A defining feature of Minecraft is its visual aesthetic. The block style and simplistic graphics are now synonymous with the game and give it a retro gaming feel. The simple styling and play make the game easily accessible and popular across a broad demographic but, what do you do when it no longer satisfies you and eventually starts to irritate you? There is a solution, Sonic Ethers Unbelievable Shaders. Sonic Ether’s Unbelievable Shaders, or simply SEUS, completely transforms the games graphics and takes Minecraft to a whole new level. This shader pack brings the game to life by highlighting the natural properties of different game components. SEUS adds an element of reality to the graphics that really augments vanilla game play. Water appears to flow, large expanses of water appear homogenous and plants seem alive and move with the breeze. SEUS also enhances the night feel of the game with its play on shadows. The most transformative feature of the shader pack is lighting. The standard lighting used in vanilla game play is stark, offers minimal variation and adds little to the gaming experience. The default light color used is yellow light and this applies to most artificial light sources (fire, torch, glow stone) as well as natural light sources like the sun. The shader pack goes back to basics adding color and nuance to each light source.
The result is immediately obvious. Torchlight is easily distinguishable from sunlight, moonlight is very different to the lighting produced for lava. It is not just the colors that make the difference. Shadow definition and placement combine to increase the intensity and impact of the enhanced lighting. Attention to detail is evident. Even small blades of grass create their own shadows at angles corresponding to the position of the Sun. If the monotony of the vanilla game lighting has made the game feel lacking, SEUS is a quick fix that will add vibrancy and breath life back into the game. Another high impact feature of the shader pack is sky textures. Gone are the standard, block style clouds in their predictable formations. In their place SEUS introduces ethereal clouds that move in the sky and continually change. The shader pack transforms the sky replacing the floating blocks with soft, hazy clouds. The sky now feels real rather than a blue space filled with floating white flooring. Despite the obvious contrast between the original pixilated design of Minecraft and the very realistic design offered by the shader pack, both design elements actually work well together. By incorporating authentic lighting and weather into the game the shader pack adds to the game rather than detracting from it. It comes as no surprise that in order to run Sonic Ether’s Unbelievable shader mod pack you need a computer that can handle the enhanced graphics. Older computers with insufficient memory and processing speed might struggle to display the enhanced graphics and negatively impact your game play.