How to make Minecraft harder

Being a survival game at its core, Minecraft is bound to be difficult to play at times. Many players, especially new ones, can get stuck at one stage or have difficulties progressing. However, most players find the game relatively easy and immensely enjoyable to play and look for ways to amp up the game’s difficulty.

While the game has tools like the “Hard” difficulty and “Hardcore” mode to increase the toughness of in-game events and mobs, that might get repetitive and even easy after a while. After all, the game has been out for more than 10 years. This is where mods come in. Mods add new features to Minecraft that are otherwise not present in the default version of the game.

Many of the many mods that add tons of new stuff like mobs, weapons, ores, and sounds, focus on adding another layer of difficulty to the game. This article will focus on those mods and how using them together will tailor one of the hardest Minecraft experiences ever.

Modifying Minecraft to make it harder

Mods are the best way to make the game significantly more complex and challenging than its present version. The following mods, if combined, deliver a brutal yet fulfilling Minecraft survival experience.

Note: Credit for showcasing the mods goes to YouTuber AsianHalfSquat, who makes detailed videos about many such topics on his YouTube channel.

1) Tough as Nails

This mod adds the added factor of thirst and temperature into the game. Just like they need to eat food to fill up their hunger bar, players will now have a thirst bar and a temperature meter that they will need to constantly replenish and look after to not die.

2) Wasteland Reborn

This mod turns most of the game’s landscape into a barren wasteland. Water and grass is minimal, so players will need to play conservatively. This mod works even better when coupled with the Tough as Nails mod.

3) Epic Siege Mod

This mod makes hostile mobs much harder to deal with by giving them new abilities. Hostile mobs can now break down a player's door or even build after them if they decide to flee by doing so.

4) Punch Me Not

The Punch Me Not Mod makes it harder to farm wood with fists (Image via Minecraftmods.com)

This mod makes it so that whenever the player uses their fist to mine wood or any other material, they take damage. This feature has been implemented in other survival games like Ark: Survival Evolved. Players will need to be careful what they mine with.

5) Weather Storms And Tornadoes

This mod revamps the game’s weather to add tornadoes and violent storms. The weather system is made more dynamic and, therefore, lethal. Tornadoes in this mod can cause damage to the player’s world.

6) General Disaster

The General Disasters mod adds some natural disasters to Minecraft (Image via CurseForge)

This mod makes it so that at any given time, disasters like volcanic eruptions, massive sinkholes spawning, or earthquakes can take place in the player’s world, massively affecting how players strategize their actions in the world.

7) Hardcore Darkness

The Hardcore Darkness makes it pitch black in low-light areas (Image via CurseForge)

This mod is well known and makes it so that the low-light areas in the game are entirely pitch black. This makes torches and other light sources an absolute necessity.

Minecraft is universally acclaimed and is a fun game to play. Young children and adults play the game, and what’s interesting is that both age groups seem to find it extremely enjoyable. The game tends to be easy at one time and pretty difficult to play at others.

While every player can deal with the game’s challenges with a little bit of practice and experience, the aforementioned mods make Minecraft one of the hardest games out there, which many players might not prefer.