Brixel for Minecraft

Review Brixel

Brixel: LEGO-Like Textures

Even if you are over 20 or 30 years old, most likely, you played LEGO constructors as a child, which are still popular throughout the world today. Even Mojang itself, by the way, actively collaborates with this company, releasing Minecraft-style sets thanks to which you can build various types of houses, use weapons, enjoy "vanilla" objects from the original version of the game, as well as pick up a pickaxe, shovel, elytra, and many other items of the cubic world.

However, you will not have to buy an original constructor to combine Minecraft and LEGO. It is enough just to download the Brixel texture pack and change the game beyond recognition. We are going to discuss precisely this mod, thoroughly examining all the changes, advantages, disadvantages, and main features. By the way, it is one of the most popular packs in the LEGO category, which can boast ca 150 thousand downloads in the official community of modders, is regularly updated, and has several versions with different resolutions.

For the sake of the review, we will use Brixel 64x64, available on the developer's website. Although there are also more high-quality options there, they are unfortunately paid — not to mention that they will load your system much more.

First Impressions and the GUI

After launching Minecraft, you will not recognize the familiar game world at all, as it will dramatically change regardless of whether you have the standard textures or additional visual mods made by fans. These LEGO-style textures radically change the game's appearance, so you will have to get used to it at first and, at times, even guess what kind of object or block is in front of you.

The GUI has become gray and with LEGO design elements, such as rough transitions and pronounced inventory cells. All this is accompanied by a slightly cartoon style. Moreover, many blocks are now hardly distinguishable and look similar to each other: for example, ordinary dirt, grass block, podzol, and coarse dirt. In the vanilla Minecraft, the differences were clearly visible.

The game environment will change beyond recognition. This is true of all plants, locations, blocks, and mobs around you. If you have previously played a real LEGO constructor or some emulators thereof, you will be familiar with the atmosphere that one feels when using the Brixel texture pack.

We recommend installing some shaders so that the effect of this pack is precisely as the designer intended, especially if you use the free version of a lower resolution. For example, you can use SEUS Path Tracing Shaders, which are recommended by him. All the screenshots in this article were taken with this mod installed.

Building Blocks

This category includes not only the construction blocks proper but all types of blocks in Minecraft, which are mined in certain locations and biomes or artificially produced through the crafting process.

Just look at how studs for attaching other parts are bulging on each block. They are just like in the original LEGO constructor. But if you disable the shader, they will disappear, and the mod will cease to be so attractive. So SEUS Path Tracing Shaders certainly make a difference.

If you have OptiFine installed, go to any block and hold down CTRL. You will thus be able to see all the details of each side, the unique design of an entire block, shadows, and many other important elements. All this looks really cool, and you will certainly not be sorry.

Ores

Let us now turn to the next category of blocks in this texture pack, namely different ore types. The player has to constantly deal with ores in mines, such as diamond, iron, and lapis lazuli. This is unavoidable, as the entire gameplay is in many respects based on these items: you mine something, find new blocks, and craft different types of weapons and equipment.

In this texture pack, the ores will look completely different. They will shimmer with different colors and have certain inclusions: for example, redstone — of red shade and diamond ore — a blue one. This looks unusual but extremely beautiful. But you will have to get used to this at first, as it is difficult to notice such ores in a mine, especially given that some of them are not illuminated at all at night.

Foodstuff

Different types of in-game food now also look extremely unusual. Take, for example, the golden apple that has received a square shape, the spider eye, and the beetroot that looks like a cherry. Most of the items, besides the changed icons, now look like a picture on a background. That is, if you compare it with LEGO, it is like a small piece on which a certain picture is pasted.

But if you throw some food types on the ground so that it becomes loot, you will see beautiful 3D textures, as in the case of apples or beetroots. However, most of the food will look like a flat LEGO piece. This is unusual and uncommon, but the texture pack as a whole basically consists of such bricks, as this was the main idea of the designer.

Tools and Weapons

All the tools and weapons are also made in a style that resembles LEGO as closely as possible, and the designer should be praised for this. All this looks unusual, and you immediately get nostalgic, recalling how you played LEGO as a child and built different types of garages and houses.

We have taken some screenshots to show you how the standard in-game pickaxes or shovels look now. With this shader, they also cast shadows, which is twice as pleasant. So if your PC does not allow you to comfortably play with SEUS Path Tracing Shaders, just set a different quality level in the settings. Even the lowest ones will be enough for you to enjoy the gameplay.

The designer has reworked all types of tools and weapons. Each of them is unique and interesting in its own way, but not all of them are perfect. Some types are too unfinished or simple: they look merely like basic 3D shapes made in the LEGO style with the possibility of reflecting the surrounding world. All talk and no action. But each player, of course, decides what texture pack to use and which setting to prefer for themselves.

Armor

The mod features interesting armor types, but all of them will merge with the environment if you install the shader pack in question, reflecting literally everything around. Moreover, this is true of each equipment piece. As a result, the main character looks wrapped in an aluminum sheet, as it were.

In the trailer, the diamond armor and chestplate look cool, but as soon as you put it on with the shader pack enabled, it turns into its opposite. So you will have to set the appropriate parameters in the shader's settings or completely disable shadows and reflections so that the player in armor looks normal.

Mobs and Creatures

All the living beings in Minecraft have become completely different. Almost every mob now features some LEGO element, be it a head, body, arms, or legs. The animals look unusual and, at times, even ridiculous, but are still very cool.

The designer has worked on each in-game mob, adding unique textures that fully comply with the chosen style. Iron golems, villagers, blazes, and many other in-game creatures, including bosses, look really cool. When you get immersed in Minecraft with such textures, you literally relive all the moments that you once experienced when you first installed the game, and this is the most pleasant feeling.

Potions and Books

The last category to consider is various types of potions and books. Even though the potions have undergone significant changes, they have become very similar to each other. The designer has just given different shades to them without seriously addressing the matter. So it is now even more difficult to distinguish them than in the vanilla Minecraft. However, each of them now features a cool glow effect, which looks unusual.

Enchanted books are a different story. Even though they have an identical structure, more details have been added to them. You can now discern each element of a book, appreciate the volume texture, and enjoy a beautiful shimmering effect. So they are undoubtedly better than the vanilla ones.

What will be the final verdict? It is a full-fledged version of a LEGO-style texture pack with highly elaborate elements, bright and saturated colors and shades, and the highest-quality textures. And you should take into account that the reviewed version is far from the best in terms of resolution, as the designer offers more resource-demanding options on the official website.

The texture pack looks cool and unusual, but at times, it is not particularly attractive when it comes to individual items or blocks. Some of the blocks are very similar to each other, especially if you use the textures without the shader pack. Unfortunately, without extra mods, they look somewhat primitive, and this a is serious shortcoming. In any case, players usually have shaders in their game builds, so you can also install such visual improvements to ensure the most comfortable and beautiful picture.

Images Brixel