December is a dark time of the year in Sweden. You can blink and miss the time the sun is out and it’s so cold people book vacations to the North Pole to warm up. But no matter where you are in the world there is one thing towards the end of the year everyone is looking forward to, and that is the decidedly non-fictitious holiday Java Realms Day! Here at HQ, we’re checking the list twice-over to find out who’s naughty/nice and gets to play the latest creations from our mapmakers (note: being nice here means having a Realm). Get yourself some egg Realms-nog, start singing some Realms Day carols to yourself (not optional) and get into the holiday spirit with these new maps!

SAPPHIRE CAVES

by Dieuwt 

Sapphire Caves is the final installment in this roguelike dungeon crawler trilogy along with Ruby Caverns & Emerald Chambers, where every game has had its own game perspective (from first person, top down and now side scrolling) but with the same lore. Yes, our heroes are once again delving into those dungeons they love so much, to... find the true meaning of Realms-mas? Or something, I haven’t gotten that far yet as it’s way too fun to try out all the different hero combinations you can send on your runs. You have a choice of 9 heroes with 3 slots on your party, which by my calculations would mean I’m halfway there if there’s 84 possible setups to try! If you fancy turn-based combat with lots of variance in strategy and progression, you should definitely try this one out (and send me hints on how to beat the 20-ish bosses)!

MAGE’S MANOR

by Wackyblocks & Ancientkingg 

A spooky manor. Even spookier ghosts. What puts you in a better Java Realms Day mood than that (talk about holiday spirits!)? Well, the titular mages in this map don’t seem to think so, as they’re pre-occupied with running around the manor trying to suck the ghosts up into their Magic Vac 9000 and, hilariously, dump them in the nearest trash can! If you consider yourself ectoplasm-friendly, your task will be to plop down your ghost buddies (3 common and 1 epic - meaning it’s pink, naturally) in well-hidden spots and try to stay out of the mages lantern while both parties also collect souls. Mages vs. ghosts – when will the violence end?

FEED THE RAVAGER

by Azerus Team

If there’s something that brings me back to the Java Realms Day celebrations of my youth (might have been in those dark days before Minecraft was a thing, 1 – yes, I’m old and 2 – just run with it) it’s the family dinners. Everyone's having a good time waiting for the food, then someone turns ‘hangry’ up to 11 and threatens to start ravaging if they don’t get their prinskorv. Feed The Ravager is thusly based on my life story, where a curmudgeonly Ravager is stashed away in your camp’s basement, with increasing demands for snacks that need to be fulfilled. Go out in the world, kill some mobs, cook their meat, and bring it back, or better yet, knock over your brother with a stick and steal his meal- uh, I mean player. Season’s beatings for all!

ALSO RELEASING TODAY

FLOREIGN COMPLEX

by FingerMaps

CAPTURE KINGS 2

by Crowdford 

DOGFIGHT

by Spiralio, SirPuffy & Soup_Man 

MOUNTAIN PALACE

by taalaingg, ha6, hm4, orange_polska

FRESH DESIGNS

by Azerus Team

PIRATE ISLAND

by Peepsibabe, Meddi & WelcomeHome 

DRAGON’S PASS

by Squa-reds 

FROSTVILLE

by taalaingg & hm4 

...AND A MERRY REALMS-MAS WAS HAD BY ALL WHO READ THIS FAR!

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.

Want to have your own Minecraft creations featured on Java Realms and on Minecraft.net? Head over to this page, which explains the Java Realms Content Creator Program. If you have questions about this process, you can find me on Twitter.

Happy Minecrafting!