Lost in the labyrinth

A long time ago, before phones were a thing, it was easy to get lost in mazes. But that was part of the excitement: entering this labyrinth of hedges, or corn, or sometimes just large obstacles that you couldn't quite see over, and knowing that you might not see your parents again for some time, and you might have to eat your little brother to survive. That's a universal experience, right? 

Nueva Escosia Warriors are a team of Minecraft builders who banded together to create something spectacular for a maze-building competition, and, just like real mazes, they wanted it to be baffling, complex, and incomprehensible. Instead of corn, though, they used Minecraft blocks to create "The Relativity", a work inspired by the art of MC Escher (you know, the guy who draws all those impossible shapes). 

The Relativity is their latest build in what they call the "Perico Cinematic Universe": a world entirely of their creation, which has its own continents, history, and deities. One of those deities is called "Takh'manh", the God of Chaos, and it's Takh'manh who presides over The Relativity. He created this maze to "make fun of humans", you see, much like farmers create hedge mazes to trick people into paying them money to get lost for fun. 

This maze, built almost entirely in dazzling white quartz, is the realm of Takh'manh, and he would prefer it if you didn't leave. As a result, the maze is not just a maze, but has many puzzles, parkour challenges, and traps along the way that you have to solve if you ever want to escape. Like MC Escher's drawings, there are upside-down staircases, confusing geometry, and almost-impossible shapes everywhere. Because the maze is so huge, and because it's all white, it's easy to get disoriented - and that's the point!  

Luckily for players, the maze is abandoned, so climbable vines are everywhere. Unluckily for players, the maze is also full of lava. 

It's not easy to build a maze, though, especially when your goal is a maze so hard that it was literally built by the God of Chaos as a trap. "We knew what we wanted to create," the team says, "but the execution was not planned at all." Minecraft wasn't made to be built upside-down, after all, and the team had a lot of difficulty trying to make the architecture look like it was on the ceiling.  

"In the vertical axis, some blocks, like the stairs, can rotate and look good – but rotating the other two axis to make it look like it's sideways was more intricate!" 

You may be thinking, "Well, hang on... MC Escher was a genius, and I'm just a person who plays a lot of Minecraft. How on earth does anyone create something like this without a plan?" 

The answer is: time, practice, and collaboration. Nueva Escosia Warriors actually used a tool called Maze Maker Deluxe, which helped them figure out a layout. From there, it was just a matter of building something lovely on top of it – a process which took the team 2-3 weeks of working for a few hours each night. "You do not need to be the best builder," they say. "For us, Minecraft is not just a game, it is a way to tell our stories and make our own worlds."  

The Relativity is absolutely gigantic, so there's lots of room for secrets, Easter Eggs, and one neat little surprise: Perico the cockatiel, the unofficial mascot of the Perico Cinematic Universe. Keep an eye out for him while you explore! 

Once you've completed the winding maze and escaped back to your worried parents, the fun doesn't end there. The maze itself is modular, meaning that you can take it apart like an IKEA sofa and put it back together again however you like. That means it's not only infinitely replayable, but you can also challenge your friends with your own custom Relativity maze. You're the God of Chaos now!