Minecraft has unveiled a major new update to the game that includes new biomes, mobs, structures, blocks, animals and visual effects.
The Nether Update will add more features to the Nether to “enhance its atmosphere”, Saxs Persson, Creative Director at Minecraft, revealed in a blog post.
MINECON Live, held on September 28, showed viewers two new biomes – Soulsand Valley and Netherwart Forest – the new Piglin Beasts and Piglin mobs, and the new Target block, which acts as a projectile hit-detector.
Minecraft is also introducing bees, beehives and a new Honey Block to the game. The bees will help pollinate crops and flowers, and will arrive to the Bedrock and Java editions later this year.
MINECON Live also revealed that Minecraft Earth – the free-to-play mobile game that blends state-of-the-art technology with a new version of Minecraft will be released for Early Access in October. Pre-registration is live for Android users around the world, and anyone who wants to take part can sign up here.
Meanwhile, MINECON Live premiered the opening cinematic trailer to Minecraft Dungeons, a new action-adventure game inspired by classic dungeon crawlers. Viewers also saw how local co-operative gameplay works with friends. Interested players can sign up for a chance to play the game early at Minecraft.net/Dungeons.
Other new announcements include Character Creator – a new, easy-to-use system to help players make a custom character. More than 100 features focused on hair, eyes, mouths, skin textures, facial hair and body sizes will be available for free. A range of custom accessories, created by the Minecraft team, will also be available for purchase, including capes.
“Character Creator will be available in the Vanilla game as well as Minecraft Earth and characters will sync between both games,” Persson wrote.
MINECON Live also gave fans a glimpse into the future, with a new monthly subscription service called Realms Plus. Here, players will have access to a 10-player area where they can invite all their friends to play with them, at no cost to them. Players will also receive more than 50 pieces of content from the Minecraft Marketplace from over 30 participating Minecraft Marketplace Partners at no extra cost, with new Marketplace content added each month.
Finally, Minecraft: Builders & Biomes is a new board game from Ravensburger that takes Minecraft from your screen to your table. Developed in collaboration with Mojang, Minecraft: Builders & Biomes is the first Minecraft strategy board game ever created. It recreates the digital game, complete with mobs to fight and real blocks to mine. The game will be available in Europe starting in October and in the United States starting in November.
