Eternal Pools (A Poolrooms Mod)
There is a specific kind of dread that comes from an empty swimming pool at night, and Eternal Pools (A Poolrooms Mod) bottles that feeling and pours it into Minecraft. Built for Forge 1.20.1, this add-on opens a doorway to a liminal dimension known simply as the Eternal Pools, a place of endless tiled corridors, still water, and weather that never quite behaves the way it should. If you have ever fallen down a rabbit hole of poolrooms imagery online, this mod is the playable version of that obsession.
What Awaits Inside the Eternal Pools Dimension
Unlike a typical dimension mod that hands you a boss and a loot table, Eternal Pools leans hard into atmosphere. The generation is effectively infinite, so you can wander for hours through repeating rooms that feel familiar and wrong at the same time. Distinct weather events roll through the dimension, custom mobs patrol the shallows, and a small set of new items gives you just enough tools to survive and eventually find your way home.
The developer is upfront that this is a heavy work in progress. Large portions of the intended game loop are still missing, so treat it as an atmospheric experience first and a progression mod second. Horror elements exist, but the focus right now is immersion rather than jump scares. One important warning: certain visual effects may trigger photosensitive players, so play at your own discretion.
How to Progress Through the Mod
If you load in and have no idea what to do, the path is short but not obvious. Follow these steps:
- Kill an Elder Guardian. It drops the Liminal Amulet, your ticket into the Eternal Pools.
- Use the amulet to travel to the Eternal Pools Dimension.
- Search chests and mob drops for Leviathan Offerings and Larimar.
- Find an altar in the Expanses during the night and use both items there to return to the Overworld.
That loop is the current spine of the mod. Everything else, from the weather to the mobs, exists to make the journey feel like a slow descent rather than a checklist. If you plan to download Eternal Pools (A Poolrooms Mod), go in expecting mood over mechanics, and you will get far more out of it.
Shader Support and Visual Fidelity
This mod was clearly designed with lighting in mind. It plays nicely with most shaderpacks through the Oculus mod, and the creator specifically recommends packs like Complimentary and Bliss. Reflections on still water and the way light bleeds through tiled ceilings do most of the heavy lifting here, so running shaders is not just a luxury, it is close to the intended look.
If you want the smoothest setup, the foxygame.net launcher keeps Eternal Pools (A Poolrooms Mod) in its add-on catalog and handles version matching automatically, so you spend your evening exploring instead of fighting config files. It is a small quality-of-life win that matters when a mod only supports one specific loader and game version.
Version and Loader Details
Forge 1.20.1 Only
Eternal Pools (A Poolrooms Mod) for Minecraft runs exclusively on Forge 1.20.1. The developer has stated plainly that it will not be ported to other versions or modloaders, so there is no point waiting for a Fabric build or a 1.21 update. Build your instance around 1.20.1 and you are set.
How to Install
Installation follows the standard Forge routine. Set up a Forge 1.20.1 profile, drop the mod jar into your mods folder, and add Oculus plus a shaderpack if your hardware allows it. If you are unsure how to install a Forge mod for the first time, the process is identical to any other add-on: match the loader, match the version, and launch.
Final Thoughts
Eternal Pools (A Poolrooms Mod) is not a finished game, and it does not pretend to be. What it offers right now is one of the most convincing liminal spaces ever built in Minecraft, backed by custom mobs, strange weather, and a compact progression loop that sends you back to the Overworld with a story to tell. For players who value atmosphere over content volume, this is an easy recommendation. Just bring a shaderpack, keep your brightness low, and let the pools stretch on forever.