We’ve seen blocks of dirt in the sky, we’ve seen islands amidst vast oceans and now we’re looking at a few square meters of smoothstone in a lava sea and we’re thinking that we’ve played it all before. But we’re wrong. Very wrong.
Lava block is a unique and challenging minecraft survival map, guaranteed to make even the most experienced survival map players scratch their heads. Minecraft survival purists might not like the fact that there is a starting chest, but this starting chest is unique. Most starting chests come with a few seeds, maybe some armor, and some wood and torches and whatnot. This one starts you off with 128 water blocks. Nothing more and nothing less. That’s water blocks, not water buckets, so be careful about where you put them because you’re not going to be able to pick them up, at least not at first.
There are other chests atop interesting structures in the middle distance, but you’re going to have to find a way across lava to get to them, and once you get there, opening them may not be easy because you have no tools and well, they’re pretty high up. There’s obvious means of turning smoothstone into cobble and though you’ve got plenty of lava and water, you’ve got no way to harvest it.
In addition to mechanical challenges, the map holds some surprises. Though it looks incredibly simple, it’s deceptively complex. Your first tumble into the lava might surprise you. That’s all I’m saying.
Like some of the better minecraft survival maps, it’s very possible to lose this map. A few careless slips and you’re going to be left with no choice but to delete the world and start again. This sort of high stakes survival will probably appeal to a survival community growing dull on cutesy maps.