YUNG’s Better Strongholds is another wonderful improvement on some of Minecraft’s standard structures. With this mod, YUNG provides a complete overhaul and redesign of strongholds to make the exploration and plundering that much more fulfilling. This mod adds more than fifteen different rooms full of random tunnels and passageways and may even have a few traps and hidden areas to stumble upon as well.

Strongholds have typically been pretty lacking since they were added to the game and this mod gives them a much needed upgrade. They now have much more unique features that are randomized throughout your worlds and make for much more incentive to seek them out as you would and dungeons or other worthwhile structures. This mod now makes strongholds a bit more challenging when you consider that they are essentially end game challenges before taking on the Ender Dragon. You will now have to trek through twisting hallways and winding staircases that may only lead to dead ends.

You will have to take on waves of enemy mobs lurking around corners or simply waiting in long abandoned rooms. There is actually a fight you will need to overcome and succeed in if you want to reap the treasures hidden throughout these new strongholds as you make your way to the inevitable End Portal.

Each of the new rooms are more developed and improved while still maintaining the core aesthetic of the vanilla Minecraft world. The library and ultimately the final room containing the End Portal were really the only features that made strongholds stand apart but otherwise there really hasn’t been any significant features to make them stand out. Now, with this mod installed, strongholds have been given a renewed existence and add even more to explore whether you play Minecraft for the inherent story or more casually.

These new strongholds are significantly larger and very intricately detailed. The way they are designed and structured almost tell a story of a time when they may have once been inhabited before they turned to ruins. You’ll come across great halls with abandoned tables and even rooms and barracks with empty beds and left behind chests that may contain some useful loot. These redesigned fortresses are certainly going to convey a much more immersive gameplay experience and enhance what is already so well enjoyed by Minecraft overall.

Because there are more than fifteen variations with the new strongholds this mod adds, they can seem like their own worlds with how much more you will now be able to explore. There will certainly be enough treasure and goodies to find to justify thoroughly exploring and will even make for excellent usage on any multiplayer servers. These strongholds are simply that dense that having multiple players in your party can guarantee being able to scrub every nook and hidden cranny.

YUNG’s Better Strongholds is a triumph to pair alongside their other mods aiming to “better” existing features of the game. So if you wanted to add even more fun and excitement to your world, add this mod and greatly improve the quality and purpose of these strongholds. When you reach the End Portal after conquering one of these, you will certainly feel like you earned it.