Nostalgia is real. This brings Thomasians to start a digital landscape of the prestigious University of Santo Tomas at the famous sandbox video game, Minecraft, so you don’t get the fear of missing out this year due to the lockdown. Featuring its iconic heritage sites including the Arch of the Centuries, the Miguel de Benavides Monument, and its near-century old UST Main Building, its recreation seems more than just a bliss of sentimentality and a fun digital walk but also a cultivation of history and culture that transcends the bounds of the decade-old institution.

For starters, Minecraft is a widely-acclaimed building block game developed by Mojang Studios that hosts a variety of gamers that span age groups from kids to adults. The sheer simplicity of its gameplay and the wild possibilities that it allows any gamer makes it a very versatile game that anyone, regardless of expertise, can truly enjoy. Since its inception, it has been consistently raking up interesting headlines across different channels and news and continues to amass a cult following and a barrage of online memes. Among such curious projects is the Club Matryoshka Minecraft server co-created by local music producer, similarobjects. It’s a virtual music club in Manila hosted on a private server to serve as home for underground and unorthodox music mutants and artists.

The UST Minecraft server was led by IICS sophomore Charles Nobleza on June 28, 2020 with only two builders. It started out as a joke until the news of the postponement of the traditional UST Welcome Walk due to the community guidelines pushed them to build their own safe space where they can invite freshies to celebrate and create a community inside it.

In an interview with UST’s official publication, The Varsitarian, Nobleza further expresses, “It is also a parting gift to our UST alumni for them to have a glimpse of our beloved school in a game.” Currently, its team consists of 80 Thomasian volunteers that all share a love for their campus.

Here are some photos as published on their official Facebook page.

Every scene is dreamy and critically executed. Enter the premises with a turnstile simulation, dive with the dolphins in its ocean park, put on your uniform skins to feel like a real student, eat at your favorite food stop, all while basking in the grandeur of UST exhibited majestically in both daylight and nightscape.

In a video posted today, we get more than just a glimpse of its highly-anticipated official launch. It also calls for recruitment to join their community as part of the tours team and invites freshies to experience UST like never before. Only five select students per college will be granted with a surprise.