Skyblock is the original Minecraft survival madness experience. It is the alpha and the omega, and it is now available for Minecraft 1.11 . This new, improved skyblock map includes a bunch of new challenges, upping the challengemeter to 60. By playing the new Skyblock, you’ll learn what an aquaduct is, which makes it educational and also fun and also includes the traditional skyblock fear of heights and scarcity mentality which will impact all areas of your life:

New Challenges:

Collect 64 iron.
Make a gold farm in the nether.
Cure a zombie villager.
Spawn an iron golem.
Use redstone in three contraptions.
Find a slime chunk and create a slime farm.
Make a lava aquaduct system.
Go to the end and defeat the enderdragon.
Find an elytra.
Spawn and defeat the wither.

Download the NEW Skyblock for Minecraft 1.1

2013 is almost behind us, so what were the very best and most popular minecraft maps this year?

#1 Sky Den, Minecraft Sky Survival Map

Revolutionizing Minecraft Sky Survival, Sky Den took the simply Sky Block style minecraft map and turned it on its head, adding NPC’s, multiple quests, challenges of all kinds and a full roster of building materials and items so you don’t feel deprived whilst stuck up there in the sky. Sky Den was a minecraft survival map designed to be built forever. The only limit was your imagination and that cramping feeling in your left hand.

#2 Sky Butter Epic Jump Minecraft Map

Epic Jump minecraft maps became really popular in 2013, taking minecraft parkour to a new level. The most popular Epic Jump Map released in 2013 was the Sky Butter map, in which your score was butter and the points didn’t matter. It contained custom mobs, like the Minecraft Butter Creeper, and was adrenaline charged and scary enough to make grown men shriek so loudly every dog in my house flipped out. If that’s not an endorsement, I don’t know what is.

#3 The Dropper 2, Newton vs Darwin Minecraft Map

Newton took on Darwin in this dropper map, another popular form of Minecraft map in 2013. Dropper maps involve doing nothing but falling, which sounds easy enough, but usually ends up with the player braining themselves on a bit of wood and having to start all over again. The Dropper 2 was played by the Yogscast, controversial minecraft mavens, and soon became a hit with even the lowliest of minecraft peons who liked falling quite a lot.

Sky Island maps are ubiquitous, but not all of them are good. Not all of them carefully secrete all the tools and materials needed for a complete play through of the game which will allow the player to first escape to the Nether, and then back to the world of the real. Skylight isn’t just a rip off of every other Sky Island map, it’s a thoughtful addition to the sky survival genre.
(more…)

Shopping is a serious skill, much maligned in the modern world because of its association with superfluous waste, consumer greed and the destruction of the planet. But in minecraft, resources are as infinite as the universe itself, so you need feel no shame engaging in a battle of shopping survival.

Shopping survival is essentially a sky survival island map. But instead of sitting around watching a cobble generator run day and night, you get to trade with villagers, build up currency and buy your way to freedom. It’s the American dream, made in miniature.
(more…)

You’ve played minecraft sky survival islands before, but have you played sky survival hot air balloons? This unique little minecraft survival map comes with more than 60 challenges – packing a big punch in a very little series of baskets. Each of the hot air balloons contains a resource – and often a surprise. Though you can’t fly these minecraft balloons, you can travel to various realms by harvesting the possibilities locked within these sky borne baskets.

You spawn in the middle of a balloon fleet, surrounded by colorful floating orbs. It’s a very pleasant way to be thrown into a world of harsh survival. From the outset you must start expanding, making your way between the balloons. Though precious resources are scattered in what seems to be abundance, you must first gather the tools to harvest those resources and that is more of a challenge than you might think.

As with many maps of this type, various biomes can be found in various balloons. Some of them might feel a little trite, but when it comes time to make your house in the sky, complete with glass windows, you’ll be glad for that little desert full of sand.

A solid little map, anyone who enjoys classic minecraft survival will enjoy Hot Air Balloon Survival.

Download Hot Air Balloon Minecraft Survival Sky Island Map!