Stepping into a new Minecraft world as a lone adventurer has its perks, like not having to share the somehow-still-delicious bread you find in random chests! But sometimes, coming back to an empty, sabotage-free base gets lonely, especially now that there’s more mayhem to unleash than ever! Well, with Minecraft Realms, you can invite your friends to share adventures, build together, and run into (or even cause) some good, old-fashioned trouble. 

To continue our journey to ultimate champion status, Sophie extended an invitation to those who dare enter her realm. In this case, it was me and fellow writer Linn! Our goal? Cause as much mayhem as possible and prove that we can survive the surprises that await us in Sophie’s realm. 

What’s new on Realms

Why would Sophie risk opening her realm to two reckless writers? Because backups are being replaced by Realms saves, which give realm owners more control over their worlds. With saves, you now have a dedicated storage bank where you can preserve specific Realms saves forever, keeping them safe for as long as you need. You can also save your game anytime (alongside the existing auto-save feature), plus saves include more information than backups, including the world name, settings, and the applied packs. Thanks to Realms saves, Sophie should have been able to preserve her realm in its pre-writer invasion, pre-sabotage state. Whether she remembered to do it before inviting us is another issue altogether and, frankly, none of my business! 

Causing mayhem with Realms 

One of my favorite Realms features is that once you’re invited to a realm, you can access it anytime – even if the owner is offline! Knowing that Sophie would be on a flight to the UK, Linn and I infiltrated her realm in the hopes of leaving some surprises for her to discover once she was back on the ground. How did that go? Well... 

Cristina’s attempt at mayhem 

 

Upon spawning, I found myself in front of a quaint cottage, filled with pets and supplies. Not sure if this is Sophie’s attempt at lulling me into a false sense of security, I immediately started punching trees so as to not be caught unprepared by whatever hazards she had left for me. And here came the first opportunity for mayhem: floating trees! Inconsiderate. Chaotic. Unapologetically lazy. I was off to a solid start!

While Sophie’s base proved to be adorable yet boring, the mine underneath her base simply screamed adventure! Oh wait, that was me. I just get so excited whenever I see a mine! However, my excitement immediately faltered as I encountered a sign that said ‘MONSTER ROOM’. What kind of twisted mind game was this? Moving past the ominous sign, I came upon a ravine with a standing sign that simply said ‘Death’. Oh, we’ll see about that! 

Not one to back away from a challenge, I proceeded to mine straight down into the ravine. Once there, I found a modest amount of ore and copious amounts of lava and inconvenient water streams. I got stuck mining into deepslate for what felt like forever but was, in fact, merely the lifespan of all the pickaxes in my inventory. I managed to get back to the surface via a stream of water in a heroic feat that sadly, nobody witnessed. 

Frustrated and tool-less, I decided that my Minecrafting skills were not enough to best Sophie's lair – so I resorted to one thing I know I’m a champion at: pettiness. I took all the deepslate I’d mined and turned it into a message that would not only irritate Sophie when she returned to her realm but also ruined her view and the real estate value of her base.  

Sorry, readers! I know you're catching a stray here. We all are.

With my mission completed in the worst way, I could only hope that Linn would find a way to up the ante... 

Linn’s attempt at mayhem 

Me, causing mayhem? Pffft! What many might not know is that Mayhem is in fact my legal birth name, so even though this is multiplayer, I did volunteer. Entering this realm felt like entering Sophie's head – everything was sunny, tidy, and filled with cute little pets. That also meant that she had put up helpful signs everywhere. Naturally, I began by changing them all!  

"Don't mine!!!! Water behind" turned into “Surprise here!” and "Exit this way ->" now pointed into a deep dead end. Ahhh, this felt great! I imagined Sophie running in panic from the chicken jockey only to take a wrong turn where I add another sign with just "haha got you" and it filled me with such pure joy. Hang on, maybe multiplayer is my jam?! Wonder if Sophie will feel the same? Probably!  

Then things took a bit of a turn! I got lost in this maze of a cave and, after a good 30 minutes, was ultimately forced to dig 150 levels straight up to pierce the surface. When a second island appeared on the horizon I saw this as a sign to cause a different type of mayhem – and I decide to explore!

I’ll spare you the part where the mayhem instead happened to me, just know that on the island was a portal into the Nether where I got chased by hundreds of piglins, attacked by hoglins, and fell into lava – twice. But did I give up? No! Because I was also too lost to find my way back. If only Sophie was online to create more signs for me... And there it was! The portal!

That is when I did a very surprising thing – so this stays between us – because I retraced my steps and put up not only one but three(!) signs pointing towards the exit. Then I went back and made sure to have them point the other direction. Puh! Close call.

Back in the base I could finally complete my final plan: turn it INTO the Nether. Because if there’s anything that Sophie hates more than typos, it’s doing battle in different dimensions. Equipped with glowstone, magma blocks, plenty of different Nether fungi, weeping vines, and other Nether blocks, I started my build. And would you look at that! It was like I was in the Nether! I was hoping to bring back some hoglins or even piglins, but I respawned repeatedly eh, ran out of rope... Sophie would absolutely hate this, so mission accomplished. Only one thing was missing: a great sign. 

Sophie reacts to the mayhem 

Picture this – you’ve just landed. The “fasten seatbelt” sign turns off. You receive a text message saying “Hope you don’t mind what we’ve done to your Realm”. Well – reader – it’s safe to say I did mind. I do mind! The mayhem. The madness! And that’s just the floating trees that now pepper my island base. Every helpful sign I’d put up to stop myself from flooding my underwater mine? Gone. The monster room I was trying to avoid? Flooded with chickens. My seven-year streak of not losing the game? Crushed. Also – I don’t remember putting a Nether portal anywhere considering how much I love beds and sleeping... 

Time to get my revenge. Careful ladies, I’ve crafted and enchanted my spear... ! 

Mayhem with Marketplace Pass 

Needless to say, Linn takes the crown for this challenge! Bringing the Nether INTO the Overworld?? That’s piglin levels of mayhem right there... But what if you’re like me and lack the resourcefulness to torment your friends like Linn did? You can always use add-ons for a dash of functionality and creativity, and Marketplace Pass has some exciting additions this month! 

First, there’s the Over Mob add-on by Overtales Studio, a Marketplace Pass day-one launch! This thrilling add-on populates your Minecraft world with challenging mobs and bosses, with matching gear for you to wield. Featuring over 80 mobs with unique abilities AND variants, 5 themed bosses, and 200 items plus 40 equipment pieces, this add-on brings a healthy amount of challenge (and maybe some mayhem) to your world. 

Additionally, Actions & Stuff, one of the most popular add-ons on Marketplace Pass, is getting a Mounts of Mayhem update! Enjoy revamped animations, particles, textures, and more while riding new mounts above and below ground and facing their hostile riders with the spear. 

Minecraft Editor 

Would you rather create mayhem than experience it? In case you’ve missed it, Minecraft Editor (conveniently located in the Minecraft Launcher) is a handy tool that you can use to build faster in Bedrock Edition. Building a world block by block is incredibly rewarding, but sometimes you need to shape a world in a pinch. Minecraft Editor contains tools designed to help you build, shape, and sculpt your worlds with precision and speed, including selecting multiple blocks, cloning structures, painting landscapes, and more. Once you’re happy with your creations, you can even export them to Realms to share them with your friends! 

What kind of mayhem will you cause on Realms? Your Minecraft world is yours to shape – and sometimes, so is your friend’s world! So grab your pickaxe and start building an adventure – or a terrible text-based sculpture.