The best Minecraft puzzle maps (mid-2020)

Minecraft has something for everyone. It is easy to relax while mindlessly mining away for resources, or jump in creative mode to create a new mega build. Aside from creatives and people just looking to kill time, the game also attracts people that love a challenge. Thankfully sites like Planet Minecraft make it easy to share your most interesting creations and find new challenges to try your hand at. Here is a list of the top 10 puzzle maps currently available for download. All of these maps have some rules that need to be followed, so be sure to read the description on their download page. Some of these maps may also require resource packs or mods to be fully immersive.

30 Ways to Die

30 rooms, 30 different challenges, all with the same end goal. On this map, you have to die to move on from one challenge to the next room, but you have to die in a very specific way. If you get stuck, there is a “What do do?” button available to explain precisely how you should die.

Portalcraft

Few puzzle games have left the same mark as Valve’s Portal series. Portalcraft map almost perfectly recreates the world of the series. On this map, you play through the Aperture Science testing chambers and solve puzzles like those in the original games. This map requires iChun’s portal gun mod to play. It also comes with a texture pack to make the map feel like a blocky version of the world of Portal.

The Puzzle Cube

The Puzzle Cube is an interesting multiplayer compatible puzzle map based on a large cube floating in the void. The goal is to get from the surface of the cube to the center. You have to work your way down layer by layer until you finally hit the cube’s core. The challenges become more difficult with each layer you pass, but having a friend play with you can make it easier.

Roomscape: Escape the Rooms

You start this map in a blank room with a single chest. The chest has a lever that you need to use to get out. There are 20 rooms on this map with a similar setup. In each room, you will find a chest with a limited amount of resources that you need to use to get out.

Room to Room

This map can feel like a nightmare or a dream sequence for some people. Like most of the maps on this list, it is filled with a sequence of rooms that you will need to navigate and complete puzzles in. What makes Room to Room map unique is that the rooms are all identical and are all connected. You will need to memorize patterns and the map layout to complete this one. You can bring a friend to help, but the author designed the map, so co-op can be confusing as a singleplayer.

Escape the Mad Scientist

Escape the Mad Scientist is a challenging map that will test your knowledge of Minecraft’s game mechanics. There are 20 rooms to play through. You play as a captive of a mad scientist with the ultimate goal of escaping from your captor. It is easy to get stuck in this map as it requires quite a bit of creative thinking to get through each puzzle.

Escape Prison

If the name isn’t a clue, the goal of this map is to escape from Prison. There are 10 prisons to escape from with plenty of features. The map includes interesting gameplay mechanics such as glasses that allow you to see where the guards are located. The map’s author has also put a lot of work into voice acting this map.

The Endless Test

The Endless Test is a fun and simple puzzle collection. It opens with a parkour challenge, which will infuriate anyone who isn’t particularly good at those types of challenges. The map features a lot of the puzzles you would expect from a Minecraft map, and the author uses that to their advantage. Some of the puzzles can be deceptively simple.

Puzzle Castle

This is one of the larger and more difficult puzzle maps on this list. The castle is filled with numerous rooms, each with a unique puzzle to solve. Puzzle Castle is a map that requires a lot of out of the box thinking to be able to complete it.

It’s Better Together

This map requires a friend to finish. It is heavily based on the co-op mode from Valve’s Portal 2. This map has 30 different puzzles for you to play through with a good friend. This map does not require any mods or resource packs to play.