any kind of interest they might have.
Regardless, as the wait for Minecraft 1.21 continues, it doesn't hurt to take a look at some great mods to keep fans busy.
Note: This article is subjective and reflects the writer's views.
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7 mods to keep players entertained before Minecraft 1.21's release
1) Create
Create, as the name implies, is all about expressing a Minecraft player's creativity. By introducing new blocks and items centered on automation, fans can create entire factories dedicated to resource collection and refinement, many of which are well beyond what in-game farms can accomplish. Many of Create's implementations also exist to provide more freedom in building and decoration.
The Create mod certainly has a ton of content to keep players busy. Fortunately, it also provides in-game documentation to help fans get started with their newly automated builds.
2) Biomes O' Plenty
Mojang has made progress in adding new biomes to Minecraft, but some players are still left wanting more. This is where Biomes O' Plenty comes in, adding over 50 biomes to the game, including fungal grottos, seasonal forests, volcanic plains, and even hot springs and coniferous forests. They even come with new plants, flowers, and building blocks for players to utilize.
Put plainly, Biomes O' Plenty blows away the vanilla variety of biomes that Mojang has provided in Minecraft over the past several years. Players won't lack new locales to explore, regardless of which dimension they find themselves in.
3) Alex's Mobs
Introducing 89 new entities to Minecraft, Alex's Mobs is a must-have for players who love biodiversity in their game worlds. In addition to a wide array of new animal mobs to encounter across various biomes, gamers can also find creatures inspired by fantasy in magic like desert spirits, reptilian froststalkers, sunbirds, and even the Void Worm, a new boss found within the End.
When paired with a mod like Biomes O' Plenty, Alex's Mobs provides hours of enjoyment and recreates Minecraft's landscape across the board. Compared to vanilla, the mobs here are lifelike and appealing, and some are as dangerous as advertised.
4) Ars Nouveau
Minecraft has a semblance of magic in the vanilla game, but why not expand on what that magic can do? Ars Nouveau gives fans the ability to craft custom spells, conduct rituals, and summon new magical mobs to assist them in their tasks. Several artifacts also exist that can boost a player's power and capabilities, making them very much worth seeking out.
Toss in the fact that players can also create magical machines for automation, and Ars Nouveau is arguably one of the most complete magic mods in the game's community. It takes some getting used to, but before players know it, they'll be slinging spells and building an arcane sanctum to safeguard their secrets.
5) Physics Mod
Although the Physics Mod doesn't necessarily introduce new content, it does completely revamp how blocks, entities, and overall game physics operate in-game. Highly customizable with multiple settings for block, mob, and item physics, players can experience collapsing caves using fragmented shards of blocks or cut mobs down to bits with the Blocky Mob Death option.
The free iteration of the Physics Mod provides a very satisfying experience when breaking blocks, placing items, and battling mobs. Its Patreon-supported tiers even offer new realistic fluid dynamics that emulate real-world water.
6) Essential Mod
A mod that is said to bring Minecraft: Java Edition to the next level, the Essential Mod introduces a laundry list of quality-of-life improvements while also offering new customization options in the form of custom cosmetics. Players can host games without a server or Realm for their friends who have the mod installed, use an in-game messenger function, and even switch their accounts on the fly.
Frankly, the Essential Mod introduces several features that Java Edition should have had quite some time ago, and the added cosmetics are simply the icing on the cake.
7) Cobblemon
Much like the Pixelmon Mod before it, Cobblemon is a Pokemon-centered mod that brings Pocket Monsters into the world of Mojang's sandbox title. The open-source mod brings over 500 Pokemon to catch, train, evolve, and battle, ranging from all nine generations of the series. Players can even farm berries and apricorns to create healing items and Poke Balls, among other products.
Cobblemon is developed to be as compatible as possible with other mods, but it offers a ton of enjoyment and replayability on its own. It's also fully compatible with multiplayer, which vastly enriches the experience.
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