Brutal Minecraft is the cutest, bloodiest Doom wad in recent memory

Minecraft isn't completely violence free per se, but as far as videogames go it's quite serene. Aggroing enemies tends to just throw them back a bit, they become awash in a gentle red glow. But what if you could obliterate them into tiny pieces of ludicrous gibs? That's what Brutal Minecraft is, a full conversion mod for Doom that convincingly adopts the bright tranquil aesthetic of Minecraft. Except, with lots of violence.

The project has been in the works for a while, but a new Beta 2.0 was uploaded to ModDB last week. It features nine purpose-built maps, all created with the mood of Minecraft in mind, as well as 25 different weapons ranging pistols through to "large-caliber rifles".

The mod creator, DooMFOREVER7z, writes that the vast majority of the mod is sprites and textures, which makes sense: the mod is really about transferring the Minecraft art style over to a first-person shooter, and the video below suggests that it works quite effectively. Brutal Minecraft is still in development, and will get new monsters, levels and weapons over time, as well as, uh, more graphic dismemberment of monsters and an inventory system.

It's compatible with Zandronum and Gzdoom, and can be played single, cooperatively, or as deathmatch levels. Checkout the gameplay below. Thanks to DSOGaming for the heads up.

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Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.