Poison is a Minecraft Java Edition horror map by PatotatoMan, distributed as POISON 2.0 with a mandatory resource pack bundled inside the world file. It plays solo or with a group, provided everyone starts together.
The Poison Minecraft map is a horror adventure built by PatotatoMan for Java Edition 1.16.5, and the version number matters more here than it does for most world downloads. This is a finished project from early 2021 that was never carried forward, so playing it means assembling the setup it was written against rather than dropping it into whatever client you happen to have open.
PatotatoMan had already made a name with Demon Brain and Pacheco's Hell before this one, and the pitch he wrote for it is characteristically blunt: if you get lost in the woods, stay away from the smiling man, because he might be interested in you. That is roughly all the setup you get, and it is enough.
The creator names 1.16.5 as the version to use, and nothing has been published since to widen that. The map is complete, it is not being maintained, and there is no newer build waiting on a different release. Treat the requirement as a description of what the map was built and tested against rather than as an obstacle.
Search results will muddy this. Aggregator sites relabel old maps with whatever version tag suits their category pages, so you will find this one listed under 1.20, 1.21 and even newer. Those tags come from the host, not from PatotatoMan. Minecraft will usually open a 2021 world in a modern client, and some players report getting through it that way, but a world loading is not the same as its scripted sequences firing on cue. Nothing about that has been tested or endorsed by the creator, so if you want the map as intended, 1.16.5 is the setup that is actually documented.
Here is something none of the listings explain clearly. The map went up on Planet Minecraft in late January 2021, and the file distributed since is labelled POISON 2.0, dated 2 February 2021. A second version landed within a couple of weeks of release.
What that revision changed was never written down. No changelog accompanied it, and the creator did not publish release notes, so anyone claiming to know what was fixed is guessing. What can be said is narrower and more useful: the download in circulation is the later revision, not the original launch build, and a gap that short between two releases is the shape of a patch rather than an expansion. If you have seen the map referred to as both POISON and POISON 2.0, those are the same project.
Three things come attached to the download, and they are short enough to be easy to skim past.
The resource pack ships inside the world file and the creator marks it as mandatory. This is not the usual "recommended for atmosphere" note. The map's sound design and custom textures are the horror, and without them you are walking through geometry.
Render distance should be set to 10 chunks. The creator specifies it plainly and does not explain why, so it is best treated as the condition the map was built under rather than something to reason about. Setting it before you load in costs nothing.
There is also a rules board inside the map itself, and the creator asks that you read it. Anything specific to a chapter or a mechanic lives there rather than on the download page, which is worth knowing if something later seems arbitrary.
One thing you will not need is a mod loader. No Fabric, no Forge, no OptiFine. It runs on plain Java Edition using command blocks and the bundled pack, which is also why the version matters so much: command behaviour is the part that shifts between releases.
Multiplayer is supported and the creator sets no cap on numbers, but that permission comes with a condition attached: everyone must begin together. It reads like a casual note and functions as a hard requirement.
The reason is structural. Progression here runs on scripted triggers rather than on anything you carry, so a player who joins after the group has moved on has not simply missed some scenery. They are standing in a world where the events that should have fired for them already happened for someone else. Rejoining mid-run is the single most common way a group ends up stuck.
Practically, that means getting everybody into the world before anyone touches the first trigger, agreeing that a disconnect means the group waits, and settling render distance across the party rather than per person. "No player limit" describes the creator's rule, not a tested ceiling. A large group has never been demonstrated to work smoothly, and the more people you add, the more chances there are for someone to drop at the wrong moment.
A "Resource Load Fail" message is common enough with this map that the creator addressed it directly, posting an alternative download for players who hit it. That is the fix worth reaching for first, and it is the only one with any authority behind it.
Plenty of forum threads offer confident explanations for why the error happens. None of them come from PatotatoMan, and a five-year-old map with a bundled pack has enough moving parts that guessing at a cause is not much use to you. What helps is the order you try things in: run the map on 1.16.5, since a mismatched client is the most obvious variable to remove; make sure the pack is actually selected rather than merely present; and if it still refuses, take the alternative file the creator provided.
Poison has accumulated an unusual number of lookalikes, and knowing which is which saves a wasted download.
PatotatoMan's original lives on Planet Minecraft, with MinecraftMaps as a long-standing secondary host. Both routes pass through an ad gateway rather than handing you a file directly. The Planet Minecraft link is the creator's own monetised shortener, which is worth tolerating given the map is otherwise free.
What is circulating alongside it: a CurseForge modpack that wraps the map, uploaded by someone else and not the creator's release; a Bedrock port made by a different team, which credits PatotatoMan but is not his work; translated reuploads, the original being an English translation the creator wrote himself and apologised for in advance; and general aggregator copies carrying invented version tags. None of these are the original, and the modpack in particular is not a shortcut worth taking.
If the map lands well, Project Elek is a more recent horror map with a similarly strict setup, and The Backrooms takes a quieter, atmosphere-led approach to the same genre.
Open the launcher and create an installation pinned to 1.16.5 rather than editing the profile you normally use. Run it once so its folders are generated, then quit. If you keep a separate game directory for older versions, use that one here and remember which it is. The launcher will only look for worlds inside the directory the profile points at.
Nothing else needs installing. There is no mod loader, no OptiFine and no separate download to fetch alongside the world.
Take the map from the Download section on this page, which points at PatotatoMan's own Planet Minecraft page; the MinecraftMaps listing that has hosted it for years is the alternative. Both send you through an ad gateway before the file arrives, so expect a redirect step rather than an immediate download. The archive is around 110 MB.
Unzip it and look at what comes out before moving anything. The world folder is the one containing level.dat, and that folder is what belongs in saves. Copying the zip itself across, or copying a wrapper directory that merely holds the world folder, is the usual reason a map never shows up in the world list. On Windows the destination is %appdata%\.minecraft\saves.
The pack travels inside the world rather than as a separate file, so there is nothing extra to install. Minecraft should offer to enable it the first time you open the world; accept. If you dismiss the prompt, leaving the world and re-entering brings it back, or you can select it from the resource pack menu directly.
Confirm it is actually active before you start playing. The creator treats the pack as mandatory, and the map's sound and textures are doing most of the work. If you get a Resource Load Fail message instead, check first that you really are on 1.16.5; PatotatoMan also posted an alternative download for players who run into this, which is the fix to use rather than anything suggested in forum threads.
In Video Settings, set render distance to 10 chunks. The creator specifies this as the setting to play on, so adjust it while you are still at the main menu rather than partway through a chapter.
Host over LAN or on a 1.16.5 server, and get everyone connected before anyone starts. The creator sets no limit on player numbers but requires that the group begins together, and joining a run already in progress is what breaks it: scripted events do not replay for latecomers.
Every player needs the resource pack active on their own client, since a server will not push a world's bundled pack out on its own. Pull the pack file from the world folder and pass it around, then have each person load it the same way they would any other resource pack. Match render distance across the group too, and agree in advance that if someone disconnects, everyone waits.
No builds match these filters.
Both official routes pass through one. The Planet Minecraft link is the creator's own monetised shortener, and MinecraftMaps has hosted the map for years under the same arrangement. It is how PatotatoMan is paid for a map that is otherwise free, so expect a redirect step rather than an immediate file.
Java Edition 1.16.5. That is the version PatotatoMan specifies and the one the map was built against. Pin a launcher installation to it rather than using whichever version you normally play on.
Yes. The file that has been distributed since 2 February 2021 is labelled POISON 2.0, published shortly after the original release. No changelog was ever posted, so what the revision changed is not documented, but it is the same project rather than a sequel.
Yes, and using it is not optional. The pack comes inside the world download rather than as a separate file, and Minecraft normally offers to enable it when you first open the world.
Yes. It works over LAN or on a server, with the condition that everybody starts at the same time. Progression runs on scripted triggers, so someone joining part-way through will not have those events fire for them.
The creator sets no player limit, provided everyone begins together. That is a stated rule rather than a tested capacity, so treat large groups as untried and remember that each extra person is another chance for a mid-run disconnect.
10 chunks. PatotatoMan lists this as the setting to play on without explaining the reason, so it is best set before loading the world and left alone. In multiplayer, have everyone use the same value.
It is not supported on them. Some players report finishing it on newer releases and Minecraft will generally open a 2021 world, but scripted events are the part most likely to misbehave. Third-party sites listing it for 1.20 or 1.21 are applying their own version tags, not reporting an update.
The creator documented a 'Resource Load Fail' issue and provided an alternative download for affected players.
Use the Download section on this page, which links to PatotatoMan's own Planet Minecraft project page; the long-running MinecraftMaps listing is the alternative. Both pass through an ad gateway before the file. A CurseForge modpack, a Bedrock port and various translated reuploads exist, but none of those are the creator's own release.
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