Nearly a decade on, Minecraft is still bringing us jaw-dropping creations, including massive cities of such scope and scale that they shouldn’t be possible inside a humble block builder. But they are, and in an effort to justify the time we’ve spent browsing these creations on the clock we’re going to share some of the coolest things we’ve found with you.
The image at the top comes from the Sayama City Project, which Kotaku shared back in August – though the project itself has been going on for years. Every time it comes back up, it’s astounding, and as everyone has repeatedly remarked, it’s tough to tell the difference between this Japan-inspired Minecraft city and a real-world photo. You can download the town for yourself via Planet Minecraft, or check out a video if you prefer to admire from afar.
Now you’re probably thinking ‘sure, this all looks pretty, but how realistic can a Minecraft city be?’ Luckily, YouTube’s City Beautiful has us covered there. The channel breaks down urban planning in digestible ways, and its biggest hit came a few months ago with a quick let’s play of SimCity 2000. Now we’ve got a set of reviews on Minecraft cities.
Those projects include the Vancouver-inspired Mattuopolis, the self-proclaimed “largest city in Minecraft,” Greenfield, and perhaps most intriguing, the GDMC Competition, which aims to build Minecraft settlements through AI generation. You can follow those links to mess around with them yourself, or you can watch the video below to get some walkthroughs with a dose of education on real-life city building.
Check out the best Minecraft maps if you’re looking for more cool creations – whether those be cities, castles, adventure maps, or horror excursions. Be prepared to lose your weekend amid this reminders that Minecraft is very cool.