I feel like all of the recent updates had this lackluster appeal to them. It might be because I’m outgrown it, but the last big update I felt excited for was the terrain generation one (I think 1.18?). Other than that I can’t really get behind any of them. I mean, archeology sounds cool and all but it doesn’t really feel like Minecraft. Also, while having more mobs is cool, it just doesn’t matter as much to me anymore. They keep pushing out these updates and it feels less and less like Minecraft.
nb4 “just play an older version” yeah no duh, I know that’s an option. That’s not what I’m complaining about.
My biggest gripe is the world generation. I rode a horse in the over world for 10k blocks, and it just all felt like the same - extremely gradual and basically realistic gradients.
Where are those weird anomalies? Chunk borders? Floating little bits of dirt? I used to have these epic little landmarks. I can still remember many of them to this day. In contrast, anomalies like Ravines have become incredibly common.
That’s goal 1: Tweak the world gen to be less realistic again and more cartoony. With menu or with mods. Maybe Large Biomes, too.
I hate villages and villagers. I haven’t found a way to make this gameplay fun, and I seriously think my next world I am just going to turn them off entirely. No villages whatsoever.
But really, I don’t want to try again, because: Minecraft used to be eerily, painfully isolating. And when I was a highly extroverted pre-teen that felt amazing. But now I’m a cynical lonely adult. I don’t need experiences that challenge me, but rather comfort and reassure me. Where I’m going from here is RPGs. I am lonely and I want a world to explore. This sounds like the new genre for me. I’ve started into Path of Exile, and soon I’ll try one of the many amazing single player RPGs that have released in the last few years.
I have no confidence in Minecraft because of that isolation. I could tweak the world gen and the progression expectations to my heart’s content, but Minecraft has the wrong emotional experiences and lessons for who I am right now. I guess in an ideal world I wouldn’t even need to look to games the way I do, but I don’t know when or if this is going to change.