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Five key takeaways from Minecraft Live 2021

We've condensed the biggest updates coming to Mojang's blocky world into one handy article.

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The Minecraft Live event for 2021 recently concluded, giving fans of Mojang's blocky world a teaser of everything that is to come in the future. With plenty announced, we've taken a moment to condense the show into the five key takeaways, for your easy reading pleasure. Kicking it all off is Xbox Game Pass for PC.

Minecraft PC Bundle enters Xbox Game Pass next month

Minecraft officially turns ten this year, although some of us have known the title since its early access phase that started all the way back in 2009. According to Mojang Studios, the game is still very popular, with around 141 million people around the world accessing the game in August 2021 alone. Two of three users frequent the game's own marketplace regularly, which is the financial basis of the steady development at this point.

At Minecraft Live 2021, Mojang announced the "Minecraft PC Bundle", which will be included in the paid online membership "Xbox Game Pass for PC" this November. In a few weeks' time subscribers who pay 10€ a month for the Microsoft service will be able to play the Bedrock edition of the edgy mega-hit as well as accessing the extended features of the Java edition via the Windows Store.

Both editions will continue to offer separate experiences, but in the course of the coming year Microsoft would like to bring them closer together under the Windows platform. Among other things, the company wishes to dispel "security concerns", as they told us during a press presentation. There will be another, very handy advantage for users: If you bought one of the two editions in the past, you will receive the other version at no additional cost at a yet to be confirmed point in the future.

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Seed Parity between Java and Bedrock

Another side effect that comes from merging these two editions together will be the seed parity between Bedrock and Java edition, which will be made available in the upcoming update v1.18 ("Caves & Cliffs Part II"). In case you don't know, a "seed" is the data core that defines all the properties of an existing game world and by sharing it with another user, you can let them experience your world with all its special features and properties. Due to the many differences between Bedrock and Java, sharing seeds has not been possible between the two game versions until now, but Mojang Studios found a solution that, while not being perfect, is said to produce pretty good results. Do not expect an exact copy, however.

Caves & Cliffs Part II won't interfere with your worlds

At the end of the year, the update "Caves & Cliffs Part II" will launch in Minecraft, which Mojang describes as "Minecraft 2.0". In contrast to the first part of the update, which introduced new creatures and blocks to the game last June, this time Mojang will revise the algorithm that is responsible for generating the worlds. Theoretically, this harbours the risk of permanently changing existing areas - which is something the team does not want under any circumstances. They didn't share their solution with us, but the game apparently detects areas in which players are not active and within those zones large caves or a more natural coastline can be found in the future.

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Delaying the Deep Dark biome

Something that was unveiled at last year's Minecraft Live 2020 but is still in development is the "Deep Dark" biome. This is a huge cave that lies deep underground and is shrouded in an eerie darkness. In the underground ruins of a long-abandoned civilization you will find the blind Warden, who reacts to movement and even to players' scent. Mojang wants to use this enemy to have players sneaking slowly through the darkness, carefully exploring the unknown depths. You will find hidden treasures and new materials (including sculk blocks) down there, but we won't find out more about that until a later date. The Deep Dark biome is no longer part of Caves & Cliffs Part II, but will be featured within a subsequent Minecraft update.

The Wild Life evolves in 2022

In the coming year you will find even more content within Minecraft, because Mojang wants to increase the beauty and diversity of the untamed nature. To make exploration into the unknown more exciting, the developers try to emphasise the identity of each individual biome more profoundly. We do not know how exactly specific regions will change yet, but a few additions of the The Wild Life update have already been unveiled during Minecraft Live 2021.

For one part, Mojang Studios will add frogs that evolve from tadpoles. After their larval stage ends, the ambient temperature will determine what colour the amphibians will adopt later on. Frogs love fireflies, which will also be implemented in Minecraft in the future. The second big change of the new update is the swampy mangrove biome, where you can find big roots and loads of mud. You can make new bricks and blocks out of it that might help you on your next construction projects. Last but not least Mojang finally let us install boxes within boats in 2022. This way you are not bound by your limited inventory if you find some interesting resources during your explorations.

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These are the five key takeaways regarding Minecraft right of the bat from the recent Minecraft Live 2021 presentation. What are the features you are looking forward to the most?

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