What are the best Minecraft mods in 2023?
Every game of vanilla Minecraft might already be very different, but the best Minecraft mods go one step further to provide an entirely new experience over a decade into the game’s lifespan. Whether you love creative building, terrifying survival, or speedrunning the story, there’s sure to be a mod for you. From interface changes, to tools to aid your hours of exploration, and even new mobs, you have the option to make Mojang’s classic even better on PC.
The following list compiles some of the best Minecraft mods out there right now. All are divided into sections, depending on what you want to do with the sandbox game – from simple utility changes to deep, intricate Minecraft mods you can get lost in for months. If you like to browse, the Minecraft CurseForge
game mods
hub has a whole section dedicated to the
best Minecraft mods
and add-ons – as well as equivalents for many of the other best PC games right now.
The best Minecraft mods November 2023
The best Minecraft mods right now include performance mods, like Optifine and building mods to increase the number of creative items at your disposal. Our top picks though are world mods, including new mobs, new portals, and new biomes, and we highly recommend current fan-faves Weeping Angels and From the Fog.
Our pick of the best Minecraft performance mods:
Here are some of the ultimate Minecraft world mods:
And, finally, some of the best Minecraft building and item mods:
Optifine / Fastcraft
Make Minecraft look incredible with the essential
Optifine
, which adds support for HD textures and more control over graphical options. You’ll likely need Optifine installed before you can run Minecraft shaders, but even on its own, it provides dynamic lighting, improved textures, and a performance boost. Optifine should be fine on most PC setups, but if you’re playing on a potato, grab
Fastcraft
instead – it significantly improves performance on lower-end machines, particularly with lots of Minecraft mods installed.
Journeymap
Everyone likes to know where they’re going.
Journeymap
maps your world as you explore, lets you mark waypoints of interest, and can even warn you when Minecraft mobs are sneaking up behind you. View the resulting map in-game as a minimap, in fullscreen, or even in an external web browser.
Just Enough Items
If you need an antidote to the pain of alt-tabbing to a wiki while playing Minecraft, then turn to
Just Enough Items
(or JEI). It lets you look up the recipe for any item from any installed Minecraft mod through a nifty interface on Minecraft’s inventory screen.
Jade
Jade
is a
super
helpful Minecraft mod, particularly when you have a range of texture or world-changing mods installed alongside it. Not only does Jade tell you which item you are looking at, but it provides additional information, too, like the contents of a chest or any status effects applied to a mob.
Enchantment Descriptions
For those who need a reminder of what the Minecraft enchantments do at a glance, the
Enchantment Descriptions mod
gives you the description of any enchanted book in your inventory. This mod also supports modded enchantments and will display these tooltips in over 13 different languages.
Weeping Angels
Inspired by the weeping angels in Doctor Who, this
Weeping Angels mod
introduces a new hostile mob, of sorts. These stunning weeping angel statues that appear in the world are a sight to behold, and holding that stare is exactly what you should do. The second you turn your back on one of these pretty figures, they come to life and attack. Rather than dealing damage though, these stone creatures teleport you if they get close enough to touch you, and can even transport you to another dimension.
Luckily, creator Suff99 has your best interests at heart, so this mod is entirely customizable. If you are happy to be teleported but don’t want to get stuck in another dimension, you can change the effects. You can even change it so you don’t get teleported at all. Either way, that mysterious winged figure you can just about make out in the distance makes for thrilling Minecraft
gameplay
.
Minecraft Comes Alive
Ever wanted a Minecraft dating sim? A Stardew-Valley like Minecraft mod? Just want Minecraft villagers to
stop making that noise
? Well, alloy us to introduce you to the
Minecraft Comes Alive mod
. You could combine this mod with others that you’re interested in, as Minecraft Comes Alive focuses only on villages – and the people living within them.
Replacing the identical villagers of old, Minecraft Comes Alive introduces you to unique named villagers, like Delany the Armorer above, but the changes don’t stop at appearance. As you interact with these new villagers, you build a relationship with them, ask them to follow you, carry out tasks for you and even, once you’ve nurtured that relationship enough, ask them to marry you. Oh, and interactions are all done with subtitles and they don’t make that classic villager sound any more, so you don’t have to worry about their moaning and groaning leaving you filing for divorce.
Cave Dweller
Think the Minecraft Warden is scary? Well, it’s the least of your underground problems with this terrifying mod enabled. The
Cave Dweller mod
introduces the Cave Dweller mob (try saying that three times, fast) to the adventure game, and the dark entity follows you as around as you explore the world’s caves. In case you were wondering, no, it can’t sneak up on you, as the spooky cave sounds will grow more intense the closer it gets, but we’re not sure that isn’t worse than a swift death, to be honest.
Twilight Forest
This gorgeous mod adds a new portal and an entirely new dimension:
the Twilight Forest
. You’ll need to play as normal until you’ll gathered the materials to build the portal above, but then you can completely overhaul your Minecraft experience with new dungeons, mythical creatures, and so much more.
YUNG’s Better Fortresses
Yung’s Better Fortresses
is only the tip of the Yung’s mod iceberg, as the prolific Minecraft modder has also created Better Witch Huts, Ocean Monuments, and almost any other Minecraft structure you can think of. Put them all together, and you’ll have the most incredible Minecraft world you could imagine.
For now, though, we’re focusing on our personal favorite, Yung’s Better Fortresses. As you can see from the image above, this Minecraft mod transforms the terrifying Nether by greatly extended its existing Fortresses into even bigger, more magnificent structures, spanning multiple floors, and featuring castle-like main buildings. In vanilla Minecraft, these fortresses might be wide, but they don’t really extend up and down. Yung’s better fortresses, on the other hand, include Lava Halls, a part of the structure which extends deep underground.
Biomes O’Plenty
If there aren’t enough vanilla Minecraft Biomes to keep you busy,
Biomes O’Plenty
adds masses of new biomes across both the Overworld and the Nether – from Alps to Wasteland, and everything in between. It also adds a little more variety to tools, armor, food, color, and adds a few extra blocks to build with.
Alex’s Mobs
We know from the now-annual Minecraft mob vote that players are always clamoring for additional animals, monsters, and humanoids to be added to vanilla Minecraft. Well, you don’t need to wait for the next big Minecraft update with
Alex’s mobs
‘ 84 new animals. This mix of both realistic and fictional creatures includes kangaroos, tigers, and something called a bone serpent – and each of them has its own unique mechanic and drops.
Mo’ Creatures
If that’s not enough for you, add even more mods to your game with
Mo’ Creatures
. Or make the difficult decision and pick between the two incredible Minecraft mob mods. This one adds 60 mobs to your Minecraft world, but isn’t as up to date as Alex’s mobs. First created in 2010, the latest version of Minecraft that support this mod is 1.12.2, but it’s still an incredibly popular mod even to this day.
Mo’ Creatures adds mobs all around you in a normal Minecraft setting, including snakes in warm biomes, turkeys in grassy areas, tigers, leopards, and so much more. What really makes this mod pop is the sounds made by each mob, like the roar of the tiger as it chows down on a nearby goat.
Immersive Portals
It can be pretty scary throwing yourself headfirst into a Minecraft Nether or end Portal without knowing what’s on the other side. Thankfully,
Immersive Portals
changes that by showing you exactly what awaits on the other side.
Waystones
With such a massive open world, getting back to where your home base can sometimes be a huge hassle. However, with the
Waystones
mod, you can craft Waystones in survival mode and place them to allow travel between them. You can also make Warp Scrolls or Warp Stones to teleport from anywhere. The mod also allows for random generation in the world of these items and global Waystones for Minecraft servers or Minecraft adventure maps.
RLCraft
Still the most popular Minecraft mod of all time,
RLCraft
plays into the world’s love of fantasy with dragons, fairies, and more added to your Minecraft world. But that’s not all. In addition to the range of terrifying and adorable new mobs, RLCraft features new biomes, new auto-generated structures like towers and dungeons, and an all-new survival experience.
Pixelmon
If there’s anything better than one of the most popular game franchises of all time, it’s two of the most popular game franchise’s of all time coming together.
Pixelmon
does just that, bringing all your favorite Pokemon to the world of Minecraft.
SkyFactory 4
SkyFactory is one of the most classic Minecraft mods and is based on the popular SkyBlock map. Combining the original SkyBlock experience with industrial autonomy,
SkyFactory 4
lets you lose on a floating Minecraft world full of unique devices and machines, new crops, and even magic.
Better MC
The maker’s vision of what Minecraft
should have been
,
Better MC
adds multiple bosses, mobs, crops, items, dimensions, quests, and more to give you the comprehensive Minecraft experience you never knew you needed. We’re not saying we don’t still love the base game, but Minecraft will never be the same again once you’ve tried Better MC.
Good Ending
Good Ending
by modders Orcinus and Ninni overhauls the Minecraft wilderness, making the
survival game
even more beautiful than it already is. In fact, if you were one of the players disappointed when fireflies were scrapped from the Wild Update, then Good Ending is for you, as the modders have implemented the popular mechanic instead, meaning both the daytime and nighttime atmospheres are incredible in this stunning mod.
Vault Hunters
Finally, our last pick of the list is
Vault Hunters
, another completely game-changing mod pack. Made by popular Minecraft YouTuber and Hermit
Iskall85
, Vault Hunters takes you deep into thrilling, procedurally-generated vaults, in which you have to battle your way to valuable loot, armor and weapons. There’s a fully-playable story to Vault Hunters, too, with the goal of combining its 25 artefacts to unlock one final, deadly vault.
Supplementaries
The
Supplementaries mod
is an excellent complimentary mod to use alongside vanilla Minecraft and adds a bunch of new Redstone items, decorative blocks, and other tools and equipment. If you ever felt like you needed a pulley system, or a weather vein that produces a Redstone signal, then Supplementaries has it. Want to lock something up with a key or proudly display your Netherite tools on a pedestal? It has that, too. To use Supplementaries, you must also install the
Moonlight Library
mod.
Mystical Oak Tree
While we’re at it, here’s another one from the maker of Supplementaries –
Mystical Oak Tree
. We couldn’t resist including this mini-mod, in which you can interact with a wise old talking oak. Keep your eyes peeled for an oak tree with a face in any one of the overworld biomes, and interact with the tree to hear jokes, facts, and more. Be careful not to talk to them during the day, though, as they don’t take kindly to be woken from their sleep. And definitely don’t try to attack them – they’ll fight back.
Max’s Miny Golems
If you’ve jumped into Minecraft Legends since its release, you might be familiar with the cute golems you can recruit to aid you in battle in the strategy game. Well, those mobs now appear in the original Minecraft thanks to the
Max’s Miny Golems
mod.
While Max’s Miny Golems has some familiar faces from Legends, there are some differences. Firstly, there are more than the three base Legends golems here, as Max has added some of their own, with plans to add Beehive and Slime golems in the future. New items have been added as well in order to be able to craft these cute companions, including new slabs, flowers, and grindstone variants.
Domestication Innovation
From the same people that brought you Alex’s mobs,
Domestication Innovation
improves upon player interaction with mobs – both vanilla and modded. Enchant your
pets
, tame otherwise untameable mobs, use them in battle, and send them to sleep in their own beds. The different enchantments available can make your domesticated mobs do some extraordinary things, like pull entities close, send enemies flying, and strike hostile mobs with lightning. Domestication Innovation doesn’t just work on vanilla mobs and Alex’s mobs, but other creator’s mods, as well.
Serene Seasons
While you can get from winter to summer in Minecraft by travelling between a Snowy Taiga and a Desert biome, the Serene Seasons mod brings seasonal changes to biomes, including amended crop growth and weather patterns. Some biomes that aren’t usually snowy will see snow fall with Serene Seasons turned on, and you’ll see brown and orange leaves throughout autumn.
From the Fog
Ever wished the Herobrine creepy pasta myth was real. That a creepy non-Steve was a constant threat as you roamed the world at night, bright white eyes peering out at you from behind the trees? Well, firstly, why? Secondly, you’re in luck.
From the Fog
is a terrifyingly creepy Minecraft mod which brings Herobrine to life, alongside zombie Herobrine and sculk Herobrine, cos, you know, Herobrine alone isn’t frightening enough.
All the Mods 9
If you want a bit of everything from above, then this chunky mod pack is for you. The ATM team (All The Mods) has been creating mammoth modpacks for a while now, and the All the Mods series are a go-to, ready-made bundle if you want multiple mods but don’t want to put them together yourself. All the Mods 9 includes hundreds of mods, including some of those listed above. That said, it’s a pretty hefty download, so you might not be able to run All the Mods 9 on a lower-end PC.
Natural Progression
Natural Progression is the ideal mod for those who want a new Minecraft challenge, sticking to the vanilla theme of the game, but with a more realistic twist. Instead of punching trees for wood at the start of the game,
the Natural Progression mod
introduces more materials to discover and craft with to make the early hours of your survival more true to life. Find pebbles or bones to craft your first weapons, and only then can you gather wood to craft a full crafting table and continue your adventure, making the first night or two more challenging than ever.
World Edit
If you follow any of the best Minecraft YouTubers, you most likely will have heard at least some mention of
World Edit
. Downloaded millions of times, World Edit gives players an easy way of building magnificent creations in Minecraft, with copy, paste, and move features, as well as the ability to switch out one
block
type for another.
Watch the video above from Hermitcraft YouTuber Grian to find out more about just what you can do in World Edit if you’re just getting started.
Axiom
The relatively new
Axiom mod
is an alternative to the classic World Edit, also featuring options to manipulate blocks, easily terraform large areas of ground in a few clicks, and life, move, and duplicate large builds.
Little Tiles
To kick off the building mod section of this guide, we’re going right in at the deep end. While the limitations of Minecraft’s blocks may be part of the fun for many,
LittleTiles
allows those who want more flexibility the chance to build with pixel-sized tiles. With LittleTiles, therefore, the only limitation is your imagination. This mod’s teeny blocks can even be used to make moveable parts, twinkling lights, and so much more.
Chisel
Chisel
gives you access to, well, a chisel, which allows you to change the texture of any block. With a huge range of industrial-style textures to choose from, Chisel allows players to build the most complex and intricate of mechanical builds.
FramedBlocks
Cubes are great and all, but occasionally you want a slope, right?
FramedBlocks
adds a ridiculous number of new shapes to the Minecraft inventory for you to work into your unique builds. Even better, though, is that they also have customizable textures. Simply right-click on your slope, slab or step with any other Minecraft block, and it will take on that texture. Want a flower pot made of wool? You got it.
Decocraft
If you’d like a bit more variety when it comes to decorating your Minecraft house,
Decocraft
is the mod for you. It adds around 3,000 new customization items, including craftable chairs, tables, bowls, bottles, lamps, stuffed toys, beer kegs, and even a kitchen sink. To keep up to date with all those items, you can join the mod’s
official Discord
.
Bibliocraft
Bibliocraft
also offers many aesthetically pleasing blocks, but these ones come with their own functionality. Based originally around customizable bookshelves, Bibliocraft also offers display cases, and shelves let you show off your armor and trophies, while a printing press lets you copy in-game books. It even adds a monocle for the distinguished Minecrafters among you.
Pam’s HarvestCraft 2
Not so much a mod for building but one that does introduce new items to the menu,
Pam’s Harvestcraft 2
brings some serious variation to your Minecraft diet. A follow-up to the original
Pam’s Harvestcraft
– which can still be used in Minecraft versions up to 1.12 – PH2 is split into four separate mods: Food Core, Crops, Trees, and Food Extended. The end result is a Minecraft diet that’s equal parts lavish and balanced. If you want to make this a necessity rather than just a fun extension to vanilla Minecraft, use it alongside Hunger Overhaul and The Spice of Life, which both punish your poor eating habits.
With all those mods to choose from, hopefully, you’re ready to get lost in Minecraft all over again. If you need a handy tool to manage your mods, our guide to installing and using Minecraft Forge will help you organize your modding needs. If that’s still not enough diversity from the vanilla game, check out our list of the best crafting games on PC.
VIA:
.pcgamesn.com
