Games

This MINECRAFT Japanese City Is Practically Photorealistic

by Michael Walsh
Aug 30 2018 • 11:48 AM

We’ve seen some pretty incredible Minecraft recreations over the years, like when someone built the bathhouse from Spirited Away, or when someone made a working Pokémon Game Boy Advance game, or when a team constructed the world of My Neighbor Totoro. But the latest digital locale we came across is impressive for an entirely different reason. Even though it was made entirely of Minecraft‘s virtual building blocks, it looks like a real-world Japanese city.

Sayama City (which we learned about at Kotaku) has been under development from contributors to the Sayama Production Company since 2015. It is a Minecraft world complete with full neighborhoods, office buildings, highways, and a Ferris wheel, all with a river running through the center. It’s inspired by some of Japan’s biggest cities, but unless you zoom in you would have no idea this only exists in a blocky virtual world, because it looks like a real city you could get on a plane and fly to.

The closer you get to some spots the clearer it becomes that this exists inside of Minecraft, but even some places still feel authentic as you get closer to them.

Instead of real cities influencing worlds in Minecraft, maybe we should start looking to Minecraft worlds for inspiration for real urban development. If they can do this with a bunch of virtual blocks, think about what we can do with building materials that curve.

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What’s the best looking place you’ve ever seen in Minecraft? Tell us in the comments below.

Featured Image: ちーさら/YouTube