There's a small selection of games that are both gripping to play on their own, while at the same time being incredibly viable and easy to mod. Minecraft fits perfectly into this group. Shattering the games industry when it gained popularity, the ripple effect from this game is still being felt today. Neither players nor developers seem to look at games, and what they can accomplish, in the same way as they used to, and many games seem to be trying to emulate mechanics from Minecraft to varying degrees of success.
However, there are plenty of people who saw Minecraft as the perfect sandbox for building their own stories, and that's how the modding community has managed to flourish. Minecraft mods have been around almost as long as the game itself, and they've only been increasing in complexity as they've progressed. There are quite literally thousands of mods out there, and beginning your journey into finding the mods that interest you can be a daunting task. So, here's a list of some of the best, and most well-regarded mods out there.
10. INDUSTRIALCRAFT 2
Let's start with one of my personal favorites, IndustrialCraft 2. This mod has been around for quite a while and has grown both mechanically and in popularity. It's included in many modpacks, including most Feed The Beast packs.
IndustrialCraft 2 adds in a plethora of machines, items, tools, and weapons to use in your world. Most of the mechanics revolve around creating/harnessing energy for your personal use, ranging from vanilla energy sources like coal and lava, to new energy sources like solar power, water mills, and nuclear reactors (be careful with those). In order to craft these, you'll need to find a ton of the new resources included in the mod, like rubber, copper, tin, etc.
All of that hard work is worth it though, once you're wearing your brand new jetpack, or running around in your Quantum Suit. And don't get me started on the Nanosaber.
IndustrialCraft 2 was originally created by Alblaka the Dragon Lord, and now has it's own development team.
9. BIOMES O' PLENTY
This next mod is another one that adds a huge wealth of content. Biomes O' Plenty adds over 90 new biomes to the game, including some in the Nether. You can allow all of these new biomes in your world, or you can filter them by type, customizing your world to be more like a fantasy world, or a more realistic world, or a holiday world, and so on.
This mod makes exploration so much more fun and rewarding, even for veteran Minecraft players, simply because of the variety of things to discover.
Biomes O' Plenty was originally created by Forstride.
8. TWILIGHT FOREST
Along the same kind of exploration vein as the last mod, the Twilight Forest goes so far as to create a whole new dimension in Minecraft, complete with its own very unique biomes. Simply walking around in this forest is awe-inspiring, and the visual design, especially the color palette, is really impressive. This mod doesn't stop there, though. There are a bunch of new creatures, both hostile and friendly, from Minotaurs, ravens, squirrels, deer, and a lot more. There are unique and massive structures around to explore, and seven bosses to fight.
If you're just looking for a cool place to dip in, or a dimension to move into full-time; this is the mod for you.
The Twilight Forest is developed by Benimatic, AtomicBlom, Drullkus, Tamaized, and willewillus.
7. THAUMCRAFT
If you're looking for even more fantasy-inspired mods, then Thaumcraft is definitely a good one to check out. This mod is all about magic, allowing you to “draw magic from physical objects” and “reshape it to perform miracles”. There is a slew of new things to find while exploring to help you on your journey of becoming a sorcerer. These new things include crystals, new tree types, new structures, and entire new biomes, such as the Magical Forest and the Tainted Lands.
Be warned though; the magic is not to be used lightly; there are whispers of lasting effects...
Thaumcraft was created by Azanor.
6. TINKER'S CONSTRUCT
Want a mod that adds a ton of new items of the more traditional variety? Look no further than Tinker's Construct, one of the most in-depth and interesting mods in this list. If you've ever crafted a pickaxe in Minecraft and said: “Man, I wish there was more to this”, then you're about to get everything you bargained for, and then some. This mod allows you to craft, repair, and modify any kind of tool that you want to craft, from the vanilla variety to the new tool-types added by this mod. Want to build a tool out of slime? Go for it. And it's going to have unique properties because of the material, entirely separate from the tool you made out of cactus, or the one made from obsidian.
There's a mind-numbing amount of possibilities here, and this mod will definitely spice up one of the more mundane aspects of Minecraft.
Tinker's Construct is developed by boni, Knightminer, alexbegt, fuj1n, and mDiyo.
5. COMPUTERCRAFT
Looking to get a little more technical? ComputerCraft can do technical. Using the Lua programming language, ComputerCraft allows you to create a wide variety of programmable computers in-game that can control things like doors, chatrooms, monitors, automated robots; they can even help in your construction of an adventure map.
There's a ton of potential here, almost entirely limited by nothing but your imagination and knowledge of programming.
ComputerCraft was created by Daniel Ratcliffe.
4. BIBLIOCRAFT
If you've got no desire to be technical and simply want something to help spruce up the look of your home, then I would recommend taking a look at BiblioCraft. Starting as a much simpler mod, BiblioCraft has become more expansive, with just about everything revolving around making your house into a home. From things like a sword pedestal, tool rack, clock, disc rack, shelf, table, seat, dinner plate, cookie jar, and a lot more, BiblioCraft certainly has the attention to detail that an interior decorator would appreciate.
BiblioCraft was created by Joseph D. Sinclair.
3. PORTAL GUN
Possibly the mod that adds the least amount of items thus far, Portal Gun does one thing and it does that one thing very, very well. It adds items from the Portal game series, developed by Valve. The star of the show here is, I'm sure you've guessed by now, the portal gun, which is every bit as awesome and useful as it sounds. Allowing you to link portals together from vast distances, it can make the journey home from anywhere in the world as quick as walking to the nearest wall. Not to mention the portal gun can pick up a ton of different items and mobs, allowing you to carry them wherever your heart desires, including through the portal. This mod also adds other things from the Portal games, like the companion cube and sentry turrets.
The Portal Gun mod was created by iChun.
2. NOT ENOUGH ITEMS
So you've got your mod(s) downloaded, and now you're absolutely lost. It's likely you've got the wiki for the mod open on another monitor or on your phone, frantically looking away from the game to figure out how to craft a new item every three seconds. Well, Not Enough Items fixes this problem effortlessly. Creating an in-game item and recipe list, simply search for whatever you'd like to craft, and take a gander at how it's done. You can also just scroll through the items added in the mod, if you're unfamiliar with everything new that you can do.
This is especially useful when dealing with huge modpacks like Feed The Beast.
Not Enough Items is currently being developed by covers1624.
1. OPTIFINE/FASTCRAFT
No matter what end of the computer spectrum you're on; whether you're using a NASA supercomputer or running the game on a potato with a few wires wrapped around, these two mods are nigh-on necessary inclusions to your Minecraft experience. Optifine can have a small effect on improving performance but mostly exists to give people with beefier computers more graphical options to make the game look better. FastCraft, on the other hand, is made to make Minecraft run on underpowered machines. And, when playing with expansive mods, even the beefier computers can have some issues, so there's no shame in using FastCraft to get a few extra frames even if your computer is on the higher end.
Optifine was created by sp615x.