Around the Block

Don’t marvel too long at the treasures of the End highlands, because the biome is packed with dangers. As well as the End’s omnipresent endermen (who’ll tear you block from block in an instant if you so much as look at them funny) you’ll also be assailed by shulkers, a more subtle but not less dangerous foe.

It’s in this silence, this absence, that our curiosity meets its limits. The void is a reminder of the uncharted, the unknown that lies beyond the edges of every map, which watches, waits, and welcomes us with open arms.

It’s an Overworld biome that generates far underground, below areas that have a low erosion value like mountain peaks and plateaus. There’s some light in there, but less than you’d find in most other underground biomes – limited to sculk catalysts, lava, soul fire, and soul lanterns.

It’s rare for two reasons. First because the chances of it forming are pretty low. But also because it usually generates as a single island totally surrounded by ocean – and most players don’t spend a lot of time in the ocean, so they don’t come across it very often.

It’s easy to tell the different Nether biomes apart. The deltas are filled with ash and basalt, soul sand valleys burn with blue soul fire, warped forests are filled with cyan mushrooms, while crimson forests are – well – crimson in hue.

Survival in a desert isn’t easy – you’ll be heavily dependent on resources brought from other biomes. But with a single sapling bought from a wandering trader, and perhaps some crops “borrowed” from a village, you’ll be good to go. Just watch out for husks – these dried-out zombies will make you hungry, and don’t burn up in the daylight like regular zombies do.

It’s honestly a pretty good place to set up home – and not only thanks to its stunning good looks. It has a nice balance of foliage – not as dense as jungles or forests, so you can’t see approaching baddies, but not as bereft of vegetation and building material as deserts or plains.

As we noted when we wrote about dripstone, you’ll easily recognize dripstone caves from the pillars that stretch from the floor to the ceiling, as well as spikes that hang down from the roof (known as stalactites) or point up from the ground (known as stalagmites).

The warped forest is a strange place to wander around in. At first look, it could be characterised as an oasis of calm among the typically-brutal biomes of the Nether. But looks can be deceiving.

Deep cold oceans differ from regular cold oceans because – obviously – the water is deeper. In some cases, you’ll need to swim down more than 30 blocks before reaching the seabed. On that seabed, you’ll find shipwrecks and underwater ruins, but you’ll also find underwater caves and ravines, with exposed magma blocks creating columns of bubbles that’ll drag an unsuspecting player down to the bottom.