Minecraft is a game about breaking and placing blocks. At first, people built structures to protect against nocturnal monsters, but as the game grew players worked together to create wonderful, imaginative things.
It can also be about adventuring with friends or watching the sunrise over a blocky ocean. It’s pretty. Brave players battle terrible things in The Nether, which is more scary than pretty. You can also visit a land of mushrooms if it sounds more like your cup of tea.
As part of their 15th anniversary celebrations, Mojang has made public a deal with Netflix to make an animated series based on Minecraft.
How do I update Minecraft?
Open the Minecraft Launcher. Click on “Options,” next to the username text box, then press “Force update!” and login with your Minecraft credentials afterwards. Minecraft will start updating itself. This can also be used to get a fresh Minecraft installation, which will keep your saved games and texture packs, but not your mods.
What is the difference between Minecraft Java Edition and Minecraft Bedrock Edition?
Java is, by and large, the more powerful and feature-rich version of Minecraft, but it lacks the compatibility and cross-play support of Bedrock. Furthermore, Bedrock Edition comes packaged with microtransactions, RTX support, and a handful of other exclusive functions (not to mention a broader set of supported devices).
Java Edition is PC only and players can only interact with other Java Edition players. Meanwhile, Bedrock Edition is multi-platform which means Bedrock players can interact with each other be it console, mobile or PC.
Gamers on the Java Edition have access to numerous communities and endless mods. These two combined make the multiplayer experience of the game a lot more malleable. The biggest con for Java Edition is that it requires higher spec machines to run smoothly.
Bedrock Edition does offer a few things that the Java Edition does not have. Mainly its marketplace, where you can acquire skins and add-ons, and the option to use controllers. Parental controls via Xbox services also provide peace of mind to parents.
How do I find other Minecraft players online?
To play Minecraft with other players, find a server first. Different servers offer different gameplay. Some are centered around building, others offer an MMO experience, and others are centered around survival.
There is a universe of possibilities, so your best bet is use any search engine to find Minecraft servers with the kind of gameplay style you’re looking for. Such is the diversity that if you’re looking for gameplay similar to GTA all you have to do is search “Grand Theft Auto Minecraft servers” to get a list of options. Once you have found a server, open Minecraft, select Multiplayer, and choose “Add Server.”
Note: To play Minecraft Java Edition please download and install Java first. (Minecraft 1.19+ requires Java 17)
What’s New
It’s a fantastic day today, because it’s release day Thursday! And not just any old release day. This one is extra special because today we’re shipping Minecraft 1.21, also known as the Tricky Trials Update.
Venture into the hazardous Trial Chambers alone or with friends, face off against the new Breeze mob and craft a smashingly powerful new weapon, the Mace! Take your ingenious Redstone designs to new heights with the Crafter, play around with the Wind Charge, discover new decorative blocks made of Copper and Tuff, enjoy new Paintings, Music Discs, and more!
And that’s not all! On the technical side, Tricky Trials is heralding a new age for data packs with Enchantments, Paintings and Jukebox Music Discs now being data-driven. With this release, we’re also going live with performance improvements to chunk loading that were introduced in 24w19a, which reduces memory and CPU overhead compared to the old system.
Embark on your very first adventure in Tricky Trials by delving into the full changelog below, it’s a long one.
New Features
- Added a new underground structure called the Trial Chambers
- Added 2 new mobs
- Added a new weapon, the Mace
- Added 3 new enchantments exclusive to the Mace
- Density
- Breach
- Wind Burst
- Added the following blocks:
- Crafter
- Trial Spawner
- Ominous Trial Spawner
- Vault
- Ominous Vault
- New variants in the Copper Family
- New variants in the Tuff Family
- Heavy Core
- Added the following items:
- Trial Explorer Map
- Ominous Bottle
- Wind Charge
- Trial Key
- Ominous Trial Key
- Breeze Rod
- 3 new Pottery Sherds
- 2 new Banner Patterns
- 2 new Armor Trims
- 4 new Potions
- Potion of Infestation
- Potion of Oozing
- Potion of Weaving
- Potion of Wind Charging
- 4 new Tipped Arrows
- Arrow of Infestation
- Arrow of Oozing
- Arrow of Weaving
- Arrow of Wind Charging
- Added 3 new Music Discs by Aaron Cherof and Lena Raine
- Added 20 new Paintings
- 5 by artist Sarah Boeving
- 15 by artist Kristoffer Zetterstrand
- Redesigned Bad Omen to give access to Ominous Events
- Added 6 new Status Effects
- Infested
- Oozing
- Weaving
- Wind Charged
- Raid Omen
- Trial Omen
- Added 9 new music tracks by Aaron Cherof, Kumi Tanioka, and Lena Raine
- Added 8 new Advancements
- Added 4 new cave ambient sounds
- Boats are now leashable
Structures
Trail Chambers
- Trial Chambers are a new structure in the Overworld where players can explore and take on combat challenges
- Made out of a variety of Copper and Tuff blocks, and can be found in different sizes
- A relatively common find throughout the Deepslate layer of the underground
- Natural mob spawning does not occur inside, similar to Ancient Cities
- Never starts inside a Deep Dark biome, but can sometimes overlap it
- The layout of each Trial Chamber is procedurally generated, and can include traps, rewards and a variety of combat areas
- Decorated Pots line the corridors and hold hidden treasures
- Supply Barrels can be found between different rooms, and give you blocks and items which help you navigate your trials
- Vaults are guarded by challenges in each room, and can be a source of many high level Enchanted Books and equipment including a very rare chance to receive a Trident
- Ominous Vaults can be found in harder to reach places and give even better loot than standard Vaults, including some items which are exclusive to Ominous Vaults
- Each Trial Chamber will include Trial Spawners with a melee, small melee, or ranged category:
- Melee
- Zombie
- Husk
- Spider
- Small Melee
- Slime
- Cave Spider
- Baby Zombie
- Silverfish
- Ranged
- Skeleton
- Stray
- Bogged
- Each Trial Spawner category will only use one mob for the entire structure when generated, and these mobs are randomized for each Trial Chamber
- For example, one Trial Chamber might only spawn Zombies, Cave Spiders and Strays, while another might only spawn Spiders, Silverfish and Skeletons
- The exceptions to this are some Trial Spawners in unique rooms which always spawn Breezes
Advancements
Added 8 new advancements
- “Minecraft: Trial(s) Edition” – Step foot in a Trial Chamber
- “Under Lock & Key” – Unlock a Vault using a Trial Key
- “Revaulting” – Unlock an Ominous Vault with an Ominous Trial Key
- “Blowback” – Kill a Breeze with a deflected Wind Charge
- Challenge Advancement – rewards 40 experience
- “Who Needs Rockets?” – Use a Wind Charge to launch yourself upward at least 8 blocks
- “Crafters Crafting Crafters” – Be near a Crafter when it crafts a Crafter
- “Lighten Up” – Scrape a Copper Bulb with an Axe to make it brighter
- “Over-Overkill” – Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace
- Challenge Advancement – rewards 50 experience
Changes
- Improved chunk loading performance
- Doors of different materials can now form a double door
- Witches now always drop 4-8 redstone dust on death
- This is to improve the viability of farms that utilize Witch Huts to obtain Redstone Dust
- Piston sound volume and attenuation have been lowered
- This was done to address the long-received feedback on the old sounds being too harsh and loud, creating very noisy redstone builds
- The panic behaviour of animals now lasts for 2 seconds after the damage is dealt, down from 5
- Ender Pearls that are thrown through portals can now teleport players to a different dimension than the one they are currently in
- It is now possible to ride entities such as Horses or Minecarts through portals
- When riding entities through portals, the delay before teleporting is not applied
- Projectile knockback is no longer dependent on the shooters position
- Projectiles such as Arrows and Fireballs knock back in the direction they travel
- Projectiles such as Splash Potions and Fireworks knock back away from themselves
- Projectiles shot by a Dispenser will also knock back
- Improved player attribute and effect handling
- Custom set base attributes are now kept when respawning
- Active effects and modifiers are kept when changing dimension or winning the game
- Blocks frozen by Frost Walker now emit “Block Placed” vibrations (frequency 13)
- End Crystals are now immune to fire damage
- The Trident is now considered of Epic rarity, giving its hover text a purple color
- Added an attestation checkbox when submitting a player report
- The “Burning Time” reduction effect of Fire Protection and “Knockback Resistance” effect of Blast Protection now stack from wearing several pieces
- Realms improvements
- The Pause Menu can now include a list of links provided by server
- Improvements to the disconnection screen
- Updated credits
- Removed Herobrine