One of Minecraft's most intriguing aspects is its unique form of storytelling. The game never goes as far as to tell the player the truth outright, but gives them a variety of hints that suggest what it may be. This trend is exemplified best through the game's music discs.
Minecraft's music discs tend to feature short, creepy stories using familiars but unsettling sounds. This has lead to the creation of various theories and myths surrounding them and what they could possibly mean. This is a trend future discs should continue, as it has provided a great amount of intrigue the game's world.
Minecraft's Creepiest Music Discs
Minecraft's unique form of storytelling has always left room for many questions, but not a lot of clear answers. This fits in with Minecraft's themes of inspiring the player's imagination. It has done this as early as 2011 through Disc 13. Disc 13 is easily the most understood music disc, but the synthesized sound effects used are still unnerving. It contains sounds of a player swimming around, firing a bow, and a creeper exploding. While alone this doesn't mean that much, it leaves quite a few questions hanging in the air, such as who exactly recorded the disc in the first place. It makes the player question how alone they really are.
Disc 11 is another creepy disc, and has inspired much more speculation throughout the years. The disc itself contains the muffled sounds of an individual who is likely in a cave and looking for the exit. Their breathing is erratic, and they sound like they are running away from something. By the end, that something is revealed through the distorted yet cut off scream of a creature. While many assume this is an Enderman, soundtrack of the disc was added to the game files in 2010, an entire year before the Enderman's addition into the game. This could be a planned Minecraft mob that never made the cut. But just like Disc 13, Disc 11 created a plethora of mysteries through sound effects alone.
However, out of all of Minecraft's discs, disc 5 continued this creepy trend the best because it almost deceives the player. On a cursory listening of this disc, players may believe it is the tale of a player running away from one of Minecraft's infamous Wardens, a mob that was added in the same update. On further review, listeners may realize that there are other sound effects hidden within the disc, most notably what could be the sounds of a dying Wither. This brings into question what exactly the purpose of the Warden is, and if they were always considered an enemy, or if they once protected humanity from Withers.
The discs each illustrate a story that ultimately makes Minecraft feel like it has a deeper history and lore to it. None of them go as far as to give the player any obvious hints, only letting the player know that there is more than meets the eye. Mojang has shown that it wishes to further expand on Minecraft's lore, as revealed by the 1.20 Trails and Tales update. Minecraft music discs would be the perfect way to do this because they use a form of storytelling that encourages the player to come up with their own ideas. It also would be continuing a tradition that has been with the game since its inception.
The biggest boon of all is that the music discs encourage theorizing with others, which has always helped foster stronger communities. Future updates and features will likely continue to do this, such as Minecraft's upcoming archaeology feature. However, doing this through music discs has always been one of Minecraft's greatest strengths.
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