New on Realms: Thrillers and Chillers

As the year winds down, and chill winds nip at our faces, we look forward to a holiday filled with family, gift-giving, decorating the home, and a series of jolly festivities that culminate on one, special day: Halloween! The season of spoopiness is upon us, and to help you celebrate, we have two new maps and one returning mix of minigames.

Every few weeks we put together a mystery gift such as this. No tricks, just treats! Amazing maps, made by the community, curated by us and sent out to you for free - all via the Realms service on Java Edition.

We were impressed by the level of detail and innovative design in this week’s creepy creations, and we think you’ll have loads of frightful fun with them. If you’ve been waiting for another quality addition to the Java Realms library of content, then look no further! Or hide behind the couch, quivering.

Late

By MineMakers Team

While employees in Late have access to an espresso machine and can play Minecraft-themed card games during their break, the number of spilled coffee cups and bleary-eyed coworkers indicates a potentially high-stress working environment. And, spoiler alert, it does not become a more low-stress environment during the course of this map. Explore detailed and immersive surroundings the likes of which we haven’t seen since Terra Swoop Force or MineMakers’ own Unsighted Shadow, from last Halloween.

If you’re a video content creator (or even if you’re not), this is a good map to stream or record yourself playing. The combination of creepy atmosphere and occasional in-your-face, outta-nowhere scares makes Late an adventure that was almost too spooky to review. If you’re truly feeling the need for a thrill, try playing it in the dark… A word of warning to parents of young kids and those (like myself!) who are easily spooked: there are a few jump scares in this map that may cause toppled chairs, thrown keyboards and general chaos.

Survivalists

by Archee, Tomhelduf, dragonmaster95

Survivalists is a top-down action game about fighting zombies as one of several classes, including a ghost, a ninja, or… a clown? Pick between four different levels, grab some friends, and see how long you can last against shambling hordes of zombies. The key to survival is to use the level to your advantage, running around, zooming up stairs, and jumping down ledges as you expertly control the flow of the battle around your team.

Top-down games are a rarity in the Minecraft community, mostly because Minecraft itself is a first-person style game. We’re really happy to see a different take on minigames using a lesser-used style and hope to see more in the future!

Pumpkin Party (UPDATE!)

by Plagiatus, dragonmaster95, Tomhelduf

Returning from last year’s Halloween event, Pumpkin party is a collection of six minigames, playable alone or with a group of friends. New to this version: trick or treating! Pick a costume, grab your pumpkin candy bucket, and bother all of your neighbors until they give you chocolate emeralds! Also available are Spider Run, Pumpkin Carving, Shooting Gallery, Brewing Contest, and Graveyard Mayhem.

Blast From the Past

If you’re looking for other, similarly-themed frightening forays, dig through the Realms library of minigames and adventures to find Monster Kids, The Witch, Unsighted Shadow, The Dornenstein Estate, and the perpetually popular Herobrine’s Mansion. Since these are previously-published maps, you'll need to scroll down a bit through the various adventures and minigames to locate them.

Also, if you film yourself doing an initial playthrough of Late, be sure to tweet me a link. I’ve already convinced Helen, our community manager, to do a playthrough just so that I can cackle evilly any time she jumps out of her seat.

To learn about loading this and other content into Java Realms for your PC, visit our help site. If you haven't yet tried Realms for yourself, you'll have a blue diamond on the Minecraft Realms button, located on the main screen of Minecraft: Java Edition. Click it, then follow the instructions to try Realms free for 30 days.

Happy Minecrafting!