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Minecraft Texture Pack Review: Rust

A Medieval Texture Pack

UPDATE: 2/6/2024:

This pack is still being kept up to date with every new major update release. Great work, Pathway Studios! This is still the only pack I use.

Are you a Minecraft fan? If so, you know how important texture packs are to enhance the gameplay experience. I have tried many texture packs, but Rust by Pathway Studios is one that stands out from the crowd. Why? It’s realistic, dark, versatile, and medieval, and it aims to provide an old-school RPG feel. Plus, it has been updated for the Nether Update, so you can count on Pathway Studios to keep this pack up to snuff.

So, if you’re looking for a texture pack that can deliver an immersive and realistic gaming experience, Rust by Pathway Studios is the way to go. Trust me; you won’t regret it!

Woof!

Now, let’s talk about armor. It’s an essential aspect of any texture pack, as it affects how the player looks in-game. If you’re like me, you want to look good, even when you’re alone in-game. As an immersion-valuing survivalist, I believe that appearance is as important as the game world itself. That’s why I can’t play with any other texture pack apart from Rust.

Vanilla armor and most other texture packs need more detail and realism that Rust provides. Rust’s armor sets strike the perfect balance between style and realism, and it includes spots where your actual character’s skin shows through. This is a feature that many other texture packs lack.

The iron armor features gaps in the set that show off your character skin while not making you look like a can of sardines.

When cave diving, you will feel the darkness. Rust boasts a great pantheon of natural textures. In vanilla Minecraft and other texture packs, the oddballs of the stone family — diorite, granite, and andesite are typically tied in terms of being unusable.

In Rust, all three of these materials take the cake. They look appealing in the wild and refined. They make up a trio of three very handsome brick variants when refined. This means more and better building possibilities for your creations. Trees are humble and stoic, each finding its fitting seat at the table in each biome.

The building blocks are generally fitting for the theme. However, the glass could be a bit more medieval; the stained glass is very straightforward and basic colored glass, but I still use it a lot. Stained glass in a pack that boasts a medieval look should feature more intricacy than what is currently shown in Rust. The wood block varieties are very solid-looking and sensible. It’s hard to find a combination of wood and stone in this pack that doesn’t look well together.

Tundraton’s blacksmith area displays various materials such as spruce planks, granite blocks, smooth stone, diorite, and raw spruce.

You can taste the excellence in a texture pack when you see changes in the water’s color. I knew Rust would be my pack for a long time when I paddled my boat and noticed that the ocean I was traveling in turned algae green as the water shallowed near the oncoming swamp. Granted, this is the only change in the water’s color you will find in this pack, but a thoughtful touch is worth mentioning. Vanilla does this, too, but the green in Rust’s swamps sets a mood.

The overall darkness of Rust comes from its slight vignette at all times. Unlike its lighter counterpart by the same developer, Tree of Gold, Rust does have an undeniably darker feel than most anything on Minecraft Marketplace, but that lends appreciation to the warm glow of a torch in the dark of a mine.

Mix and match materials. You really can’t go wrong in Rust. Interiors always feel cozy.

Entities in Rust is my favorite Minecraft pack. The animals, monsters, and villagers in this pack are sober and realistic. I enjoy spending time with the villagers as I like to find a village, protect it, and become its architect and keeper. Even though I am playing alone, hearing the villagers’ “huahs” and “hmm’s” make me feel less lonely. The villagers in this pack have three things that stand out:

1. Their outfits vary based on the biome.
2. Their outfits are beautifully designed and thoughtfully done.
3. Their facial features, such as the classic villager nose and face, remain true to the Vanilla Minecraft version.

Tundraton’s villagers dawn turquoise outfits based on their biome.

I have a great appreciation for the villagers in Rust. However, the one downside that needs to be addressed is the illagers. In Minecraft lore, illagers are a type of cursed villager. Pathway Studios did an excellent job with the villagers, and it’s evident that a lot of effort went into creating them.

However, the illagers do not look as polished. The standard big nose, which distinguishes the player’s race from the villagers, is present in Rust’s villagers. However, the illagers’ iconic noses are absent and replaced by a flat, grey, and somewhat murky feature that appears to be gills. I have seen worse illagers, but this is undoubtedly one of the only “meh” moments of Rust.

An iron golem watches over Tundraton’s villagers.

Monsters are fascinating, except for the zombies who have flesh-colored skin and wear awkward tan outfits. In the tundra where my friends and I live, the skeleton archers, also known as “strays,” have a fierce appearance. Although they can be annoying, I always enjoy seeing them.

Whenever I spend another four or eight dollars on a new texture pack, I usually cringe at something, usually the villagers and armor sets. However, Rust is a fantastic choice for anyone who enjoys building in the medieval style.

This pack is not suitable for individuals who prefer bright, bubbly, and cartoony designs. There are plenty of packs that offer that style, but few do dark and realistic as well as Rust.

You can find Rust on the Minecraft Marketplace.