Minecraft Mod & Modpack Reviews

Review based on Closed Beta version 5.11. Your experience may vary.

Hands down the best zombie survival experience out there. A hand crafted world that is unforgiving as it is satisfying. Going from running away from zombies to taking a horde head on is a ton of fun.

A modpack with a clear progression system and a scaling threat in the form of hordes that remains balanced enough to present as much of a challenge as you're comfortable with. Normal mode being ideal for beginners, Hard mode for players looking for a challenge and Apocalypse if you hate yourself.

Another great aspect is that it caters to three different types of players: Loot goblins, builders and tech-focused players all will find something to do in the pack given how the gameplay loop heavily encourages developing and fortifying a base, while also scavenging for resources.

The main drawback is that game knowledge will make or break your experience. Obviously this isn't a flaw in the modpack's design, but the player that simply starts their first world with no preparation will have a significantly more challenging experience than the player that took some time to ask around and to find relevant information like loot tables or gear recommendations.

As of the time of writing this guide the main source for this knowledge would be the modpack's Discord server, as the wiki will not be updated until the full release of the new version due to constant changes.

While this is a generally good modpack, it suffers from a couple of major flaws. First, it's currently very incomplete, with indev features that haven't been completed yet (mostly custom mobs). Older versions suffer less from this, so it's excusable. The early game is a bit annoying and there are some mobs that are really hard to kill (not because they are actually threatening, but because they despawn too quickly to die).

Overall, I like it, and will look forward to when it is eventually completed!

The first modpack ive put a good amount of time into, pretty good for beginners, very fun

So many mods try to make Minecraft feel more alive by adding more blocks, more mobs, more biomes, and more things filling your inventory. Dynamic Surroundings puts that attention into the atmosphere instead, and I really like that approach.

Biome sounds, environmental effects, and more detailed sound make the places already in the game feel more distinct. A forest should feel different from an open field, and the world should have more going on than the occasional animal noise.

I would keep the sounds and effects tuned to the rest of the pack, though. More atmosphere is great, but I don't want every quiet moment filled with another noise. The individual sound controls are useful for getting that balance right.

Definitely worth a look if immersion matters to you. Sometimes improving the world you already have does a whole lot more than adding another dimension. :)

Battle Towers has such a straightforward concept, and I think that's a huge part of its appeal. A tower, enemies, loot, and a golem waiting to make the top floor much more difficult than the rest.

The towers aren't the prettiest or most complex structures, but they give you an obvious reason to stop exploring and actually fight something. You don't need a quest book or a wiki to understand what you're looking at or what you're supposed to do.

My main criticism would be the repetition. Once you understand the basic tower layout, there isn't a huge amount of variety to the actual experience. The golem and the tower collapsing afterward do help give it a memorable ending, though!

For older adventure and exploration packs, this is still a great addition. Sometimes a simple dungeon with a clear challenge is exactly what Minecraft needs.

The modpack has been crafted with care, with attention paid to almost every detail; it’s clear that an effort was made to address most visual bugs.

Create is the mod that made its impact on modding by being one of the first to allow for large-scale automation while having great aesthetics along with introducing ponders as a way to teach mod mechanics which can now be used by other mods too.

Make sure to check out many addons and make sure to install performance mods, especially with shaders (Colorwheel is your friend)

Iron's spells (ISS) doesn't innovate much with its spell mechanics, but it doesn't really need to. Almost everything it strives to do, it does very well. While other magic mods chase some niche and often don't quite hold up to the fans expectations they set out for themselves, ISS is a solid option that does what it is meant to.

The spell options are fun and being able to find scrolls as loot is nice for those players who wouldn't normally interact with a magic mod as they might as well use what they find. This mod is a great choice for a pack, especially one aimed at a wide range of skill levels.

I'd highly recommend the mod if you just want a solid magic mod, but I'd also recommend you look at what else is out there before settling on ISS.

Disclaimer: I mostly interacted with this mod by fighting off Mis and using some of the resources it provides (notably to craft a rifle added by this mod). However this mod also includes ways to create your own colony, which is something i have never done. On top of that I also configured the mod to start at stage 2, so i never really played with the intended progression line. That being said the main feature of this mod still is the hostile faction it adds, which is what i am going to cover in this post.

Mi Alliance is a very unique mod, adding its own faction of mobs building colonies and outposts in your world. This includes the Nether and the End, and can be configured to work with custom dimensions as well. It also has a very distinct identity with its aesthetics, sound effects (the Mis even have voice lines!) and the fact it doesn't take itself that seriously which starkly sets it apart from other mods adding hostile mobs. This mod even adds diplomacy! You will not find any other mods like Mi Alliance, and i think for that reason alone if you're looking for a new foe to face you should definitely consider giving this mod a try.

Unfortunately, Mi Alliance has not received any significant updates or news for a very, very long time and the dev doesn't seem to either have the time or motivation to work on it again any time soon. This mod is left functional but unfinished, and not super balanced on some aspects (in particular i think the planes are a pain, and that the loot tables could be tweaked to be more generous) so you might have to configure it and maybe even use a datapack if you feel motivated to fix the issues you might encounter with it. Mi Alliance does have active addons - Annexation being the main one, which also is an attempt to fixes some issues with this mod and is actively maintained, although i didn't try it so i can't really tell you what to expect with it, though it removes colonies and makes the mod generally less destructive.

In conclusion, Mi Alliance is a brilliant concept, unique at what it does, held back by its ok-ish execution and being essentially abandoned. I encourage you to give it a try though. For Mitopia!

What is it ?

Ecologics is a mod making small additions and extra content to existing vanilla biomes which fit within Minecraft's core principles.

What does it offer ?

New content to often commonly-found biomes in the form of new trees, peaceful/neutral ambient mobs with extra uses and some more decorative blocks.
The mod also features new foods now.

Here's a list with every biome types and the changes they received :
The Desert
Cacti fruit type (added in vanilla recent versions as a form of cacti decoration, they go even better together now), ruins with pots of loot, Camels (before MC added them)
The Beach
Coconut crabs, sandcastles and blocks out of shells found on shore
The Plains
Walnut tree wood type instead of relying on oak trees again, squirrels
The Lush Caves
Azalea wood type instead of relying more on oak, stackable & surface moss (stackable pale moss was added after the pale garden drop); The Azalea wood type was added there before Minecraft featured other pink planks in the form of cherry wood if I'm not wrong, another point to Ecologics I guess
The Frozen Ocean/Snowy Areas
Penguins, weaker ice (similar to the way they added it in base Minecraft in post 26.4, even if not exactly the same), Ice/Snow bricks, potion of sliding

Since 26.3 they added Maple trees and syrup to extract from them (appearing in various specific biomes)

There isn't much more information for me to give as everything is already documented on the mod's page;
I especially like how most if not all additions are not just aesthetic, but serve a secondary purpose (like how Sandcastles can be used to defend turtle eggs , or how squirrels are indeed ambient mobs but can also be tamed )
Giving more than one purpose to one thing within a game helps to make this thing feel less disconnected from everything else, and this interconnection is one of the reason this mod works in Minecraft the way it intends to and participates in the systemic game that is/could be Minecraft (that cannot be said to even some vanilla features).

I have not noticed any particular issue, the mobs have their own sound effects, the textures are nice and consistent and I haven't seen any performance problems myself.
I used to think the desert ruins structure appeared too often but I see now that they acted on it and reduced it, making it less overpowered than before and it is a change I'm glad they made.

In conclusion

This is a mod I personally like a lot, and which is very good at adding what I would consider Vanilla+ content.
It doesn't add a ton and it's not crazy, but it doesn't have to, as its focus is different from other more explory worldgen mods I have seen before.

Like mentioned before I believe it works better in Vanilla+ settings, accompanied by other biome-overhauling mods such as famous mods Biome Makeover or Environmental, No Mans Land etc.;
Just try to avoid overlapping content (thankfully this mod's config file allows to disable the mod's various worldgen elements, to at least prevent this kind of compatibility issues from there)

I'm wondering what kind of content they will add next, and am glad to see they keep making updates to that mod