Minecraft has a massive modding community, with mods for just about anything a player could want. Some mods can be simple and sweet, while some add insane amounts of new content to explore. One example of a more content-filled mod is Blue Skies. While Blue Skies is nowhere near as popular as some other Forge mods, like Botania, it’s certainly getting up there, currently having over 8 million downloads on CurseForge.
Blue Skies is a mod that adds two new dimensions to the game, Everbright and Everdawn. Accessing these dimensions is nowhere near as easy as accessing The Nether in vanilla Minecraft, where the portal materials are accessible within the starting dimension. (“Vanilla” is often used by modders describe a version of game featuring little to no modding.) Rather, the only way for a player to access Everbright or Everdawn is to find Gatekeepers: villager-like NPCs that can trade the player a journal and a specific lighter. On the top floor of a Gatekeeper’s house, will be one of two portals, which can be activated using the lighter the player can trade the Gatekeeper to get. Once a player gets into either of those dimensions, the real fun of the mod begins.
After getting into just one of the two new dimensions, a player is presented with tons of new content to explore. I would even venture to say that the content provided in just one of these dimensions alone is more than the content found in The Nether and The End combined, the other two dimensions in vanilla Minecraft. Each dimension has unique themes, resources, biomes, mobs, and even dungeons that hold their own bosses. Once in one of the dimensions, a player can find a Mason villager, who they can trade with to receive portal blocks for the other dimension. So players are not limited to the first dimension corresponding to the portal they found in the Gatekeeper’s house.
Players should note that this mod does force the player to explore and provides some additional difficulty, even when entering a dimension late into a playthrough. Vanilla tools and armor aren’t that effective in either of the mod’s dimensions, meaning that even Netherite items (the strongest vanilla gear) will be near useless in Everbright and Everdawn. A player has to start from square one after entering a dimension. Additionally, light sources don’t prevent hostile creatures from spawning in Everbright and Everdawn, unlike in the three dimensions present in vanilla Minecraft.
Overall, Blue Skies is an incredible mod for Java players craving new content, bosses, and a bit of added difficulty. What I have discussed here isn’t even all of the content that Blue Skies contains. In fact, this article hardly even scratches the surface. I highly recommend checking the mod out for yourself.
