"I've waited 15 years for this moment": Minecraft modders behind the sandbox game's most popular unofficial dimension unveil its sequel, flying mounts and all

The legacy of Minecraft has proven infinite as Mojang continues to breathe fresh life into the beloved 2009 sandbox game time and time again with new updates – but it's not just the devs keeping the iconic gem alive.

It's also its dedicated community, boasting countless talented modders, resource pack makers, shader creators, and you name it. The Aether Team is certainly no exception, standing strong behind one of the best Minecraft mods to date – The Aether.

If you're not familiar with The Aether, it adds an entirely new dimension to the game (you guessed it, The Aether) that acts as a sort of opposing force to the canonical Nether. The original Aether mod first launched in 2011, just two years after Minecraft released into the wild, so it's been quite a long while. Now, however, we finally have something new to look forward to from The Aether Team – an Aether 2.0.

Yes, really. The modders blew my mind while I was casually scrolling through YouTube at midnight or so last night with a surprise trailer for The Aether 2's alpha release, and it looks incredible.

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Already live to download on CurseForge, The Aether 2 boasts "beautiful landscapes, high winds, vast oceans of cloud, and deep, mysterious caves," as its creators describe.

That's not all, though – much like the Nether, this dimension has its own native materials to gather, like Gravitite. This means more equipment (some with "supernatural abilities," excitingly), and all sorts of fresh builds to ponder crafting up.

There are new fantasy animals – and, yes, flying mounts – and unique dungeons to boot. It's huge, and unsurprisingly, Minecraft stans can't contain their excitement. Under the trailer lies a plethora of comments that prove as much, with one person declaring, "I've waited 15 years for this moment."

Another chimes in, "Got goosebumps looking at the title on my home page, I needed this right about now." Me too, random user. Me too.

Elsewhere in the replies, someone writes, "Might cry dude, this is amazing, thank you guys," later following up with an amusing edit: "I did cry." It's safe to say The Aether 2 won't see any shortage of downloads, methinks.

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