While Minecraft could in no way be described as a horror game, it still has a few creepy elements, such as the Enderman, but one person decided that the otherwise innocent sandbox title needed to take cues from an indie horror experience. For those who weren't there at the start, it's difficult to overstate just how much of a success Minecraft became, beginning life as a one-person project that took inspiration from Dungeon Keeper before going on to dominate the AAA gaming landscape.
It's hard to imagine that more than 11 years later, Minecraft fans are still building interesting structures, getting the most out of all this seemingly endless gameplay potential. It's allowed millions of fans around the world to unleash their creativity, which is one of the main reasons the game is still going strong to this day. Of course, some people go that extra mile and turn it into a different beast all together.
A recent example comes from popular YouTuber Fundy who, in their latest video, shows how Minecraft can be turned into a horror game. Inspired by a LIDAR scanner, a device that detects range using a series of lasers, the content creator set about making a more unsettling experience for players in which a pitch black world can only be uncovered with the use of a LIDAR gun. This idea takes direct influence from such indie titles as Scanner Sombre, which also uses a similar mechanic to assist players in mapping out a dark and mysterious world using nothing but laser dots. Fundy's project results in a much more terrifying experience than most are used to when it comes to Mojang's IP.
Anyone who's familiar with Fundy knows the kinds of ideas they've executed in the past, which include a horror version of Pac-Man within Minecraft. It shows the level of dedication that modders and fans have to inject even more longevity into a game that is, for all intents and purposes, near-infinite to begin with.
With such boundless creative potential within the vanilla experience alone, not to mention it being a PC game with low system requirements, Minecraft's success can be attriubuted to its accessibility. It's popular among kids and adults alike, with no end in sight to its continued success. It's quite the story arc in terms of its early days, and no one suspected this small independent project would become one of the biggest-selling video games in existence.
Minecraft is available now on Mobile, PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.