Created by the Minecraft Middle-Earth Adventure Team, this is aserious minecraft adventure and survival map. Serious business. It’s such serious business that it comes with an entirely separate (hand drawn, LOTR style) map and a texture pack. It’s also a huge download. If you’re sick of little tiny minecraft survival maps with a few blocks of dirt to play with, then this is a map you must play.

What can you expect? You can expect to be blown away by the scale of the build for starters. They’ve truly created a whole world for you to inhabit. I’d advise using the texture pack because it adds a whole level of atmosphere to the map that doesn’t exist – and although it is 16x, it’s also impressively detailed and styled in a way that will blow your mind.

All this amazingness comes with some restrictions. Because they’ve spent many months creating this epic map, they don’t want you messing it up with your ideas. So you’re not allowed to build or even place blocks. Anywhere. (Aside from beds, they’ll let you have a bed, as long as you seem sufficiently grateful.) You’re not allowed to craft anything besides armor and swords. If you insist on going off trail, the creators warn you that you’ll soon be lost and miserable.

Is there a story? Yes, there’s a story. Tolkein fans can’t resist stories. Long stories. Stories that might have some sophorific effects. This isn’t a map for anyone who wants a quick self directed playthrough. This is a map for people who want to get deep into something that has been created for them by a team of people who clearly take some serious pride in what they do.

Click here to download The Fall of Gondolin Adventure/Survival Minecraft Map

This map is unique in the fact that the block it is primarily made out of (snow) yeilds no useful blocks when destroyed. If you punch a snow block, you get nothing. If you craft a spade, you get snowballs. Snowballs are of very limited use in a survival situation. Best and worst case scenario combined, you end up annoying agressive mobs. Maybe you’ll push them off the side of the map, or maybe you’ll accidentally hurt an Enderman and bring down his or her teleportational wrath.

Obviously the snowman is the first thing you’ll cannabalize. Unfortunately a few blocks of wood and a bright orange nose don’t go all that far on the snowy wastes. You do start with a few additional resources, there are three blocks of grass, a single pine tree, and a bone. Not a whole lot admittedly, but better than a slap in the face. If you do destroy the snowman completely, you’ll automatically fail objective #6: make a hat for the snowman out of iron blocks. Because snazzy headwear is more important than not perishing on the snowy wastes.

This has all the makings of a classic with the limited resources, void below and far off locations with important resources stocked upon them.

Download Arctic Survival Minecraft Map!

What first drew me to the Lava Dome Survival map was the fact that the picture of the map (on the original post) had no lava in it at all. I thought it might be some kind of ironic hipster Minecraft map. It’s not. There really is a dome and there really is a lot of lava.

First of all I fell into lava. Second of all I fell into lava. Third of all I fell into lava. The game starts with a bit of parkour, which for me means significant death. Some people might be put off by having to fight their way across the map every time they play but those people probably aren’t cut out for Lava Dome survival. They’re probably cut out for Grandma’s Lounger Survival.

There are a bunch of structures to explore and I won’t ruin them for you by telling you what’s inside. You’ll have to build your own tenuous structure and make your way across to them in your own time. With adventure, danger and the immense need for restructuring, this is a survival map that will draw on all of your Minecraft skills.

Download Lava Dome Survival Minecraft Map!

Tree Survival is a high rise minecraft survival map where gravity is your greatest enemy. It comes with its own texture pack and signs that lie, so be careful about believing what you read.

The most interesting aspect of Tree Survival is the potentially transient nature of the ground. By that, I of course mean the tree leaves can and will disappear if you remove the wood that keeps them in place. This is worth keeping in mind before you hack out all the wood you can find to build yourself a house in the clouds.

Resources are not difficult to find. If you install the texture pack, resources like iron and diamond will appear to be part of the wood itself. If you don’t then you can see the stone quite clearly through the leaves.

The second major challenge is the multilevel aspect of the map. Because of the structure and layout of the tree, one finds oneself trying to work out how to descend without taking too much damage and ascend to escape danger and gather resources.

Up and down and round and round with diamond and sheeps and creepers and fire, making this map your own will be your greatest challenge.

Download Minecraft Tree Survival Map

Do I actually play all these survival maps I review? You bet your little organic cotton fiber booties I do! Here’s a progress shot from the Death Island Minecraft Survival map, which truly is one of the best survival maps I’ve played in a long time. Note the way the greenery is starting to return to the land under the benevolent view of my squat bungalow.