New on Realms: Calamity and Corruption

Hello Realmers! Realms-ers? Realmists? However you’d like to be addressed, if you play on a Realm on Minecraft: Java Edition, or if you simply enjoy eloquent summarizations of sweet maps, this post is for you! Every few weeks, in collaboration with community content creators, we drop some newly tested and published maps into Realms for you and your friends to enjoy.

This week, we’ve got seven new and different creations to try. We’ve got combat, we’ve got non-combat, there’s a board game, and rejoice adventurers, we have two CTMs! What does that even stand for? Read on to find out!

Untold Stories 5 - Calamity Canyon

by renderXR

When people around the Mojang office ask what to play after they’ve learned the basics of Minecraft, I usually tell them to play the complete the monument (CTM) adventure Untold Stories 4 - Corona Trials. Okay, maybe no one asks me, but I still go from desk to desk, telling them to play the map. After all, it’s a gorgeous, mostly linear, not overly difficult survival-esque challenge.

The fifth entry in renderXR’s Untold Stories series is a bit different. It’s not designed to have players gaze lovingly at an aurora or stare in awe at rogue planetoids that they’ll have to conquer. In fact, that’s the kind of behavior that’ll get you killed. Due to the bubbling lava and an almost overwhelming number of creatures to defeat, Calamity Canyon is a harsher, less forgiving environment than its predecessor. It also takes place in the middle of a scalding-hot basin, with your home base and monument at the center, and all of your challenges spread out in a roughly clockwise fashion. You won’t find long hallways with signs pointing you towards dungeons; instead you’ll have to venture forth and learn the terrain of this unforgiving land.

For those unfamiliar with CTMs, you’ll need to adventure through a series of dungeons to find hidden blocks. Once you find the blocks, return them to your home area and insert the blocks into the proper spots on the monument. When you’ve completed the monument, you’ve won!

With the difficulty level cranked up to 212 (that’s 100 in metric), we recommend bringing a friend or two to aid you on your quest to complete the monument.

Corrupted Isles

by Smitje

As promised, this week’s release has two CTMs! This much-requested classic Minecraft game type is popular with the community as well as the Content Team, and Corrupted Isles has proved to a worthwhile addition to our adventure lineup. But before you shake your head and ask what we were thinking adding TWO of the same map, think again, because Corrupted Isles is very much doing its own thing.

First off, this here is a mini-CTM. Short on time? No problem, there’s only three items to return to the monument, plus one bonus. Also, your play area is high up in the sky, so no easy land-based play for you! The last spin on this classic game type is that in order to proceed further along each of the dungeons, you’ll need to find and break a crystal, which will turn the blocking bedrock into glass. Speedrunners should be able to complete this map pretty quickly, but we think that the average player taking the scenic route will spend a good few hours adventuring through the map’s trio of dungeons.

River Rampage

by Team CCR

If you’re the adventurous type, you know well the difficulties of staying on a floating raft with your buddies while exploding TNT rains down around you. Keeping your footing AND avoiding being blown to bits sure is a harrowing affair and River Rampage replicates this dangerous scenario with some measure of success. For those with a sense of self-preservation, why not stay at home and try the safe, computer-based version of this treacherous sport.

Elemental Forces

by PingiPuck, Wither, NotMitchu, Master_Nati

Spawning a debate that almost tore the Content Team apart, Draughts, however you’d like to pronounce it, is a game that’s a lot like Checkers. Or, it’s a game that IS Checkers? It seems that this game has a bunch of names and rules variants, but in this version of Draughts, you’ve got an 8x8 grid on which to move your pieces around. Successfully jump an opposing piece and you get to move again. Reach the end and your piece turns into some kind of a super piece, which we’re told is very good.

Combat Cube

by Chromatis

Short Fuse is a lot like Draughts, except you blow up the squares, the pieces are powerups, and I suppose it’s really nothing like Draughts. Perhaps it’s more akin to Zomberman on rollerskates. Select your favorite character, then hop into the arena and strategically blow up parts of the map, collecting powerups along the way. Take care not to fall victim to one of the classic blunders: blocking yourself in with TNT and making your opponent’s job that much easier! Should you emerge victorious against your foes, you’ll find yourself with some shiny gold TNT for the next go-around.

Water you up to?

With all sorts of aquatic features making their way into Minecraft in the near future, we’re looking forward to playing more water-based content in the coming weeks. With that version update will come a content refresh, as games and adventures that aren’t up to date are retired, old games are updated for the new version, and brand new creations join the content library. What kinds of things do you think we’ll see, and what kinds will you create? I’m hoping for a waterworld adventure, where oceans have risen into the sky, land is nowhere to be found, and the only refuges are the dark, damp caves deep under the ocean floor.

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.

If you'd like to have your own Minecraft creations featured on Realms and on this blog, head over to the Realms subreddit and click "Submit a map". The Minecraft Content Team will let you know what we think, and if selected, we'll invite you to the Realms Mapmaker group and work with you to publish your map. If you have questions about this process, you can find me on Twitter.

Happy Minecrafting!