Hearty like a dish of meatballs and pasta

MeatballCraft's Dimensional Ascension is one wild ride of a modpack, blending the intricate machinery of Enigmatica with the bold spirit of Hexxit. And I found it only after stumbling upon some shitposts on Reddit by the mod's creator, Sainagh.

Premise
The game starts with you, a scientist, getting sucked into the Overworld right in the middle of a turf war between two monstrous factions. Your mission: explore other dimensions, take down the leaders of these warring factions, and become a god-like master of the universe. The 250-hour-long progression is packed with surprises, but I won't spoil the details for you. Suffice it to say that the mid-game planet, Sedna, is like the holy grail that every player wants but few can attain.

Early Game
The early game is not your typical Minecraft fare, with hostile mobs lurking in broad daylight and intricate crafting chains to manage. But with a little grit and a lot of help from a well-written questbook, you can get your hands on some serious power within hours of starting.

Exploration
And speaking of power, exploration is where MeatballCraft truly shines. You'll soar through a wide array of biomes, taking down evil wizards and shoggoths with shurikens, and looting one battle tower after another. But the true joys lie in the custom structures and cool dimensions that the mod's creator has peppered throughout the game. And with the Slimesling and Player Launcher tools, even covering thousands of blocks in search of the next ruined fortress is a breeze.

Technology
Of course, tech is a central focus of MeatballCraft. It's marketed as "dimensional GregTech," and it lives up to that claim with gusto. The crafting recipes quickly get complicated and interdependent, requiring you to master Thaumcraft, Astral Sorcery, EnderIO, and Thermal Expansion just to make it to the mid-game.

Visual Style
Visually, the modpack is a bit of a mishmash, drawing heavily on DivineRPG and Advent of Ascension. The cartoonish look of many of the enemies and items can clash with the aesthetics of grittier-looking mods like EnderIO, but it's a minor quibble.

Performance
Be warned: you'll need to assign at least 8 GB of RAM to the game, and exploring too far from spawn can cause lag and freezes. But with over 250 mods in the mix, including magic, tech, addons, and performance enhancers, it's a small price to pay for such a sprawling and engaging experience.

Conclusion
Overall, MeatballCraft is a labor of love by its creator, and it shows. Despite the performance issues, I found myself hooked on this modpack, and eagerly await each new update to see what new wonders await.