Nightmare (The Shadow)

Nightmare Mod — v1.2.0 Changelog

Difficulty Scaling

• The Shadow grows stronger over time. Every in-game minute it gains +2% movement speed and +5% attack damage, capped at +40% speed and +100% damage. The longer the nightmare lasts, the deadlier the Shadow becomes.

Shadow Weaknesses

• Gold weapons deal 50% bonus damage to the Shadow.
• Smite enchantment adds 15% bonus damage per enchantment level.

Nights Survived Tracking

• The mod now tracks how many in-game nights have passed since the nightmare began.
• When a player kills their Shadow, a message shows how many nights they have survived so far.
• On full victory, all players are shown the total duration of the nightmare.
• The counter resets when the nightmare ends.

Shadow Announcements

• The Shadow occasionally broadcasts cryptic messages to all players every 2–3 in-game minutes, chosen at random from 8 taunts.

Shadow Baiting

• When hurt, the Shadow now has a 40% chance to feign retreat — it teleports away but returns aggressively after 30–60 seconds targeting the same player.

Shadow Communication

• Shadows in multiplayer now share spotted player positions with each other. If one Shadow detects a player, nearby Shadows will converge on that location within seconds.

Torch Avoidance

• If a player holds a torch or other light source and gets within 12 blocks, the Shadow actively teleports away instead of continuing its approach.

Footstep Sounds

• When the Shadow is within 20 blocks of a player, it plays proximity warning sounds privately to that player every 3–6 seconds. The sound becomes more intense within 10 blocks.

Darkness Rework

• Darkness is no longer applied passively to all nearby players based on range.
• Darkness is now only applied to the Shadow's active attack target, and only while within 16 blocks or on a direct hit.

Last Player Standing

• When only one non-spectator, non-creative player remains, they automatically receive Speed II to give them a fighting chance.

Hidden Name Tag

• The Shadow's name tag is no longer visible above its head.

Nightmare — Mod Description

Nightmare is a hardcore difficulty mod for Minecraft 1.21.1 (NeoForge). Activating Nightmare Mode plunges the world into permanent night and spawns a single, intelligent Shadow entity that hunts each player individually.

The Shadow is not a standard Minecraft mob. It does not wander. It does not despawn. It watches. It learns. It retreats only to return with more purpose.

Features:

• Permanent night — time is locked to midnight. The sun will not rise until the Shadow is defeated.
• Per-player shadows — in multiplayer, each player has their own dedicated Shadow that tracks and hunts them independently.
• State machine AI — the Shadow cycles through stalking, hunting, ambushing, retreating, and baiting states. It moves strategically, flanks, hides, breaks doors, and navigates water.
• Grows stronger over time — the longer the nightmare lasts, the faster and harder-hitting the Shadow becomes. Surviving multiple nights is increasingly punishing.
• Shadow weaknesses — gold weapons and Smite enchantments deal bonus damage, giving players a specific counter to pursue.
• Shadow communication — in multiplayer, Shadows share information. One spotting a player alerts the others.
• Baiting behavior — the Shadow will sometimes fake a retreat to lure players into a false sense of safety before returning aggressively.
• Environmental awareness — the Shadow avoids torches and light sources, reacts to players sleeping, lurks near respawn points, and destroys placed torches.
• Auditory horror — heartbeat sounds intensify as the Shadow closes in. Footsteps warn of its approach. It is completely silent otherwise — no ambient sounds, no hurt sounds, no death sound.
• Victory condition — killing all Shadows ends the nightmare, restores the day cycle, and shows how many nights the players survived.
• Configurable — respawn delay, teleport distances, heartbeat range, and darkness range are all adjustable in the server config.

Enabled with the /gamerule nightmareMode true command. Disabled automatically on Shadow defeat, or manually with /gamerule nightmareMode false.