New on Realms: Game shows and battles with pros

For the past few years, we’ve come to the community with the details of each and every new map being added to Java Realms. Recently, we’ve launched quite a few new maps: thirteen new maps at the beginning of February, followed by fourteen at the end of the month! Two weeks later, we’re here with seven new additions to the Java Realms content library. We’ve kept up the pace with new releases, but much like the Realms Plus and Marketplace map roundups, we’ll need to narrow our focus a bit so that we have time for all of those map reviews!

This week, we’ll go over three of our top picks: Unfair Locked, Variety, and The Big Quiz. These aren’t just fluff pieces, they’re doing double duty as a combination of fluff piece and review. We’d love for you to play these maps, but since the team that reviews the maps also writes the summaries, we want to take some time to dig into the maps’ strengths and accomplishments. We’ll also be sure to show off what this week’s other maps look like, even if we haven’t been able to write a Pulitzer-winning review about each one of them.

Unfair Locked

by NICO_THE_PRO

They say that life is unfair. They also say that art imitates life, so it was only a matter of time before I came across a Minecraft map that captured that unfairness so succinctly. Tired of playing maps containing features such as “checkpoints” or “fairness”, I found that NICO_THE_PRO’s latest unfair map, Unfair Locked, presented me with challenges equal to a kid tossing me a ball on a playground – only to slap it away from me immediately. Challenging, but not insurmountable. And maybe a little mean?

Even trying to anticipate the challenges ahead of me, it was only a matter of time before I found myself restarting the map. I’ve got the right key, so I just go through here- and I’m dead. I know that I need to push the block in this direction- and I’m dead. If you enjoy subverting expectations in Chip’s Challenge-style puzzle maps (minus the aforementioned checkpoints or fairness), this is something to sit down and try.

Variety

by FatalVortex

According to its creators, Variety is a Diversity-inspired map, filled with a lot of different activities and challenges to tackle. As fans of that series might expect, you can also select from dropper missions, challenging combat, a maze, and more. Completing these sections will surely mark you as a Minecrafter able to handle yourself in a range of scenarios, and as the map supports up to four players at a time, you’ll be able to show off those skills to your friends in person.

However, Variety sometimes falters where its predecessors shone, imitating concepts without wielding them to full effect. One example is the Trivia section, where success is rewarded but failure is slowly punished, and resetting takes you back to the start of the section. There’s also the maze, where a calm and aesthetically-pleasing hedge maze is paired next to a lava-, soul sand-, and spiderweb-filled labyrinth that will test your patience and perseverance.

Still, I’ve got a soft spot for maps that attempt to show off the breadth of what Minecraft experiences have to offer, and fully support creators taking inspiration from their peers in order to learn, master, and eventually surpass those that came before them.

The Big Quiz

by Arrgs, HypixelDoge, and Supersette

The Big Quiz offers something that we don’t see often in Minecraft maps: game shows! It makes me nostalgic for days past where groups like Noxcrew emulated the popular television show format, but for a new generation, entirely in Minecraft.

The game show, hosted by the handsome Bill Agers (no relation to villagers), asks players to answer trivia questions about Minecraft and real life. Players might be asked about which achievement you can earn by pressing the “E” button, or which animal has the slowest digestion time. If there are two things I know, they’re Minecraft and real life!

Two of the elements that I appreciated the most about this map are in line with classic game shows: the fast-paced team competition (slam that buzzer!) and the catchy music and camera angles that made these productions so entertaining to watch. Based on my middling score, it seems that I still have a lot to learn!

Also releasing today

Noob Vs Pro - Battle of the Bush

by Skilendarz Group

Turf Wars

by The Yeggs Team

Shulker War

by RaZZoR409

Creeper Run

by GCodingStudios

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 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!