Minecraft game modes come to four on both Java Edition and Bedrock Edition: Survival, Creative, Adventure and Spectator. Hardcore looks like a fifth but is a world setting, locked to Hard difficulty with no respawn. A mode changes what one player can do. Mods, add-ons and data packs sit on top of it.
How to tell the modes apart
The Minecraft Wiki defines a game mode as the way a player interacts with a world. The table below condenses its descriptions. We read these pages on 11 October 2026 and did not play each mode to check them.
| Mode | What changes for the player | Edition note |
|---|---|---|
| Survival | Materials are gathered to build and craft. Health, hunger, armor and experience bars show. Death sends the player back to their spawn point. | Both editions. An oxygen bar also appears in suffocation and lava on Bedrock. |
| Creative | Infinite blocks and items, instant breaking and flight. No health or hunger. Spawn eggs are available. | Both editions. Only the void can kill a Creative player on Java. |
| Adventure | Levers, buttons and mobs can be used. Blocks can be broken only with tools carrying a can_break tag, and placed only if the held block has can_place_on. | Both editions. Marketplace world templates often default to it. |
| Spectator | The player flies through blocks and cannot interact with blocks, entities or the inventory. | On Java, left-clicking an entity enters its view, and functional blocks open but items cannot move. |
Minecraft.net's own comparison of Creative and Survival says the two are not exclusive: you can play both. Survival has hostile mobs and food that matters. Creative does not hurt the player and gives every block at once.
Hardcore is a world setting, not a mode
Hardcore plays like Survival with difficulty fixed at Hard, and the player cannot respawn after dying. The wiki says it is not technically a game mode, because the /gamemode command rejects it. On Java it is a state of the Game Mode button, and on Bedrock it is a toggle under the difficulty selector.
- It can only be set on the Create new world screen. It cannot be switched on or off for an existing world.
- Allow Commands (cheats), Bonus Chest and, on Bedrock, Starting Map are locked off when the world is created.
- It belongs to the world, not the player. In multiplayer every player is in a Hardcore world, and a player who dies is put in Spectator mode.
- Hardcore is not in Minecraft China Edition or Minecraft Education. The wiki lists it as planned for Education.
- On Bedrock it arrived outside Preview in 1.21.40. On Java, Realms support returned in 1.21.2 (24w38a).
How to check or change your mode
At world creation you pick a default mode, Survival or Creative. Afterwards a player's own mode can be changed through the /gamemode command, the game mode switcher on Java, or the game settings on Bedrock. Java needs permission level 2 for the command. Bedrock needs level 1 and a world with cheats on. Bedrock also has a Default option that returns a player to the world's default mode, and Java has /defaultgamemode for the same purpose.
How game modes affect add-ons, mods and data packs
The sources do not say that a mode switches any mod, add-on or data pack on or off. What they do give is a set of mode rules that content has to live with. Adventure mode depends on the can_break and can_place_on data tags, which is why it suits adventure maps. Creative holds items Survival lacks, and command blocks have to be spawned with /give or /setblock.
The wiki lists data packs and mods as Java only, and add-ons as Bedrock only. If you are not sure which edition a file is for, start with Minecraft Java vs Bedrock Edition. Then read what a mod is or what add-ons are.
Which mode to pick for modded play
No source ties a mod, add-on or data pack to one mode, so that choice is yours. The one irreversible setting is Hardcore, which cannot be added later. The wiki also notes that a Hardcore world opened in a release older than Hardcore is permanently converted to Survival. Before you switch versions with a guide like How to Change Your Minecraft Version, make a copy with How to Back Up Minecraft Worlds. Data packs that change world generation only affect newly generated chunks, whatever the mode. For installing one, see How to Install Minecraft Data Packs.
What the sources do not say
The wiki pages and Minecraft.net article do not cover how individual mods, add-ons or data packs behave in each mode. That depends on the project. Check its own page and the loader's rules before assuming an item or feature works in Creative or Adventure.
Sources
- 1.Game mode, Minecraft Wiki (minecraft.wiki, read 11 October 2026)
- 2.Hardcore, Minecraft Wiki (minecraft.wiki, read 11 October 2026)
- 3./gamemode, Minecraft Wiki (minecraft.wiki, read 11 October 2026)
- 4.Gameplay, Minecraft Wiki (minecraft.wiki, read 11 October 2026)
- 5.Creative vs Survival Mode (minecraft.net)
