Pictured above: six kilometers by six kilometers of pure magnificence, in Minecraft map form.
Called Phain, or Game Board of the Ancients, this map is another one from the incredibly talented Darastlix, whose work we’ve featured on Kotaku three times before. Phain, which took 400 hours of work over a year to make, is the sixth in Darastlix’s Lone Wanderer series of Minecraft maps, with a hexagonal look inspired by Endless Legend (a good strategy game in its own right.)
Basically, the way it works is that the map is divided into four large sub-zones, and each sub-zone into smaller, hexagon-shaped pieces of land, which can vary between elevation levels, too, from beaches to mountains and highlands. You can travel between them on foot, or via teleports sitting next to obelisks strewn across the map. Each sub-zone has a theme:
Blue Ice is the largest area, covered by thick snow and ice. It has blue slopes.
Red Sun is a humid area covered with deserts, savannas, jungles and ancient canyons. It has red slopes.
Green Leaf is overgrown with colorful forests and swamps. It has green slopes.
Yellow Wheat is a place filled with fields, gardens and labyrinths created by magic. It has yellow slopes and is the only area adjacent to all other areas.
I flew around the map a bit in Spectator Mode and took some screens. It looks just as great on the ground in-game, and the variety really is amazing:
You can download the map here, either just to look, or to actually play Minecraft on it. It’s survival-compatible, so it’s totally playable (and it should last you a long time.) There’s also an album full of high quality renders here, should you find yourself in need of a nice Minecraft-themed wallpaper.
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