Ruins of the Mindcrackers is a minecraft CTM map download based on the Mindcrackers SMP server. It contains plenty of inside jokes for people who like to have ‘friends’ and ‘play with others’, but it also contains plenty of wonderful builds to explore for people who prefer to be ‘alone’ and ‘play solo’. In many respects, this is a minecraft server map for people who don’t like minecraft multiplayer, because having to deal with other people sort of ruins their day.
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The major selling point for this map is the fact that it is sideways. The perspective is all wrong! Up is left and down is right and I don’t know where I am, but it feels good and oh, here are some colored blocks of wool to add a sense of meaning to this place of addled mystery.

Playing this minecraft map is a little like falling off the edge of the world. Jungle vines grow sideways along the trunks of tall jungle trees likewise heading off into the horizontal ether.

Download Twisted Jungle, Minecraft CTM Adventure Map!

In the Lonely Lands it is not enough to risk life and limb finding the precious blocks that will complete the monument. You must also risk life and limb finding the monument itself, a task made difficult by the hostile survival conditions that make getting a bite to eat, let alone collecting wool, a difficult challenge.

The Lonely Lands will one day be a collection of CTM maps. For the moment it is just one map, titled ‘Humble Beginnings’. In this map, one spawns in a Lapis Lazuili dotted canyon where birch trees grow leaves of ice and water pours from stone crystals suspended in the sky. Breaking blocks and crafting is more than allowed, it is encouraged. Although usually not necessary. This is not an adventure map, handing you tools and food along the way, this is a survival map that forces you to prove your worth to the land before you can be granted its bounty. (Unless you count the 32 pieces of leather and bunch of bread you get given at the very outset, possibly to offset the lack of cows. Or the 32 torches, or the fish. Okay, you leave the starting area very well set up. And every area after it too.)

So how hostile is this map? Well, the creator has it labelled as ‘easy’ and within the first five minutes of spawning you can easily gather enough wood, lightstone, cobblestone and coal to get you through most things, so resource wise it’s not too bad. There is the small matter of the apparent complete lack of saplings however, that’s a wee bit concerning as it makes the ice birch forest a non-renewable resource. Most of what you’ll need is provided along the way, so the challenge is really in moving through all the different areas of the map without falling into lava or being otherwise slain. There are some great mini-biomes in this map, including a mycelium floored brick forest.

In addition to different ‘levels’ as represented by changing biomes that never existed before this map was dreamed up, there are also dungeons to complete in which you will be rewarded with enchanted items, and in which you will discover the wool. Though the map maker states in his description that he doesn’t think much of the appearance of this map, I actually found the appearance of it very pleasing. Every new area had a specific sense of place and came with unique challenges and unique rewards. This is a brilliant map for anyone who likes to explore CTM worlds, most of the ‘work’ involved in the map isn’t in avoiding traps, or even battling monsters (though there is a lot of that) most of the work comes in enjoying the many, many nooks, crannies, secret passages and hidden areas. This map does have several hours of play time in it, get comfortable whilst you’re downloading, you’re going to be a while.

Download The Lonely Lands, Minecraft CTM Survival Map

You begin this CTM survival map holding a cookie, which pretty much sold me on the whole map immediately. Give me a cookie and I will happily minecraft all day long. Heck, the cookie even distracted me from the fact that my little room was lit by pouring lava. The second thing that sold me on this CTM map is that survival tactics are allowed. Want to make a little house with a wheat farm beside it? Go ahead. Block breaking isn’t just allowed, it’s encouraged.

The adventure part of the map comes in the form of passages, dungeons and trials each more dangerous than the one before. Because you are allowed to break and place blocks as you like, overcoming these challenges is a matter of motivation and crafting techniques, not mad leaping from ladder to ladder. I felt a lot more engaged with this map than with other CTM maps that simply made you leap into lava for their own amusement.

Good use of Ender Chests means that you can store the precious wool you need to complete the monument, so should you fall prey to one of the tricksy traps set for you, the game is not necessarily over then and there.

Caves of Darkoth makes the player engage in genuine minecraft activities, mining, smelting, sailing, fishing, you know, real survival stuff. You can’t always see where you’re going and you’re never sure where the next monster will rear its head, but you’re never bored either.

For a fun adventure survival CTM Map, download Caves of Darkoth!

From Ashes is a very special, very large minecraft adventure map that sent thrills of excitement racing through my dedicated minecraft lobe when I first saw it. From Ashes is a post apocalyptic, open world minecraft adventure map with over sixteen dungeons, custom loot, traps, a plenty and of course, a monument to be completed.
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