Minecraft continues to prepare for the release of the “Caves and Cliffs” update. While the caves have been in the foreground recently, now it’s about the second part of the update: Valleys and mountains.
Diverse mountain areas
On March 4, 2021, the developer released the latest update 1.16.220.50 for the Bedrock version of the game, which you can try on Windows, Android and Xbox One. That gives you access to some experimental features.
When you activate it, various sub-biomes can appear in the mountains. These include high peaks, snow-capped peaks, snow-covered slopes, mountain groves and mountain meadows. In addition, your worlds can not only be 256 blocks high, but a total of 320.
There are also new textures for iron, coal, emerald, diamond, gold, copper, redstone and blue patch. The first three of these raw materials are now also generated in the mountains. The spawn points for goats and rabbits have also been moved to the new biomes.
Finally, the developer reactivated the luminous jellyfish and there are numerous bug fixes. The full patch notes for the update can be found on the official website.
This is how you play the beta
- Installs the “Xbox Insider Hub” app from the Microsoft Store
- Start the app and click on the “Insider Content” tab on the left
- Select “Minecraft for Windows 10” and join
- You can now play the beta
The innovations for the Java version
While the current update only appears for the Bedrock version, users of the Java version do not go away empty-handed. They’ve been able to do that for a while Snapshot from version 1.17 try it out and explore the new caves there.
Modders are also delivering new content for Minecraft. There is a free data pack with which you can play a 2D version of the game with a slightly reduced content directly in the chat window.