Year of the Bomb
by sr_steve
Year of the Bomb turns the vanilla Overworld into a dead post-nuclear wasteland, where most blocks, mobs and water are wiped out and the air slowly poisons the player.
What it does
Bombs strike the surface and reshape the familiar landscape until it is hard to recognize. Most vanilla mobs have gone extinct, and the surviving creatures are mutated animal hybrids whose ruins hold clues about their true origin. Radiation builds up in the air over time, so days are spent gathering the last resources and nights are spent avoiding the Skreeper and the Cockorpion.
The mod is built as a survival experience on top of vanilla features rather than a set of added items. Resources can be found naturally or crafted from items the mod adds, and some minor function blocks such as furnaces, chests and anvils remain. Without a way to make a bed, sleep is out of reach for most players, leaving night fights against irradiated hybrids as the only option.
Year of the Bomb is a NeoForge mod for 1.21.1 – 1.21.5 and runs on the server only, so players join without installing anything. It is released under All rights reserved and is not open source, and the latest file is 0.0.1 for 1.21.5, published 2025-06-04 on the alpha channel.
Key features
Irradiated Wasteland
Bombs reshape the Overworld, and the surface is covered with ruins, dead blocks and drained water.
Mutated hybrids
Surviving creatures are mutated animal hybrids that roam the wasteland at night and hold key lore.
Radiation pressure
Poisoned air slowly builds up on the player, so food and shelter decide how long a run lasts.
Hidden lore structure
A secret underground chamber holds exclusive blocks, a Metal Door, a TV and a lootable corpse with a diary.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Use cases
Who it’s for: Players who enjoy Fallout-inspired survival and want a dark vanilla-based world rather than a large set of new content. Server owners running a harsh, story-driven survival world can add it to a NeoForge server.
How it compares
Hell's Survivor is a NeoForge mod for 1.21.1 that is not open source and is released under All rights reserved, and it also runs on client and server. Petrova Wastelands is open source under the MIT License, covers 1.21.1 – 1.21.8 and runs on client and server. Year of the Bomb differs by being server-side only, so players join without installing it.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year of the Bomb | NeoForge | 1.21.1 – 1.21.5 | Server-side only | 2025-06-04 |
| Hell's Survivor | NeoForge | 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2025-03-29 |
| Petrova Wastelands | NeoForge | 1.21.1 – 1.21.8 | Client and server | 2026-05-19 |
Questions
Does Year of the Bomb need to be installed on the client?
Which game versions does Year of the Bomb support?
How can a player sleep in the wasteland?
In the catalog
Year of the Bomb is one of 8,515 World generation mods on ModsFinder, and one of 4,175 World generation mods for NeoForge. 15,307 mods support Minecraft 1.21.5.
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What the author says
Welcome to Year of the Bomb, a mod that simulates the events of total nuclear annihilation, with highly-destructive, Khronium-powered bombs that strike the surface of Minecraft's Overworld and completely devastate, disfiguring it beyond any sort of recognition or resemblance to the original Minecraft landscape. Most…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/year-of-the-bomb
- Owner
- sr_steve
- Published
- 2025-06-04
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-06-04
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15