The first screenshot released by Notch, showing what The Nether will look like.
The Nether (previously known as Hell and The Slip) is part of the Minecraft Halloween Update. It works in a completely different world from the main. The place is filled with lava streams thus is extremely dangerous to explore. The ceiling and the base of the Nether are made of bedrock. Mushrooms are also commonly found. If the player dies in The Nether, they will be transported back to the spawn point on the surface world.
Portals and Fast Travel
The portals are made by creating a 4x5 (2x3 on inside) door frame out of obsidian and then lighting the inside of the frame on fire with Flint and Steel. The corners of the frame may be left out, using only 10 obsidian. When you stand inside the portal for the first time, it will create a portal in its equivalent area of the Nether. A loading screen will appear during the change of worlds.
A portal
When re-entering the normal world, any distance covered in the Nether is multiplied by 8 times, effectively making the Nether a fast travel zone that allows for greater distances to be covered in short amount of time in the normal world.
Portals can be walked through. In order to use them, the player has to stand still inside. Currently, they won't transport mobs or mine carts.
Mobs
Mobs that spawn in the main world do not appear here. Instead, there are special mobs that act in the Nether.
- Ghasts - Hostile, flying, jellyfish-like monsters which shoot fireballs and are immune to fire. It is possible for Ghasts to fly into lava falls, dropping Gunpowder. The fireballs can be shot back at the Ghasts using a fist or any tool by hitting it just before impact.
- Zombie Pigmen - Peaceful, humanoid creatures, that turn hostile when attacked. They drop grilled pork and feathers.
Blocks
Blocks can be brought to and from the main world. So far, there are three block types only found in the Nether:
- Hellstone - burns indefinitely, the main block type forming the Nether.
- Lightstone - a golden block that glows indefinitely.
- Slow Sand - a grey block resembling a creeper face, slows the player down when walked on and sinks down a tiny bit.
There are two blocks that spawn in both worlds. They are gravel and bedrock.
Water
Water cannot be placed from buckets normally in the Nether. Instead, it generates a smoke effect and the fizz.ogg sound effect (the same used when lava destroys an object) is played. If an inventory hack is used to give the player a water block, they can place the block. The water block will behave and flow normally, and it will react with lava as usual, creating obsidian.
Because water is normally unplaceable in the Nether, if a player falls into a lava pit or otherwise catches fire, they are unable to put themselves out unless they change the difficulty to peaceful and wait.
Naming
In the original announcement, Notch mentioned "a brand new Hell world". However, he's since stated that he doesn't want to use religious names, and prefers for Minecraft to be unique. When the preview was sent out on 29 October 2010 to a couple of gaming websites, the new dimension was called the Slip. This was changed to The Nether on the day of the update release.
Trivia
- While inside the Nether, Watches and Compasses will be unable to tell the time or direction and will flail back and forth.
- If you exit the game while in the Nether, when you re-enter the loading screen will say "Leaving The Nether" and when you are in the world you appear at the corresponding place on Earth (eg. If you went in a cave in The Nether, exited and came back, you will be underground back at Earth.)
Media
There are several commentaries on and in The Nether including Davidr64yt (X) and FTW.