dogg0nit

A tech mod that excels at input/output logistics. This pack is a must-have for any modpack just for the conduits: cables that can be pipes and wires, overlap and share blocks with great visual versatility, and GUIs for every block they can face. The in-mod machines are pretty intuitive to work with too, giving an interactive 3D display to let you control the behavior of each face. Unfortunately it's a bit light on tech content, meaning it isn't much fun on its own, but it works wonders in combination with blocks from other mods.

This pack has many conventional upsides that make it the ideal beginner modpack: it's light on memory, short, playable in peaceful, no exploration, and acts as a tutorial for many mods standard across other packs.

But there's something about this pack that makes it stand out to me as a special experience that no other modpack has ever replicated (to my knowledge): it acts as a modded adventure map.

Almost since the beginning of Minecraft, people have been handcrafting downloadable worlds to act as playable games in their own right, such as The Dropper, Herobrine's Mansion, or even the original Skyblock. These transform the progression of Minecraft from the standard (punch tree -> ... -> kill dragon) to whatever the creator wishes, whatever it takes to reach the end of the map. But they're ultimately limited by being in Vanilla Minecraft, requiring extreme lengths to even add custom functionality to items and blocks.

In theory, a modpack should be more than just a pack of mods. If the player wanted to just play Create and Botania, they could just play Create and Botania, no modpack needed. We download modpacks for a reason: the expectation that the creator has weaved them together into a cohesive and unique experience. Effectively, though, the "progression" of the pack usually just involves getting through the questbook by acquiring different new items. The physical world you spawn in never really changes from the Vanilla standard: a procedurally generated world with different biomes, ores, dungeons with loot, and new dimensions gated behind portals. Or a skyblock pack, which requires the bare minimum of construction.

Break Out! represents to me a proof of concept for what an adventure modpack should aspire to. The creator has built a custom map for us which we must physically escape, but doing so requires progressing through the mods to break through layer by layer. Each layer feels like its own "tier" or "age" in the world, but it doesn't just unlock new chapters of the questbook and give you more space to build. Scouring the environment will reward you with hidden goods to aid your escape, each time relevant to what you need.

An incredible experience. This was my first modpack, and it's the reason I love modded Minecraft.

P.S.: Don't pick Botania first at the crossroads. Trust me.