The best Minecraft maps

Minecraft is a sandbox video game originally created by Swedish programmer Markus "Notch" Persson and later developed and published by Mojang. The creative and building aspects of Minecraft enable players to build constructions out of textured cubes in a 3D procedurally generated world. Other activities in the game include exploration, resource gathering, crafting, and combat. Multiple gameplay modes are available, including survival mode where the player must acquire resources to build the world and maintain health, a creative mode where players have unlimited resources to build with and the ability to fly, an adventure mode where players can play custom maps created by other players, and a spectator mode where players can fly around and clip through blocks, but cannot place or destroy any. The PC version of the game is renowned for its third-party mods, which add various new items, characters, worlds, and quests to the game.

The best Minecraft maps

Teramia

One of the largest adventure maps, Teramia is an open world, non-linear RPG. Lacking a focussed core quest,Teramia leaves you free to wander, exploring its various districts, and helping the NPCs you encounter along the way. Split into four regions populated by a vast variety of mobs and friendly villagers, the areas are also home to nine dungeons and a series of fortresses to claim as your own. A project two years in the making, Teramia is still considered ‘beta’, with the world continually growing with new updates.

Herobrine's Mansion

There's no way I could put together a roundup without including this, which was so popular last Hallowe'en. Herobrine's Mansion is the work of Hypixel, one of the community's most respected mappers and someone who I'll be featuring again in this roundup. This map is packed with things to find, including custom enemies, half a dozen bosses, special items and unique potions. It's widely regarded as one of the very best adventure maps out there and if you only try one map from this collection, make it this one. Though it's designed to be played with friends, you can try it solo.

The Tourist

This map doesn't just feature some of the most impressive builds in this collection, it also boasts minigames and its own soundtrack. The Tourist is one of the longer adventure maps out there, clocking in at around four hours, though your own mileage may vary depending upon how long you want to spend just staring at things in the game. That's what the Yogscast spent quite a bit of their time doing when they gave it a play.

Last Jump Hero

Don’t concern yourself with context, cohesive visual design or gameplay variation when loading up Last Jump Hero. This parkour map asks only a couple of things of prospective Minecrafters: a willingness to jump, and a pre-acceptance of failure.

Star Wars

Do you want a diamond lightsaber? Of course you do. Also by Hypixel, and for use with the Mine Wars texture pack, this epic adventure of stormtroopers and Star Destroyers has you fighting your way through snowy wastelands and takes you into deep space. It ticks all the Star Wars boxes, featuring blaster rifles, Jedi knights, AT-ATs and just about everything else you might want, and I should add that those Imperial walkers look pretty damn good in the Minecraft engine.

Fireworks Parkour

Boasting the white and red aesthetic of freerunning favourite Mirror’s Edge, Fireworks Parkour is a classic Minecraft platforming map with a unique twist: instead of expertly timed jumps, you’ll be propelling yourself through the map with TNT. It’s just that little bit trickier than jumping, because once you start a sequence of explosions you won’t be able to pause and catch your breathe. The fireworks that pour out of each blast make for a neat visual touch too.

Pokemon Johto

Providing the 3D Pokemon adventure that you always wished Nintendo would grant you, this Pokemon map is based on Gold and Silver’s Johto region. Offering a quest-line filled with bosses, NPC shop keeps, and fully-functional Super Potions, Johto finishes up the authentic Pokemon feel with its own soundtrack and those Minecraft blocky visuals that make it feel like a GameBoy game. Of course, fighting monsters have to be in there somewhere, and whilst this map doesn’t take advantage of the Pixelmon mod for its battle system, it does amusingly reskin weapons as Pokemon monsters and get you to physically fight with them. 

The Dropper 2

Hilariously subtitled ‘Newton vs Darwin’, The Dropper simply releases you from a vertigo-inducing height and asks you to survive the fall. Plummeting down a complex spider-web of blocks and barriers, you’ll need to shift your body in the right direction to prevent splattering against an obstacle (mining away the block as you hit it is firmly disallowed). Think of those insane space debris sections from Dead Space and you’re halfway there. 

Zombie Apocalypse 

Containing what may be the most horrific re-skin of Minecraft’s zombies ever made, Zombie Apocalypse is an entertaining mix-up of frantic hack-n-slash action and survive-the-night tension. Owing a small debt to Left 4 Dead, when Zombie Apocalypse lays on the zombies, it lays them on thick and fast. Ambushes inflict panic, and panic normally leads to some hilariously bad outcomes. You’ll need to bring a friend, not only to thin the hoard quicker, but to solve its co-op puzzles too.   

Herobrine’s Return 

Hypixel’s maps are basically Minecraft gone AAA, and the analogy even goes as far as sequels. Herobrine’s Return is the follow up to Herobrine’s Mansion, and as such contains a familiar setup of custom enemies, big boss fights, magic spells, and NPC-crewed shops. The RPG tropes are carried through with a fun selection of side quests, and there’s even some great scripted moments that add a level of cinematic sparkle rarely seen in Minecraft.