What is it ?

A mod adding a new weapon : the musket , the closest we might get to a vanilla-ish pistol in modded minecraft. It also adds a new gunslinger illager, which wield this weapon in outposts and he rarely appears during raids (similar to evoker spawn chance).

What does it offer ?

A new craftable range weapon with its own selection of enchantments (as well as some cartridge variety ) and tons of compatibilities with other mods.
The Gunslinger's AI is pretty basic, but still better than vanilla pillagers as it actually tries to use some hit and run strategy, which works quite well in raids. He also looks good (doesn't have much in terms of unique sounds though).
Small note : some undeads such as skeletons and their variants can rarely spawn with a musket when this mod is present

Cons :
The weapon is not that easy to use, and by that I mean it's quite hard to tell if you'll actually hit your target. More than once I managed to hurt enemies in fights by not actually taking the time to aim properly, so for a regular player it would seems more useful to use in closer range and with little aiming.
I would recommend increasing the base damage of the gun as since its hard to aim you might as well make it stronger, that said you can sort of do that in the configs already. Also the Gunslinger illager has quite the good aim, maybe a bit too good, making raids harder (that said he doesn't appear in big numbers, but note that having this mod installed means raid will become a bit more of a late game thing). I would also like it more if you were able to properly configure the exact amount of gunslinger illagers in each wave.
ed : Forgot to mention that the Gunslinger has a sort of hit-and-run AI , meaning that he will have good aim + run away if too close, making it an interesting mob but dangerous foe in raids.

In conclusion

Even though I quite like the mod, its flaws prevent me from giving it the best of ratings, plus there is plenty of similar gun mods out there which add more content than this one. But yeah it's a pretty average mod overall and has its uses in survival modpacks too.

What is it ?

This is a mod which aims at adding new and challenging illagers to encounter in the overworld and during raids.

What does it offer ?

New illagers to play around with in raids, which can also spawn naturally in the overworld. The mod also adds a few illager beast type mobs (similar to the ravager), which can also be tamed and brought to battle.
It also adds new materials and illager costumes which is quite nice.

In terms of flaws this mod has quite a bit of them :
The Blade Knight is basically a strong damage sponge , as he is not that interesting to fight and requires taking a lot of hits to kill which is really annoying in raids , and some of his abilities are awful : he can teleport you to him (which would be fine if he wasn't so resilient) and he can increase his stats permanently after mobs die around him (which is bound to happen in raids as villagers or illagers will die while this guy is still alive).
The beast tamer is also very infuriating , especially when other illagers are around, because sometimes he shoots arrows which give a potion effect preventing healing of any kind, which is too deadly even with full netherite enchanted with protection IV (and that is without taking into account the fact that he also always summons a dangerous beast which fights alongside him).

Aesthetically speaking this mod's mobs look pretty bland with the exception of the Blade Knight , and I have even noticed they have inconsistent textures : for example the beast tamer clearly has the 1.14+ texture style while the scavenger have the pixel art style of the programmer art textures from 1.12 and prior versions, so much so to the point I am questioning the origin of the art used in the mod. I have seen the Scavenger slide on the ground during a raid more than once I am not making this up it had little to no animation at all.

In terms of performances I haven't noticed any problem, that said many report crashes even in the latest version of the mod in the comments under the mod's original curseforge page, so this tells me this mod is likely also impacting the game in term of a lack of stability .

In conclusion

This mod adds in a few illagers to raids, but they are too challenging to the point where they are really unfair at times.
Unfortunately, this mod lacking a config file is a big con for it as some of the mobs are so hard to deal with that you can hardly combine this mod with basically any other raider mod .
For a one off challenge or to fill hordes with more enemies for something more specific it could have a use , but it is still a very bad mod that I would not recommend for any serious modpack.

Edit : I would like to mention that I have recently learned that this mod may or may not get a total rework of its code in the future; if that is the case, I will make sure it gets suggested here and I will review it when it eventually does get reworked/update this review if it is a replacement

What is it ?

A mod which adds first person animations to attacking, which vary in order to adapt to the type of weapon you attack with (includes sound effects too) ;
This mod also affects certain properties about the weapon depending on the config (with certain mods such as spartan weaponry already in mind), properties such as Sweeping, Potion effects to give to the target or you on certain conditions, Critical hit chance, if it's Onehanded or Twohanded, amount of Knockback, Reach distance and ability to parry.
Finally the last but quite important thing this mod does is delete spam attacking. This means in order to attack you will have to precisely wait for the cooldown to end, instead of having the ability to attack earlier but deal considerably less damage.

What does it offer ?

A greatly configurable mod which by default applies properties and first person animations to melee weapons based on part of their "modid:name" (if it's written as "modid:warhammer_dragonsteel" it will automatically receive the warhammer animations and properties found in the config, which again is configurable). Dual wielding as well as parrying is a possibility and you can very much slaughter enemies with one sword in each hand if you'd like.
It also adds config on shields such as ability to shieldbash (with related configurable damage, knockback and cooldown), as well as configurable amount of shield disabling depending on the type of axe used against a player's shield. You can also tweak some stuff about bows but I have not personally used that part of the config, so I don't really know how useful or interesting this is.
Nausea and Blindness will now affect entities, and a few custom potions effects have been added with the mod. This mod also comes with a few generic enchantments, which are quite basic, but again they can be disabled if you don't want them.

I can't really think of any major cons for this specific mod, as I have not experienced any major performance issue while playin with its latest version at the time, though I would like to point out that since dynamic surroundings also adds sound effects to sword swipes while this mod does too, I would recommend checking dynamic surrounding's in game mod config section in order to avoid having double the sound effects. This mod also does break some mods with the new way melee weapons are handled, for example when put with Atum II you probably will have to remake a whole custom configuration to properly integrate Atum II's artifacts and the potion effects they should apply on hit (and this probably happens with other mods I haven't tried with Immersive Combat too).

In conclusion

This mod really gives each weapon (especially when spartan weaponry is involved) a different feeling through their animations and sounds, as well as little quircks and the fact that all can be easily changed and tweaked adds to the help this mod might give to future modpacks in feeling immersive in their combat. The config file has quite a lot of details on how everything works, and is basically its own tutorial on how to configure the mod and its properties-system.

What is it ?

This mod adds in a few medieval-themed illagers, as well as one or two structures incorporating them.

What does it offer ?

More or less generic raiders but still somewhat interesting in middle ages-esque settings. The archer is pretty much a regular bow wielder without any special abilities nor purpose, he's basically the illager equivalent to a skeleton , and the skirmisher is also just a vindicator variant. I think the most interesting one is the legioner as it is a interesting concept of an illager knight which means he is both fast and resilient , while also being able to use a shield to defend himself.

It also replaces the iron golems naturally found in villages with custom clay ones, making villagers more prone to invasions, and the mod replaces the always-dropping saddle from ravagers with a custom ravager horn which can sometimes be obtained, allowing you to start another raid wherever you want (less interesting in post 1.21 now that ominous bottles exist as it plays a very similar role); there's also a new music disc I_I
There isn't much uniqueness in terms of sounds as the illagers mostly use other illagers' sound effects, with the exception of the legioner sounding like a vindicator wearing a bucket over his head which I find quite amusing.

There also isn't much in terms of custom items or anything which isn't directly a mob or structure really, so do not expect more than 3 illagers and 2 structures out of this mod.

That said the structures added by the mod are really nice, especially the bastille , which can be challenging to take over early game and again works well in a more medieval setting .

In conclusion

If you are looking to add more challenge to raids, or spice up your world with a bit harder raids and one or two new medieval illager-themed structures alongside it this is a good mod to put in, however if you are looking for more interesting illager concepts this may not be the mod for you.
I would like to point out however that this mod is now discontinued and It Takes a Pillage Continuation is the mod you might want to download especially if you intent to play with this mod on newer versions.

What is it ?

It is a mod adding a new ranged illager to the mix, which is both found in raids as well as in its own structure .

What does it offer ?

A new illager-type fighter mob, which is both found in raids as well as in its own cabin hidden away in certain forest-ish biomes.
This mob is pretty simple and straightforward : this is an illager with decent health which attacks from far using medieval ranged weaponry ( dual-wielding crossbow goes brr ) ; the weapon in question can vary and a custom boomerang was also added to this list of possibilities at some point. Where this mob shines however is in its custom ability, as it will attack passive animals and eat their meat in order to heal just like the player does, making it an interesting foe to come across and giving it its own role in raids as the animal-pen cleaner.

This new mob also has great animations in its 1.20.1 iteration.

In conclusion

This new illager is quite interesting, and still has its place in the grand scheme of illager-adding mods, even after all those years.
Besides, I always like it when a mod/game adds creatures which make use or showcase abilities that the player can exploit or acquire for themselves at some point, they can act as a form of tutorial even.

What is it ?

The dead sea is a Mcreator mod with a creepy and dark atmosphere, as it adds a whole new nightmarish dimension for the player to find.
This mod's dimension houses a couple of biomes (between 3 or 4 depending on the version you're playing in) which all have a few scary mobs and plenty of blocks.

What does it offer ?

A new dimension to explore and get lost in, which will make you feel fear the deeper you go.
Its progression is pretty straightforward, as it is told to you straight up once joining the dimension with the - key on your keyboard.
What I love about this mod are the details ; while the music seems to be a pretty generic royalty-free dark ambience which only plays once after joining the dimension for the first time, most biomes have a surprising amount of visual details (with the exception of one being the desert as it is pretty barren) - or at least surprising for a Mcreator mod on the older side : from the branches in the trees of the forgotten forest to the various scattered cars in the city of ashes , this mod knows how to render various basic environments more interesting;
Same goes for the creatures you'll find : while still often having simple or vanilla sound effects they do have detailled textures and models , and while they lack custom animation, they are good enough to benefit the immersion factor of this realm.

Unfortunately this mod appears to be discontinued , which means unless I stand corrected it won't receive any new biome, entity or other features; this is quite a shame as this mod seems to have some great potential and I would have loved it even more if it had more going on in terms of content or gameplay elements. Some of the mobs in the mod can also be quite loud at times and their sounds seem to linger for a bit no matter how far you run away, I would therefore suggest keeping the hostile mobs/master volume down for this one.
This mod also lacks a config file, which means you can't really tweak anything.

In conclusion

The dead sea succeeds in being a terrifying dimension to be trapped in, and while this mod is without any surprise not an absolute good-tier one, it certainly has its place among the list of one-off mods to play in the dark on October 31st while having your windows closed.
I would like to precise here that is recommended by the mod itself to play it alongside Optifine or a mod which adds some form of dynamic lighting, as navigating the dimension with absolute darkness can be pretty tedious.

What is it ?

This is a mod which adds a custom system of qualities to almost every type of tools, weapons and armor, which is compatible with bauble-slot items too.
This basically means that every item crafted, traded or simply found will now have a chance to get a randomly-assignated quality upon player obtention.
It is of note that this mod depends on potioncore, which means it also uses potioncore's custom attributes in order to add more interesting qualities to items.

What does it offer ?

Randomly-selected qualities on certain items obtained in the game, which might increase or decrease certains stats about said items,
making every item feel a bit more unique outside of enchantments.
The custom emerald ring and amulet automatically become baubles-wearable if it is present, which could serve as some example equipement to test custom configurations for these slots in your modpack.
It also adds a reforging station, which you can use in some cases to try your luck again with the qualities at the cost of a material tied to the tool (think of it as using iron on an anvil to repair your iron sword, its pretty similar here).

This mod however has some performance issues, as for some reason it makes your game lag regularly even when only it and potioncore are loaded, and I also don't really like how the only way for modded items to receive a change in their quality by default is more often than not to get your hands on several nether stars and hope you'll get lucky with the rolls as it can become worse than what it originally was (at least you can configure custom materials for specific tools yourself, I would have ranked it even lower if it didn't).
Some way of knowing the quality of an item after it has been randomly selected without having to select it with your mouse would have been nice too, but I guess that's a bit more a matter of personal taste and preferences here.

In conclusion

I quite like the concept of this mod, as adding randomly generated and easily configurable stats to items allows for more variety which could be a great addition to a more roguelike/dungeon crawling type modpack for example, but I think that this unfortunate negative impact it has on the default game's performances makes it hardly usable for most modpacks out there, I myself had to remove it from some packs I was working on due to this.

I would also like to mention for people looking for a port/fork of this mod or at least a maintained version that Quality Equipment exists on more recent versions of the game, and it's basically the same thing (I learned about this mod while writing this review).

What is it ?

The betweenlands is a mod adding a derelict swampy dimension between worlds;
It has pretty and cool visuals using custom shaders by default, tons of cool building blocks and particles, has ambience/sounds effects which are unique and add to the immersion, cool soundtrack (boss music included within the mod by itself) and an overall creepy atmosphere.
It contains lore which is left open to interpretation through small notes or implied by the existence of structures and creatures.

What does it offer ?

A brand-new yet familiar survival experience with a progression system fully independent from the overworld, featuring unique survival mechanics such as the decay , tool corrosion and food sickness , challenge through its tough enemies, dungeons and bosses and a both pretty and eerie ambience.
It provides its own take on minecraft's systems (its own farming , brewing and repairing system among a few others, and even some brand-new re-thought weather ); and it is not hesitant to rethink its past ideas to better fit with the newer and updated mod features.
It encourages exploration, having multiple biomes with unique fauna, flora, and global generation quirks which make each area feel different enough while still keeping that swampy vibe; it also brings in new ways to travel the world through items ( Tongue grappling hook ) and vehicles ( Rowboat and Draeton ), and adds new companions to take with you on your journey ( Emberlings , Harlequin Toads and more !).

The cons of this mod would normally be the performance aspect of the mod itself, as even though it is quite well optimized for a mod of its scale, it has by default configs about shaders which can be too much to handle for a basic laptop, but those visual effects can be reduced or even fully disabled in the configs and it works fine (I would recommend disabling them if your computer can't handle shaders or visual effects in general, it really makes a big difference).
It is also of note that this is in general a pretty difficult mod which is not recommended to play for people looking for a more chill adventure (even if it can still be calm at times), and its focus on exploration might not appeal to some tech modpack enjoyers either, as most systems do require human intervention/maintenance and can't be automated forever (there are unofficial addons for that though, but that isn't the subject of this review).

In conclusion

It provides a haunting medieval swamp urbex experience, with a pretty yet dangerous environment which has content encouraging exploration.
Most things stay cohesive within the mod, as updates of the mod take into account what has been and what will be.
It is well documented as it has advancements hinting at the various areas, features and systems and an official detailed and up-to-date wiki, and that's not even counting all the little things such as how the mod tells you in which special block an item can be used in.
Finally, it has also plenty of niche details and hidden mob interactions, leaving the world full of surprises, to the point where I still discover mechanics and stuff about the mod, even though I played it for more than a couple hundred of hours at least (probably more).

I would like to add that this mod being my absolute favorite, its review might be somewhat biased, which is why I urge you to try it for yourself, after all, you might still like it despite its difficulty.

Looking for addons or extra content ? on a given moddex mod page going to the "Relations" tab then setting relation types to "Required" + selecting "Dependents" instead of dependencies then Project type "Mod" shows you every mod which requires this mod to function (which should correspond to known addons)