Deserts are fun to explore, and in more recent times we've seen more additions such as Desert Temples and all new "Husk" zombie mobs. However, have you ever felt like the Vanilla Minecraft deserts are a little bland and could use an overhaul?

The purpose of the "Desert Expansion" mod is to rebreathe life back into the Desert biomes (Desert and Desert Hills biomes) by adding all new content to them. This mod aims to introduce new plants, mobs, food, structures and more whilst still retaining the Minecraft Vanilla feeling and style.



There's new crops added into the Desert in the mod in order to make it look less bland. These are the Desert Grass crops that spawn all around it so that its not just flat sand like Vanilla and also the newer Cactai variant added in a recent update to the mod, this is just a smaller plant variant of cactus that drops the same block but adds variation so there's two different types of the plant and makes the desert prettier.



Rattle Snakes spawn in the Desert and Desert Hills biomes and spawn in groups of up to 4. They drop green dye and are aggressive when approached.



Golden Eagles have now been fixed in the mod and fly around in the Desert Hills biomes, they are quite rare so it might be tough to find them, but if you want to unlock the secrets to the Pyramids inside the tombs, you'll need to hunt one of these birds because they drop the Shiny Golden Keys that unlock the Sarcophagus' in the Pyramids.



Camels spawn in the Desert in small groups and wander around, they cannot be ridden with a saddle but add more immersion to the desert and can be good farm animals to capture in a stable in your village.



Scorpions also spawn in Desert and Desert Hills. They are pretty tough and spawn in groups of 1-2. They are uncommon in the desert but do a fair bit of damage and they are pretty slow in speed so they don't pose too much of a threat when you create distance with them. They drop scorpion stingers.

There is also a collection of structures in the mod. Some of these structures contain exclusive mobs in or around them that I didn't mention in the mobs list before as they only spawn in the structures and not in the desert itself. The first structure is the Pyramid which is a standard classic style pyramid constructed entirely of sandstone blocks, housing 1-2 mob spawners inside. These spawners spawn Jackal Guardian mobs that attack you and protect the tomb below. The top floor lures you in with loot in new pots, although if you find the way down below to the bottom floor, you'll enter the treasure room and tomb. If you defeat the guardians and destroy their spawners, you may be lucky as the Pyramids have the chance to contain lots of amazing loot inside, although they are rarer structures. This was inspired by Ancient Egypt and Archaology which I believe should be in Minecraft. Inside these Pyramids is a Tomb room housing a Sarcophagus with an undead Pharaoh inside! Get a golden key from killing a Golden Eagle and right click on a Sarcophagus to open it and awaken the Pharaoh Boss!



There is also the Desert Oasis that has a rare chance to spawn in the desert and is a body of water surrounded by desert trees. This structure exclusively spawns desert tortoises all around it. This is a great place to use as a water source in the desert to drink or use for potions and other purposes, although they spawn rarely to simulate reality.



There are also desert trees that spawn around the desert, which are semi common and spawn Ostriches all around them and below the trees in the shade. These Ostriches also spawn naturally in the Desert too although they are rarer.



There are new Fossils that spawn around the Desert in the form of Skeletons, these are huge prehistoric dinosaur like structures made of bones. Bones have been used in the Nether and elsewhere for skeletons but they also are not used as much as they should be, so they're now implemented as huge jurassic skeletons littered over the desert, they're rare but add more depth to the biome.



The last structure are Desert Farms which spawn in the Desert Hills biomes. These farms house 1 Farmer Villager who lives in a Sandstone house, with a bed and chests. Outside, there are crops such as wheat that are fully grown and stabled Cows which graze on the farmland in the stable. Sometimes, due to the intense sun of the desert, the crops can be found broken or already harvested on the ground, which can be collected. These farms can be used as houses or places as rest when starting a new world if you get lost in the desert or to use to trade with the farmers instead of finding a village.



The mod adds a new food type which are found in the Oasises. The Oasis trees have coconuts hanging from them. You can cut the coconuts with an axe and right click on a block to crack the coconuts into cracked coconut pieces and then eat them as food which restores a fair level of hunger.