There’s now a full 1:1 scale version of New York City in Minecraft, built by a dedicated team over the course of five years.
Minecraft may just look like a game of blocks at first glance, but we’ve all seen what the community is capable of.
With their creativity, players have built massive cities, luxury mansions, and even recreated entire worlds, like Hyrule from Breath of the Wild. But fictional worlds aren’t the only things players have brought to life.
A team of dedicated builders has now managed to recreate New York City in the game after over five years. And it’s not just a small version, either, but at a true 1:1 scale.
Minecraft builders team up to recreate New York City
YouTuber MineFact showcased the results of the massive project in a video uploaded on January 11, 2026. When you look at it from a distance, it could easily be mistaken for the real thing.
But wait until you zoom in even further. The team didn’t just stop at making the city look as similar as possible, but they also went the extra mile by adding tiny real-world details, down to tiny flower pots.
MineFact said that the team realized how much details matter over the years.
“Like when someone from New York logs in and finds his flower pot on his balcony exactly where it is in real life. That’s when you know it’s worth it. Their reactions are always priceless,” he explained.
The project in the game covered many areas, including the World Trade Center, Tribeca, the Two Bridges, Little Italy, and Chinatown, among other iconic locations of the city.
While the results look absolutely stunning, it’s not without challenges along the way. The learning curve was “brutal,” and the team made many mistakes.
But, ultimately, they kept on pushing through to the point that the “early work doesn’t even exist anymore” and has already been rebuilt multiple times.
Meta has discontinued its metaverse for work, too